<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Eric Flickinger

03 Waiting

Father, thank you for giving me an opportunity to fellowship with my brothers and sisters out there on the West Coast as a part of the Advent Hope Sabbath School.

We ask that you would be with us this evening as once again we open your word and give us some wisdom, give us some insight, we ask, into knowing how to deal with the challenges in life, these situations that we find ourselves in right now, and help us to move forward toward that great day that we are all so much looking forward to, the day of Christ's return.

Well, prior to COVID, I did a fair bit of traveling, real traveling, not just Zoom traveling.

I was in Dubai yesterday morning and Loma Linda yesterday evening.

I'm in Loma Linda again this evening, but just not really.

I guess the advantage is, well, you don't have quite as much jet lag.

Disadvantages, you don't get to really see people and spend time with them.

But I'm delighted to be able to be with you this evening.

Prior to COVID, like I said, I did a fair bit of traveling.

And I'd find myself on the road about half the year, give or take, something along those lines.

But a few years ago, I had the privilege of going to a country over in Eastern Europe called Moldova.

Now Moldova is probably not the most well-known country on the face of the earth.

It's sort of sandwiched in between Romania and on the west side and Ukraine on the east side.

When the Soviet Union broke up, Moldova had been a part of the Soviet Union.

Now it's not of course anymore, but it's kind of caught between the, excuse me, between the East and the West.

There are some people from Moldova who would really like to join Western Europe, and others who kind of long for the good old days when they were a part of the Soviet Union, they're, they're leaning more toward wanting to be a part of Russia and what's going on in Russia today.

And so the country itself is kind of divided.

They don't have a whole lot of natural resources for themselves.

And so what's ended up happening since the fall of the Soviet Union is Moldova has become a very, very poor country.

In fact, it is the poorest country in Europe today.

If you were to take the GDP of Moldova and double it, it would still be the poorest country in Europe today.

And a lot of especially young people want to leave the country.

They want to find more opportunities, better education, more ways that they can grow themselves and be a part of what's happening in the world.

And so a lot of the young people that I visited with when I was over in Moldova, spoke of how much they wanted to leave the country.

But because they couldn't earn enough money to actually leave the country, they had to stay.

And so they find themselves in this cycle of not being able to do what they want to do.

Well, they end up waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for life to get better.

The average salary over there in Moldova today is about $200 to $250 a month.

Just not a lot of money to really do anything.

You and I, to some extent, are also waiting.

We're sort of caught as it were in a holding pattern here.

We look at some of the promises that Jesus gives us of the life to come, of his kingdom coming, and I hope at least that you and I would like to make it to that kingdom.

But let's take a look at a passage in the Bible, a very interesting 1, in 2 Peter chapter 3.

We're going to look at verses 10 through 13.

2 Peter chapter 3, we're looking together at verses 10 through 13, an interesting passage.

Peter of course is writing here, 2 Peter chapter 3 starting in verse number 10.

And he says, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat.

Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

Therefore, seeing all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat." Now, typically, when we hear those verses read, it's in the context of maybe an evangelistic series or a series of Bible studies when we're talking about hellfire and how hell is going to, hellfire is going to consume everything and nothing, no trace of it will be left.

But there's a portion of that passage that sometimes gets overlooked when we focus on hellfire.

It says, therefore, since all these things will be dissolved what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.

So Peter says that we living in the days of earth's history just before hellfire consumes everything, of course, we know chronologically that will take place at the end of the thousand years, but we're living in the last days, the closing days of Earth's history.

And in the grand timeline of history, hellfire is not too far off in the distance.

But Peter says, What type of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God?

What is it that we can do to hasten, as the Bible says, the coming of the day of God?

We know, of course, that 1 of the things that has to take place before Jesus comes back is that the gospel needs to go to all the world.

And it's appropriate for us to look for effective, practical, expedient ways to share the gospel with the world.

But I'm gonna suggest that maybe that should not be our top priority.

There's no question about that whatsoever.

If we have a passion for souls like Jesus had, perhaps we would be more effective in getting that done.

But I don't think more activity is necessarily what it is that Jesus is looking for.

In fact, you may have seen some, I guess you'd call them bumper stickers that are printed out somewhat tongue in cheek that says Jesus is coming, look busy.

Well, I don't think we need to look busy.

If that's our motivation, then it's gonna be a long, long time before Jesus comes back.

When we look at the world around us today, and at least I hope, we long for a better life.

We see the financial challenges that many people are in.

We see the health challenges that we're in today, the social, the societal challenges.

We see the political challenges, and we know that this can't go on forever.

And the Bible indicates that it won't go on forever, and that's a good thing for both you and me.

But then the question comes, why is Jesus waiting?

You know, there is a challenging question or this is a challenging question that a lot of our evangelical brothers and sisters have a difficult time answering.

Because if you ask them about Christ's sacrifice and his work and so forth, the answer that you will typically get from them is that everything was finished at the cross.

And while I would agree, most certainly Christ's sacrifice was sufficient and completely taken care of at the cross, not everything was taken care of at the cross.

Not everything was finished at the cross because if everything had been finished at the cross, if there was nothing else that needed to be done, then the question becomes, why are we still here?

And the only logical answer to that would be because God is vindictive and he loves to see his creation suffer.

But I think if we understand God correctly, that's not the case.

So some things still must need to be done in order for Jesus to come back or he would have come back already.

I think 1 of the big reasons is that God is merciful and he wants as many people as possible to be saved.

And so 1 of the reasons that he delays is coming is because God wants to take the greatest number of his children with him to the kingdom of heaven.

Now, there is some inspired counsel, some inspired descriptions of what happened back around 1844.

And as you look back at the history of the Adventist church, 1844 was a very significant date.

It's often termed the great disappointment.

Many people were looking forward to Jesus coming back, but he didn't come back, and there was a great disappointment.

Some people kind of fell away after that, fell away from the faith, fell away from Christianity, but others delved more deeply into the Bible and they pulled together some significant truths of the Bible that they had not seen before.

But back in 1844, there was a very significant awakening, a movement within Christianity, where people were getting very serious about their faith.

It was not just something that they professed, but it was something that they lived, it was something that they embraced with their entire being, with everything that they were.

Christianity was not just a label that people wore, but it was something that emanated from their hearts into every area of their lives.

If perhaps back then the believers had moved forward in that faith and allowed God to do what he wanted to do, we might not even be around today.

But the truth is it didn't happen that way, and here we are.

So there's an interesting passage in a book called Selected Messages, book 1.

The author writes these words, It was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be thus delayed.

God did not design that his people Israel should wander 40 years in the wilderness.

You stop and think about that many many years ago in the Exodus.

God didn't want his people to be wandering in the wilderness, but it became necessary for them.

Back to Menu

03 Waiting

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

Walk in Love: Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself

38m

A Worthy Life

49m

What Jesus Said

11. Holy Spirit Baptism

1h

The First Kings of Israel

38m

Evangelism

Devotional Life as Fuel for Evangelism

46m

The Sower

The Sower: The Secret to Good Soil

32m

Science of Worship

12 - Mark of the Beast Principle - Part 2

56m

I’ve Got a Secret

41m

Experiencing Righteousness Through Faith in Christ

5. The Mind of Christ and the Impending Conflict

59m

Sabbath School 3rd Quarter 2025: Exodus

10 The Covenant and the Blueprint

27m

ECYC 2012: Bible Boot Camp

Being Effective in Evangelism

31m

Anthony Baca Weekend 2019

A Deeper Look: The Intention of Scripture

50m

Sound Doctrine