Wes Peppers

Lansing SDA Church

Does It Really Even Matter?

I love his people and this is God's Church I believe friends that this is God's last day Church on earth.

I believe that we are living in The final moments of Earth's history I believe that we don't have much time to lose and as the Apostle Paul counsels us that we need to redeem the time, amen?

We need to be prayerful in season and out of season.

Things have happened even in the last year or 2 that bid us that we are on a precipice ready to coast on into eternity.

And I hope that you here this morning are ready for eternity.

It's my prayer that this church will grow, not just numerically, but spiritually.

That there would not be anything that the devil could throw at this church that would allow it to be separated or divided or to fall apart, but that we, it's the love of Christ only that can knit this church that close.

And I believe, I'm not saying that it's not, I believe it already has been, but even more so every day.

I heard it once said that the problem with preachers today is that no 1 wants to kill them.

But by the grace of God we want to be faithful to the Word.

I also heard it said that probably 1 of the best things that could happen to the church is that all the pastors would be thrown in jail.

And that's evidence that the church revolves around Jesus, yes?

I want to say I appreciate those of you that came and helped us move in.

We are moved in and we're settled for the most part.

We still got some loose ends to tie up, but we really appreciated those of you that came and have been such a blessing.

This church has already been such a blessing to us months before we even got here.

We appreciate all of you that have just so welcomed us warmly.

What I'd like you to do, I know this is, we won't make a habit of being this late, we'll strive not to do that.

But they told me that lunch will be ready at 3, so we got a little while.

But what I'd like you to do, you've been sitting a little while, is we want to do this orderly because God is orderly, but why don't you just stand for a moment, briefly, and just turn to someone beside you and say happy Sabbath, it's good that you're here.

I've entitled the message this morning, Does it even really matter?

And I'm hoping this morning that we'll just kind of set a little vision for the church in a sense.

And we'll talk about some various things this morning.

So I want to invite you wherever you are to just bow your heads with me.

And I'm going to ask the Lord's blessing 1 more time as we enter into the time to study his word together.

Father in heaven, Lord we're just so grateful this morning to be here.

We're grateful to know you, to be known by you, and to make you known to others.

Those are the great reasons that we have to live.

And so Lord, this morning as we look at the significance that you've placed in our lives, we pray that your spirit would bless, we pray that our hearts would be encouraged, they would be drawn to you, that we would be challenged, we would be convicted, and Lord that there would be a surrender in our lives this morning that would bring us more in harmony with your will.

So we ask for your blessing, we come in Jesus' name, amen.

How many of you have ever asked the question, does my life have significance?

How many of you have ever asked that question?

You know, there are a lot of people walking around the world today, especially in Lansing and in your neighborhood, and they're asking themselves that question.

I remember appreciate Paul who did our believe he did our scripture reading this morning and he told me that years ago he was an atheist and 12 years ago I was also an atheist.

I've been in God's church now for 12 years and I praise the Lord for the church.

I was 22 years old and when I, or I was a little younger before that, but I began that journey to find my significance and I wanted to know, does my life matter?

And at that point in time I didn't think that it did.

I couldn't find any satisfaction in anything that this world has to offer and I was this close to putting an end to my life when God divinely intervened.

I'm going to tell you that story in full, not today, but in the future, so you'll have to keep coming to church, amen?

I mean, where else would we rather be today than heaven?

And in God's church, worshipping with his people, amen?

And I asked myself that question and so I thought about that and I said even as Christians, even as Seventh-day Adventists, what is the significance of our life?

And I've come up with 6 points, there's many more, but 6 points that I want to share with you this morning about why our life is significant to God and why we should feel the significance that He's placed upon our lives.

Alright, we're going to start with the first point.

All right, push, go out of the, go out of the slideshow presentation.

Okay, then unplug it and plug it back in, the clicker.

You can go ahead and hit the slide, advance.

Go with me and your Bibles to Genesis chapter 1.

And we're going to quickly go through the whole chapter, and I want to highlight a few words for you this morning.

How many of you have ever heard people say, oh, I could never be a Christian because Christianity is too restrictive?

How many of you have ever heard people say that?

You know, there's too many rules to follow.

I want to be free to do what I want to do.

Don't raise your hands, but how many of you have ever said that before this morning?

Too restrictive, too many rules, too many things to follow.

But look in Genesis chapter 1, and we're going to just start in verse 1.

It says, In the beginning God did what everyone?

Now I want you to drop down to verse 3 and it says, Then God said, what?

Shawn Boonstra

Voice Of Prophecy

Missing Cecil B

Hollywood has never been particularly careful about how they portray the stories of the Bible.

But in recent years, the problem seems to be getting worse.

It's not just a matter of biblical illiteracy or artistic license.

It's starting to look more and more like a case of sabotage, a deliberate attempt to alter, to change the stories of the Bible.

Today on the Voice of Prophecy, why I wish we could bring back Cecil B.

I'm Sean Boonstra and I am not 1 of the longest-running broadcasters on the planet.

In fact, I've been doing this for oh, about 20 years now, maybe a shave less, and this show has been on the air for more than 85 years.

Today I'm speaking from beautiful Loveland, Colorado, where the summers are mild and perfect, and the winters are well, just about the same, mild and perfect, at least from my perspective.

I'm originally from Canada, and just about any winter south of the 49th parallel seems pretty mild right now I'm in my little studio sitting up at about 5, 000 feet above sea level where the air is just a little bit thinner and maybe by coincidence the people are just a little bit nicer.

I mean honestly I think that Loveland Colorado might be 1 of the nicest places on earth and if you've never been here if you've never come to Loveland it is high time and no pun intended high time that you come and visit.

This might just be the perfect place to work and live.

Anyway, this program isn't really a paid message from the Loveland Chamber of Commerce.

That's just the way I feel about this beautiful community, which also happens to be, by an amazing coincidence, the birthplace of HMS Richards, the man who started this broadcast back in 1929.

In fact, every day when I come into the office, I drive right past the little lake where HMS Richards was baptized as a young man.

And if I'm not mistaken, he actually had his first preaching assignment just up the hill somewhere here in Colorado up in the mountains.

And then at some point he moved up to Canada to pastor a church at Harmony Corners in Oshawa, Ontario, which also happens to be the spot where I started my broadcasting career some years back.

In fact, my office was only a couple of blocks from HMS Richards First Church.

So you might say I've been following in his footsteps without even knowing it for a couple of decades now.

I mean not that I'm anything like the man.

I mean, the only thing we really have in common is the fact that we've shared 2 cities.

Well, actually, make it 3 cities, because I guess he was in Los Angeles and so was I for a number of years.

So HMS and I have shared 3 cities and 1 job.

Anyway, that's not really my subject for today.

I was thinking about Loveland when I came into studio today and I should probably get down to brass tacks and talk about something that's really been bugging me off and on for a number of years.

And I guess this all started with Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ, 1 of the first Bible-based movies to make a really big splash in a very long time.

I don't know if you remember all the kerfuffle in the wake of his movie, all the controversy, but it was really something.

On the 1 hand, you had all these church-going Christians who absolutely loved the movie.

They were selling tickets in church, they were busing people to the theater, they stood outside the theater and handed out religious tracts.

And if I remember this right, they even had special screenings in churches all across the country.

Some Christians were just all-out excited that Jesus had made it into the box office.

But then on the other hand you had these other Christians who were not happy about the movie because Gibson added elements to the story that are not found in the Bible.

Stuff that comes from the visions of an 18th century Catholic mystic by the name of Anne Catherine Emmerich.

She was actually the lady who gave the movie its name.

The movie is named, at least sort of named, after her most famous vision which is titled The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

So you clearly had elements in Gibson's movie that you don't find in the 4 Gospels And that really bothered some Christians.

They expended a lot of energy letting people know that Gibson's portrayal was not biblically accurate.

And, to be honest, While I didn't really get worked up about it, I didn't protest, I didn't write about it, I do happen to be 1 of those Christians who did notice that Mel Gibson was drawing inspiration from non-biblical sources.

There were parts of the story that were just wrong.

They might have been minor parts, little tiny details, but biblically speaking they weren't accurate.

But you know it wasn't just the non-biblical details that bothered some people.

What really bothered them was the way that movie dwelt so heavily on the torture, the abuse, the death of Christ.

And of course those things were real, they did happen, it was an awful thing that happened to Jesus.

But in Gibson's version of the story, the resurrection of Christ, it's almost an afterthought.

The whole movie is just so relentlessly violent, so bloodthirsty, it was visceral.

And for the Christian, the point of the cross wasn't really the violence.

The point of the cross is the resurrection.

The point of the cross is that Jesus is no longer dead.

If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, Paul reminds us, then our faith is in vain.

So, for a lot of people, the movie was so focused on the blood and the gore that it kind of missed the point.

Some Christians actually hated the movie and some people in the Jewish community really hated the movie because they felt like Mel Gibson was encouraging anti-semitism by blaming the crucifixion on the Jews.

But you know, all that aside, if there's 1 thing, 1 thing, that the Passion of the Christ absolutely proved, it's that the North American public is far from finished with the stories of the Bible.

The Passion of the Christ was a huge box-office success.

It sold millions and millions of tickets and it really challenged this whole idea that the Western world has moved into a post-Christian era.

Mel Gibson proved, at the very least, that the world is not finished with Jesus.

He proved that God's Son can still draw a crowd even in this postmodern secular environment.

If I be lifted up, Jesus said in John chapter 12, I will draw all peoples to myself.

There's just something about Jesus that forces you to look.

You have to deal with him 1 way or the other.

You know I always find it amazing that every new religious fad, every strange new cult, every encounter with space aliens, they all seem to work Jesus into the picture.

You even have flying saucer cults who try to explain that Jesus was a visitor from another world or that Jesus was some kind of an ascended master, a cosmic guru.

People just can't leave Jesus out of the picture.

They have to deal with who he was and what he said and how he lived.

They tried to ride Jesus' coattails every time they invent a new religion.

And they're all kind of proving the same thing Mel Gibson proved.

Our human desire to know God is anything but dead, and our appetite for the Bible is anything but extinct.

And yet, in spite of that, Hollywood isn't happy to just tell the story the way it is, the way the Bible tells it.

And just as soon as I get back from a short break, we're going to take a look at some of the more recent offerings from the world of Bible movies.

We're going to look at Noah and the Exodus.

Do you feel as if you have more questions than answers in your life?

And is there any hope for our chaotic world?

Are you searching for answers to these and other of life's biggest questions?

Well the Discover Bible Guides will help you find the answers that you're looking for.

Visit us at BibleStudies.com or give us a call at 888-456-7933 for your free Discover Bible Guides.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, and I quote, 2014 marks the resurgence of the Old Testament at the movies, unquote.

First we had Noah by Darren Aronofsky and then we had Exodus Gods and Kings by Ridley Scott and both of them were pretty big releases with a lot of hype and from what I understand pretty good box-office results Pretty good.

But the question I want to ask is this, were these movies biblical?

If you really wanted to know the story of Noah or the story of the Exodus, would these movies be a good place to start?

I mean, if you had a friend who was suddenly showing interest in the Bible, would these movies be a good starting place?

Well, the answer to that is probably not.

Even if these movies were mostly faithful to the biblical accounts, I still think I'd take people to the words of the Bible itself first.

Well, it's because movies are 1 person's artistic depiction of a story.

A movie is based as much or even more on a director's creative imagination as it is on the original text.

They're going to do whatever it takes to sell the movie.

H.M.S. Richards

What Jesus Said About God

Lift up the trumpet and loud let it ring, Jesus is coming again.

Cheer up you pilgrims, be joyful and sing, Jesus is coming again.

This is the voice of prophecy, a voice crying in the wilderness of these modern days.

Coming again, coming again, Jesus is coming again.

From our Voice of Prophecy studios in Los Angeles, California, we welcome you to this half hour of inspiration and music transcribed with the King's Heralds, Del Delker, Brad Braley, and our speaker H.M.S.

Richards, a Seventh-day Adventist minister.

The quartet opens this first broadcast of a brand new year with a personal good wish for you and a musical look into the future in the sweet Bye and Bye.

♪ There's a land that is fairer than day, and by faith we can see it afar.

For the Father waits over the way To prepare us a dwelling place there In the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore.

In the sweet by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore.

To our bountiful Father above, We will offer a tribute of praise for the glorious gift of his love and the blessings that hallow our days.

In the sweet by and by, We shall meet on that beautiful shore, In the sweet by and by, We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for the revelation of Thy self in nature, in human experience and above all in the Holy Scripture.

Lead us today into the higher things of thy word, and guide us in Christ's name.

There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God, A place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God.

The King's Heralds and Miss Del Delker blend voices to bring us a song by Ira D.

Sanky, which has been a favorite with many of you listeners.

Sometimes I hear strange music like none ever heard before.

Like none ever heard before, come floating softly earthward as through heaven's open door.

It seems like angel voices in strings of joy and love That swell the mighty chorus, far on the throne above.

O sweet celestial music heard from a land afar, the song of heaven and homeland.

Now Soft and low and restful, it floods my soul with peace, as if God's benediction that all earth's troubles cease.

That all earth's troubles cease, then grander than the voices of wind and wave and sea, and wave and see.

It fills the dome of heaven with glorious harmony.

Oh, sweet celestial music heard from a land afar, The song of heaven and homeland, through God's God leaves of joy.

It will bring you greater blessings than ever before if you prepare to receive the spiritual values awaiting you.

God so loved the world, God so loved the world, the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso believeth, believeth in him, should not perish, should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world.

God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

God so loved the world, God so loved the world, The word that he gave his only begotten Son, That whoso believeth, believeth in him, in him should not perish, should not perish, but have everlasting life, everlasting life, everlasting life, everlasting, everlasting life.

Here now is HMS Richards, the voice of prophecy speaker.

There are many today who recognize the existence of God.

They see his handwriting in the sky, in the constitution of matter itself, in the mystery and wonder of his providence, but do not wish to know him personally.

He is not their God, not their Heavenly Father.

Harry Emerson Fosdick relates that 1 day in Paris a religious procession carrying a crucifix passed Voltaire and a friend of his.

Voltaire, who was generally looked upon as an infidel, raised his hat.

The philosopher with his characteristic irony replied, We salute, but we do not speak.

Jesus said, If he had known me, He should have known the Father also.

It is clear, then, that Jesus said that God is like himself.

He represents God to the world, and in so representing him, he shows us that God is a God of love and that the supreme law of the universe is the law of unselfish giving.

The living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father.

I seek not mine own glory, but the glory of him that sent me.

God is the great giver in creation and in redemption.

The hearts of men are often dark with misapprehension of God, but Jesus brings the light.

He shows that God is our father, who delights in giving good gifts to his children.

And his greatest gift is the gift of his son, for God so loved the world that he gave.

So our Lord Jesus reveals God as a personal being.

Not only does he constantly use the personal pronoun in referring to God, but the attributes of personality are said to belong to him.

Love is the highest expression of personality and of God's character.

He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.

God is no mere philosophical abstraction.

The apostle Paul said, Ephesians 1, 3, that he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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All Teachings

Does It Really Even Matter?

51m

Missing Cecil B

30m

What Jesus Said About God

28m

Present Truth

50m

What Is True Power?

29m

Eyeing Isaiah

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11. Luke: The Kingdom of God

46m

Christ’s Method of Medical Evangelism- Visual Impairment

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Treating Oxidative Stress in Dementia: A Role for Lifestyle Medicine

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Devotional

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Christ’s Method of Medical Evangelism- House Calls

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Three Dreaded Words

25m

Sound Doctrine