Rodney Watson

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

The Law that God Didn’t Create

Dear Lord, we thank you again that we're able to come and to experience your word and I pray that you you speak to us today and use me to to give words to Expand your word to magnify your law and to make it honorable We thank you and we love you and we thank you for this opportunity for us to meet today.

You know I have quite a few Sunday friends, and 1 of my Sunday pastors, I always call him First Day pastors.

And he knows that I love the sanctuary, and he came up to me 1 day and says, you know, Rodney, I'm going to start studying the sanctuary.

So I said, OK, Pastor Steve, you better be careful.

I said, because if you start studying the sanctuary, you're going to become a Seventh-day Adventist.

And whenever I get that, I know I have my little two-minute elevator speech, you know, about the sanctuary.

So by the time I finished the speech, I came and I took him right to the most holy place.

And I said, and that's why I'm a 7th-daven is because the law of God, unchanged by man, is sitting right at the very throne of God.

And he looked at me and just walked away.

Just while he's thinking about something.

Now, my contention is that you could always take the sanctuary and use it to tell people about God and show where we are in history and show what God is doing at any given time.

I remember some years ago giving Bible studies in my home And I had the board up and I had drawn the sanctuary out.

It was late at night, and so everyone went home.

I was kind of fixing breakfast, and Jehovah Witness came and knocked on my door.

And you know what I do in Jehovah, well you don't know me, but when Jehovah Witness come knocking on my door, I invite him in.

So they came in and he was trying to tell me the law was done away with, and I said, oh, is that right?

So I did my little 2 minute speech on the thing, and I pointed up here and I showed him where the law of God is still binding there.

And he looked at the drawing, and his mouth did this.

And he sat there and he said, nah forget about that.

And then he made some excuse and left my house.

So it is our job as a church, We have the privilege of taking people directly to the throne of God where the ark is my favorite item inside the sanctuary because just as the ark was the center of the camp of Israel, the Ark of God is also the center of the universe.

Where God is is the center of the universe.

And all creation revolves around the most holy place where the God's throne is.

And I like that because if this is most holy, that means everything outside of it is less than holy than what's here.

So everything outside of it is less holy than what's inside of it.

Well, there are 3 different names for the Ark.

They also call it the Ark of the covenant.

So that means, take this out, this is the Ark of this.

This is also called the 10 Commandments, the Testimony, and the Covenant.

And it resides in the most holy place safely sitting right under God if you will.

If you turn to Exodus chapter 34 verse 28, Exodus chapter 34 verses 28 we're gonna look at verses 28 and 29 and in talking about, this is talking about Moses.

And it says, he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights.

Neither did he eat or drink, neither did he eat bread or drink water.

Now we're going to come back to that in a minute.

And he, talking about God, wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the 10 Commandments.

And it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the 2 tables of testimony in his hand, when they came down from the mount that Moses wished not that his skin of his face shone while he talked with him." Again emphasizing the 3 names of the law of God.

Another interesting thing about this throne room right here is that life flows from it.

See in heaven life begins with God and in heaven we are told in Revelation chapter 22 verse 1 It says, and he showed me a pure river of life, clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Where God sits, H2O comes together and flows like a river, not a trickling brook, right?

Not like a water fountain, but a river of life flows out from the actual throne of God.

Where there is water, there is life, scientists tell us, right?

They're looking all in outer space trying to find signs of life and they say, oh, we find water, guess what?

So the throne of God, water starts from here, goes out and because God is life, it's called the water of life.

That water of life goes down in the middle of heaven, in the middle of the streets of gold and waters these trees and because there's life in the water, now the trees have life in them.

And those trees of life, we are told that we eat from every month.

We are told that we eat from them every month.

And if you ever want a reason why we eat from them every month, you know, and Isaiah talks about we, every Sabbath and every new moon, we should all worship before the Lord.

Every month we'll go and eat from the tree of life.

Because if it yields its fruit every month, somebody has to eat it.

Somebody has to eat it so it can yield more fruit the next month.

So every Sabbath and every new moon, every month, we'll come and we'll eat from the tree of life.

If that makes sense, let me hear you say amen.

Also in heaven, in Revelation chapter 7, verse 16, it says, and they shall hunger no more, neither thirst no more, neither shall the sunlight on them nor any heat.

Now I want to kind of paint a picture for you there because it says there's no night going to be there, There's no need of the sun for the Lord gives them light.

So I want to paint a picture for you if I can.

In the book of Isaiah, you don't have to turn to it, you can look at it later, it's 1313, it's real short, it says that the earth shall be removed out of her place.

That's kind of weird because if you move something out of its place, it's not where it was before.

If I move this out of its place, it's no longer there.

So the earth is removed out of its place.

So the earth goes to wherever God is during those 1000 years, right?

And the earth now becomes the center of the universe.

And because now God has made the Earth the center of the universe, well there's no need of the sun.

Because there's no night there, because you know why there's night now, right?

But now in heaven, you have the earth and you have all of the universe revolving around where God is.

And it makes sense because what God is, what the Son is to the earth, God is to us.

Frank Fournier

Eden Valley SDA Church

There Is A Promise In It

I'd like to invite you to turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter 8.

I guess I don't have to start a sermon by saying that sin is bad, But sin is bad.

And I don't suppose I'll find anyone here to say that it isn't.

Somebody might say, well, it depends on the sin.

I think at the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve sinned.

It was not a gross thing like we would think of today, but it sent the whole world into chaos and we could see through it that there is destruction by it.

Everyone probably in this room would admit that God is wise, all wise, all powerful, all loving, all true.

He knows what's best for us, and yet sometimes we would choose contrary to what God would say, and we know that there are consequences.

Everyone knows there will be no sin in heaven.

In Revelation 21, verse 27, it says, There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles heaven, or the new earth for that matter.

And yet it's amazing to me that there are people who, including myself, have little respect for the power inherent in the sin to destroy or to enslave.

We were standing on the porch last night, just a few of us, talking about malaria.

And there's some people who are in Africa because I was there and I've lost 2 friends, or at least 2 American people that were with me there in Africa at the time.

And it's apparent that it's possible not to respect the power that is inherent in the disease called malaria.

And people die because they don't take it as seriously as they should.

We're looking at verse 11 and we see there Solomon, he catches that idea that we don't always respect the power that's inherent, especially in sin.

We're looking at verse 11, because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

You can smoke 1 cigarette and for sure it's not going to kill you.

And so we might deduce that because 1 cigarette won't kill us that maybe 2 won't either, or 3 or 4.

And some people can end up smoking a whole lifetime And then they wonder at the end of a lifetime why it is that they've got lung cancer.

Because a sentence is delayed, being human, being blinded, being sinful, can reason out, Well, you know, it's not so bad after all.

But there are consequences, and we can see that in verses 12 and 13.

Though a sinner do evil a hundred times and his days are prolonged, Yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him.

But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he fears not before God." Our lives are short regardless, but we can shorten them still.

Jesus knew all of that and that's the reason why he came to this world.

He would take the sins of the whole world upon himself in an effort to mitigate the consequences of sin on our behalf.

He suffered what we would have to suffer, or what we would not have to suffer, if we had availed ourselves of the justifying righteousness of Jesus Christ, that great gift that He bought for us at the cross of Calvary, and the grace of God so that we can have power to resist the temptations that would come unto us.

It would behoove us, I believe, if we would take time every day to look at the agonies that Jesus suffered in Gethsemane, to look at the mockery that He suffered at the hands of men, to look at the abuse that was heaped upon the Son of God, to look at the horrors of the cross, which revealed to us not only the love of God, but revealed to us what justice demands from an individual who insists on keeping his sin and enjoying it for a season.

What's interesting to me is that some people are terrified of mice.

Are there people who are terrified of mice in here besides Mavis, I mean?

There are people who are terrified of flying.

There are people who are terrified of having cancer.

There are people who are terrified of dogs.

And some people are afraid of going on the water.

Some people are afraid of their own shadow.

But you know, if you look at all these things, none of these things is going to kill you eternally.

You can safely be afraid of dogs if you want to be afraid of dogs.

Well, I suppose theologically you could go there, but we won't go there this morning.

But these very same people who are afraid...

No, I'm not talking about you in this seat.

But the very same people who may be afraid of all kinds of things in this world that won't destroy you eternally are not afraid of gossiping, and they're not afraid of watching sex and violence on the big screen, and they're not afraid of cheating under taxes or cheating on each other and all of these things.

You've got to wonder at the type of reasoning we go through.

Our brains just don't work like they should.

Few people realize the power of sin to control their lives until, of course, they become Christians.

Now, when an individual becomes a Christian, and if he ever comes to the place as a Christian, where he wants to challenge the habits of sin in his own life, he's going to find out that it's not that easy.

They may plant their feet on the ground and say, I'm through with that.

I promise I'm not going to do that again.

Have you ever made a promise that you're going to break a habit?

Are they like they have been for me?" And steps to Christ says, ropes of sand, your promises.

Several years ago, quite a few years ago, 12 or so, I don't know exactly.

I flew into Lelongwe, Malawi, and I was alone.

And today, to this day, I don't remember why I flew into Lelongwe.

It was on my way to Zambia no doubt and I was alone and I had to overnight there and there's an Adventist place and so they gave me a room.

I had watched a movie on that flight, and while I was alone, and you know, being alone gives you time to think, and I had time to pray, and I had time to think, and that movie had such an effect on my mind that I understood that it wasn't right that I had watched this movie, you understand.

And so right there in my little room, I decided, I made a pledge to the Lord that I would never watch another movie again.

And do you know that lasted for several years?

1 time, we were on furlough in Canada, and we were visiting my wife's sister, not a Christian, really, and they invited us to watch a movie, and they said this was very innocent.

We watched a movie and it was very innocent.

And do you know what happens in your brain, how you start thinking?

Obviously, I watched a movie that was not very good, not good at all.

I watched a movie that was fairly innocent, and then it came to my mind, well, there are good movies and there are bad movies.

But do you know, you start choosing, or you try to determine a book by its cover, and it's not always what's in the book, and it's not always what's in the movie either.

And so little by little, you go back towards that, which you have pledged not to do anymore.

And you end up looking back and say, I made a pledge and my promise was like a rope of sand.

Have you ever made promises and have not kept them?

Have you ever kept any promises you've made?

That's probably a better question, I guess.

The Apostle Paul describes what that's like in Romans chapter 7.

So I'm going to invite you to turn with me to Romans chapter 7.

We're going to look at verse 18 in Romans chapter 7.

Most of you will know what Romans chapter 7 is all about.

There's some controversy as to what exactly it means, but I think we don't need to go there.

Verse 18, For I know that in me, that Paul is speaking now, speaking about himself, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.

We Believe

Chester Clark

Dalton SDA Church

Voices from Beyond the Grave

I have a confession to make this morning as I begin, and this confession is sort of the premise that's going to be unspoken in our study together.

I believe that There is an Almighty God who is living and on the throne of the universe.

I also believe that we are involved in a great controversy, a great controversy between good and evil, between Christ and Satan specifically.

In other words, we're not just living in a world where there are unseen powers, but we are living in a world where there are unseen powers battling for supremacy.

There are unseen powers that might be considered good and might be considered bad, and this is defined for me by the Word of God.

And so today as we share and as we open God's Word, I want us to just Remember that, keep that in mind.

We don't have time to study that entirely or to look in logic and reason for all of the arguments for why I believe that, but that's an underlying premise in what we're going to be sharing today.

In fact, even this week I believe I've seen that.

I've experienced the power of God in my life, haven't you?

And at times I have also experienced the power of Satan, the power of the devil.

In fact, this week I lost my voice completely, And I was thinking about giving up on preaching this Sabbath, especially when after losing it completely, it came back mostly for a day.

And then I was feeling worse the next day on Thursday.

And I thought, this is going to be a disaster.

I'm going to get there on Sabbath morning and not be able to talk.

I began remembering, first of all, that I've preached this type of topic many times, not this exact sermon, but on this topic many times.

And in my experience preaching in over 50 countries, many, many sermons, I have found there are certain topics the devil hates.

It has been remarkable for me to see 2 or 3 particular topics I have seen over and over the devil working.

I think probably, you know, having preached some of these sermons in many different countries for many years, I saw a trend established.

And you could, certain subjects, things like the power would go out, there would be a storm, there would be a computer crash, a projector bulb would blow, all ways it seemed like on 1 of 2 or 3 different sermons.

And I became convinced that the devil was alive and well.

Now I don't wanna glorify the devil today, I wanna glorify Jesus Christ, amen?

Because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.

And I believe that we serve a crucified and risen Savior, a soon-coming Savior, and He is, my friends, all-powerful.

And so We don't want to dwell upon the devil's power today, we want to dwell upon Jesus' power.

But that's why we're going to take a look at God's Word, and particularly the idea of voices from beyond the grave.

I would invite you to bow your heads with me for an additional word of prayer.

Father in heaven, today we are just thankful.

We're thankful that we serve a risen Savior.

We're thankful that He's not just risen and on the right hand of the throne of God, but that He is in the world today, That He is moving on our hearts, that He is leading us by His Word and by His Spirit, and that He is saving us by His grace and through His blood.

And today, Father, I just want to pray once again that You will honor our faith and the faith of Your people who have gathered together today.

Lord, they haven't come to hear my words, they've come to hear your word.

And we pray, I pray, that you might speak through your word today, that we might have an understanding of your word for our lives, and that we might come to know Jesus, the living Word, better for our time spent today.

Well, it was in the middle of the 1800s, actually, 1848 to be specific, that the Fox sisters, the Fox family moved into a home in a little town or Hamlet called Hydesville, New York, not far from Rochester, New York.

And there in this little home, the family set up their residence and they were aware of some rumors that had been going around in the community there.

The rumor was that this home was a haunted house.

Some of you may be familiar with this story.

The rumor was that this was a haunted house.

And it wasn't until late March of 1848 that the family began to be frightened by unexplained noises.

And at times these noises sound like knocking, and other times it sounded like moving of furniture.

Well, I'm not sure what these girls, these 3 sisters, thought they were doing, but they thought they would capitalize on this noise that was in their house and they would scare their parents.

And so, In 1888, 40 years later, 1 of the sisters confessed this is how it all began.

They actually, I think in the attic somehow, they tied a string onto an apple and put this string over a rafter and threaded it down to a place where they could pull on it and they could make knockings and bumping noises over their parents' room, or in some ways scare their parents by these knocking noises.

This was what Margaret, 1 of the sisters, said in 1888.

When we went to bed at night, we used to tie an apple to a string and move the string up and down, causing the apple to bump on the floor, or we would drop the apple on the floor, making a strange noise every time it would rebound.

And because they were so young, their parents did not suspect them of being capable of such a trick.

But they began playing even further with this.

This house was supposed to be supposedly haunted.

And they began, this is according to their story later, there's some ambiguity to this story, I must admit.

There are skeptics to the story, but we're going to look at some of the evidence that existed as well.

And you have to remember when you read the skeptics' account, this was in the age of enlightenment when people were beginning to say, we don't need to be held by superstitions such as God and religion, you understand.

They were trying to cast off everything as being scientifically explainable.

No such thing as God, no such thing as miracles.

So there were some who began to have an interest in this movement and others who began to sort of fight against it.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

The Law that God Didn’t Create

36m

There Is A Promise In It

23m

Voices from Beyond the Grave

47m

Look a Little Higher

34m

Biased Judge

35m

Prepare Today for Tomorrow

1h 18m

Setting Priorities and Successful Planning

54m

The Purpose, Privilege and Principles

1h

Counting the Cost

58m

Developing Independence

56m

ABC’s

55m

Reaching the Heart

1h

Sound Doctrine