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Hillside O’Malley SDA Church

David Shin

Walking in the Light

I want to invite you to open your Bibles with me to Matthew 2, verses 1 through 6.

I know that the Christmas season has passed, but there is a lesson in this story of the wise men from the east that is applicable to us even after the Christmas season.

Matthew chapter 2 verses 1 through 6, now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, where is he who has been born King of the Jews?

For we have seen his star in the east and come to worship him.

When King Herod, the king, heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.

And when he gathered all the chiefs and the scribes and the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

So they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, But you Bethlehem in the land of Judea are not the least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

These wise men were not Jews, they were Gentiles.

And They saw this phenomena in the heavens and it was not a star, it was not a planet, it was a light.

And the writings of Balaam, remember Balaam was a prophet of God that was not a Jew and he fell into apostasy, but before that he had given a prophecy that there would be a star and this star would be an indication that Messiah had been born.

So these wise men gathered together these precious gifts.

And The Bible never says there were 3 wise men, by the way, and we assume that because there were 3 gifts, and it could be that there were 3, but they gathered together these precious gifts, and by faith, what a faith it was, they got on their camels or donkeys, whatever they had, and they went by night to follow this star.

The book Desire of Ages indicates that this star was a host of angels that was leading them and this retinue of angels led these wise men not to Bethlehem but to Jerusalem.

And the book Desire of Ages indicates that This light rested over the temple.

The wise men went into Jerusalem and said, where's the king?

And they expected the whole city to be abuzz with the glow of the birth, the news of the birth of the Messiah and much to their amazement, no 1 had a clue what was going on.

The news traveled up to Herod and he called together his church members or the church members, the theologians, and said, hey, where is the Messiah to be born?

And they knew exactly where the Messiah was to be born they quoted from Micah chapter 5 verse 2 and you can see it there And Matthew chapter 2 verse 18 the Messiah is going to be born in Bethlehem So they pass on that information to the wise men the wise men get on their camels and go to Bethlehem and what faith was theirs because they got there and they're expecting a palace but all they see are 2 peasants and a baby.

The Czar of Ages says they fell down and worshiped that child.

Now, a few lessons that I want to draw from this, 1 of them is, where did the angels lead these people that were searching?

The light did not lead them to Jerusalem, I mean, did not lead them to Bethlehem, the light led them to Jerusalem, to the church.

And as faulty as this church may be, It is still the agency Through which God has committed the oracles of God We have a mission.

We have a responsibility and even though the Jews were Quote unfaithful in their responsibility God led these 3 wise men to his church, just like he led Denny and Eric to his church.

We have a mission, we have a responsibility, we have a stewardship.

And notice the irony of this situation is that not only was God calling His church to give this information, but this was also a wake-up call for His church to arise out of their slumber, and they knew intellectually exactly where the Messiah was to be born and notice the lethargy and the lukewarmness and the listlessness of the church in Jerusalem Yawn, oh, yeah Messiah it's gonna be born in Jerusalem Here's the information And they go back to their big franks and their haystacks and their culture.

And not all, I mean, I love those things, but you know what I'm talking about.

And there is this disconnect between what they know intellectually and between what it has any, whether it has any practical bearing on their day-to-day lives.

In other words, they knew, but it didn't make any difference.

Here it was, the greatest event in human history, the birth of Messiah as a human being had just taken place, and the people that had all the information, it had no impact, No effect.

They went right back to sleep, and the wise men went on and worshipped the child.

I'm preaching to myself this morning because I I am a third-generation Seventh-day Adventist.

That means that I was born into this church.

My grandfather, retired minister, I went to Adventist schools, grew up in Adventist communities for a great part of my life, ministered in Adventist communities.

And there are great blessings of being born into this church.

Adventist education, Sabbath school, church service.

But there are great challenges as well because There is the tendency not all but there is the tendency To not fully appreciate the legacy and the truths that we've been entrusted with.

Cynicism, mocking the legacy that we've been given, doubting, leaving dangling questions without any resolution.

These are all things that I experienced in my own journey as a third generation Seventh-day Adventist.

And I want to tell you that no contemporary prophet was fully accepted by their community of faith.

The Jews venerated Moses, but the contemporary Jews doubted his authority.

Jeremiah, Isaiah, John the Baptist was beheaded and derided and not accepted by his community of faith, and could it be that we as a people are in danger or have not already gone down the same path?

I want to read to you a few quotations on the screen.

This is from First Selected Messages, page 48, the very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of prophecy.

You can see here that the prophecy of Micah in Micah 5 verse 2 about Jesus being born in Bethlehem had no effect.

In other words, the scrolls are sitting on their shelves.

They knew it, but they did not go to Jerusalem.

And we as a people are in danger of having the spirit of prophecy, the conflict series, all of these things, which are gifts, sitting on our shelves.

But it makes no practical difference in our day-to-day lives.

We are different than Israel, and the best word I could describe, the nature of what the Jews experience and the nature of what we are experiencing as a people right now, because don't think that we're an exception.

You know, you read the Bible, oh, those Jews, so hard-headed.

And the word that I could think of was apathy, apathetic.

And here's some synonyms, uninterested, indifferent, unconcerned, unmoved, uninvolved, disinterested, unemotional, emotionless, dispassionate, lukewarm, unmotivated, and hard or half-hearted.

That is the nature of some in regards to the heritage that we've been given as a people.

2nd Chronicles 36 verse 16 talking about how the Jews related to God's messengers, but they mocked God's messengers and despised his words and scoffed at his prophets." Scoffed at his prophets.

This is how God's people have typically reacted to his prophets.

We venerate them now, Isaiah, Jeremiah, but the contemporary church, how did they treat the prophets?

With ridicule, with scoffing, and despising them.

The definition or synonyms of scoff, to mock, to ride, ridicule, sneer at, jeer at, jibe, taunt, make fun of, poke fun at, laugh at, laugh to scorn, dismiss, make light of, and belittle.

I have been in certain circles where the gift of prophecy has been diminished to Any other book that is out there and I want to tell you that We are in danger of going down a path as people are coming in and embracing this message of going the opposite direction.

I Think of this paper that was written by a progressive magazine an article in a progressive magazine in the 1970s was the height of Cold War And the article went on to question and to ridicule and to mock the book, The Great Controversy.

And the author said that Ellen White did not have a clue what she was talking about when she said that America would be the world's only superpower because she did not see the USSR, the Soviet Union.

It was the height of the Cold War, Vietnam was stagnating and he said, look, America will never be the sole world superpower.

And he said, we need to revise our understanding of the Book of Great Controversy and our prophetic understanding.

And he went on to poke more holes in the Book of Great Controversy and this paper was published.

And I couldn't help but just be amazed as that paper was being shared in 2003.

Because America was the only superpower and the Soviet Union did fall and reading that paper, That article seemed foolish.

I want to read a few other quotations here from First Selected Messages, page 43.

It does not become anyone to drop a word of doubt here and there that shall work like poison in other minds, shaking their confidence in the message which God has given, which have aided in laying the foundation of this work and have attended it to the present day in reproofs, warnings, corrections, and encouragements to all who have stood In the way of the testimonies, I would say God has given a message to his people and his voice will be heard Whether you hear or forbear be watchful friends of those that insinuate doubts Be watchful of those that ask questions that lead you to doubt the Bible and the spirit of prophecy, I will add.

It was questions that were spoken in a way that caused her to doubt the character of God.

Has God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

In other words, he's weaved a picture of God that is so restrictive that you can't eat of any tree.

That was the opening line of Satan and it was a question that planted a doubt in her mind, and here we are today.

There will be a hatred kindled against the testimonies, which is satanic.

There are certain circles where you can't even quote the spirit of prophecy.

1 thing is certain, those Seventh-day Adventists who take their stand under Satan's banner will first give up their faith in the warnings and reproofs contained in the testimonies of God's Spirit.

Now I'll be the first to admit that in certain circles the spirit of prophecy has been abused, But let's not judge something by its abuse.

I want to encourage you to read the Bible, read the Spirit of the Prophets, 2 Chronicles chapter 20 verse 20, believe His prophets and you shall prosper.

It is there to help us prepare for the second coming of Jesus, which is soon, by the way.

It is sooner than it has ever been before, and if we actually read the Spirit of Prophecy, and I'm not talking about selectively quote, I'm talking about read from cover to cover, read the book Steps to Christ from cover to cover.

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Walking in the Light

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