Inspire Ohio 2013: Look Up!

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Advent HOPE Kettering

Present Truth or Cunningly Devised Fables

Mark Howard

Higher Ground

Present Truth or Cunningly Devised Fables-Part 1

Present Truth or Cunningly Devised Fables-The Open and Shut Door-Part 2

Present Truth or Cunningly Devised Fables-Part 3

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege of knowing you and your Son, Jesus Christ, whom you have sent, and for being a part of the message that you are giving to this world in preparation for the coming of Jesus.

And Father, as we spent this time together this weekend meditating upon the present truth message for this time, I pray this morning that your Holy Spirit would speak to our hearts and our minds very clearly as to our calling and purpose in this world at this time in Earth's history.

And we ask and pray these things in the name of Jesus and for His sake.

We've been talking about present truth or cunningly devised fables.

And I will repeat the words of the Apostle Peter.

We did not follow cunningly devised fables in the message that we have received.

Last night we learned a little bit about the cunningly devised fables.

There are cunningly devised fables, but they're not in the 3 angels' messages.

And the Lord has called His people in the last days to a special mission and a special message And it's found in the 3 angels of Revelation 14.

I want to touch on that this morning in review, reading again from something we've looked at before in Testimonies for the Church, Volume 9, page 19.

It says, In a special sense, Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers.

To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world.

On them is shining the wonderful light from the word of God, they have been given a work of the most solemn import, the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels' messages.

There is no other work of so great importance.

Let me See if I can make that a little more poignant with this concept.

Now, I know Kettering is big in the medical field.

How many of you are associated with the medical field?

Let's just imagine that you were the 1 who found the cure for cancer.

Now you look at our society today, and I mean it's just horrendous.

More and more people are getting diagnosed with cancerous this, that and the other, younger and younger.

It's really, the world is growing old like a garment, the Bible says, and we're just falling apart.

If the Lord doesn't come soon, there's not gonna be anybody left from the health perspective.

And so let's just say that you were able to cure cancer.

And the joy you'd bring to so many hearts and so many families as Their loved ones now have a second lease on life but ultimately Ultimately, they're still gonna die and then what?

But now think of this You don't have the ability to cure cancer, but you have the ability to offer eternal life to somebody.

Where does that weigh in the scheme of things?

The Lord Jesus has given you and me the privilege of carrying a message that offers eternal life to people.

And if they receive our message, not only will they have the blessings of salvation in this life, but in the life to come.

They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention.

And we read in Manuscript Releases, Volume 19, the world is to be warned by the proclamation of this message.

If we blanket it, if we hide our light under a bushel, if we so circumscribe ourselves that we cannot reach the people, we are answerable to God for our failure to warn the world.

And I'll add 1 other statement in the book, Early Writings.

It's a fascinating little vision called a firm platform.

And that platform is a platform made up of 3 steps that lead up first, second, third angels' messages lead to a firm platform for the people of God.

I saw a company who stood well guarded and firm, giving no countenance to those who had unsettled the established faith of the body.

I was shown 3 steps, the first, second, and third angels' messages.

Said my accompanying angel, woe to him who shall move a block or stir a pin of these messages.

The true understanding of these messages is of vital importance.

The destiny of souls hangs upon the manner in which they are received.

Solemn message that God has entrusted us with.

The 3 angels' messages, the first message, and these messages, they go together.

As the Lord brought these messages to his people he was in essence bringing a new understanding of how he was moving toward the coming of Jesus if you go to the book of Revelation you find that the culmination that the high point the pinnacle point of Revelation is the same as we find in the prophecies of Daniel.

The brass, the iron, the feet of iron and clay?

It's the 1 kingdom, unlike all the others, that will last forever.

And God, in essence, is saying through that vision that people tend to put all their marbles in 1 basket.

And if you're going to invest yourself in a kingdom, and we often do, so many of us are investing ourselves in the kingdoms of this world.

The Lord says to us, why don't you put your invest yourself in the 1 kingdom that's going to last forever.

And so the Lord gives us this view in prophecy repeatedly of this coming kingdom of Christ.

And so even in the book of Revelation, as I said, everything really culminates with the second coming and builds around it.

The 3 angels' messages are preparatory to that coming.

The first message brought to view the judgment hour.

When you look at the types in the Old Testament that God taught his people from, simply stated, Jesus was entering into the very last thing he could possibly do before he comes again.

And the Bible says in Daniel chapter 12, Michael stands up and his work as priest is done.

And then he who is holy, let him be holy still.

And he who is righteous, let him be righteous still.

And he who is filthy, let him be filthy still.

So we're living in this time period of all history where we're just prior to the coming of Jesus Christ the first message brought to view Christ's last mediatorial work preparatory to his coming to the earth in power and great glory.

You remember we looked at that last night?

I rule this empire and it's empty, there's nobody in it.

No, a king doesn't want to be king of nobody, a king wants to be a king of somebody.

And what's happening now is Jesus is making up the subjects of that kingdom.

If time would permit, and we'll look at this a little bit this morning.

When you look at the wedding imagery in the Bible, the wedding parables, you know, Paul talks in Ephesians about the husband and the wife.

Well, he, he's, it looks like he's talking about husband and wife.

Series

Present Truth or Cunningly Devised Fables

Present Truth or Cunningly Devised Fables-Part 3

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

The Final Call

4- What will it Take?

1h

It's Time Someone Finally Told You the Truth About...

The Last Generation

1h 10m

Kickstarter Series '15-'16

First and Second Barcelonians

54m

Our Message Has a Name

44m

The Paradoxical Prescription to Happiness

1h

Plenary

The Adventist Atheist

1h 1m

Following in Their Footsteps

46m

Plenary

The One Thing Jesus Can’t Give You

55m

Preaching from the Grave

1h 41m

Plenary

The First Angel’s Message

59m

The True Medical Missionary

56m

Plenary

Different or the Same - Christian Standards in the 21st Century

1h 7m

Sound Doctrine