Month / December 2012

by In Light Of The Cross

Who Will Wipe The Tears From God’s Eyes?

Southern Christmas Tree

I am writing tonight near the beautiful Southern Adventist University campus near Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away’ ” ( Revelation 21:4, NKJV).

As I read the key verse in this week’s SS lesson, I pause and ask myself, who will wipe the tears from God’s eyes? People say there will be no crying in heaven, but obviously there is, or God would not have to wipe tears from our eyes. God created us with emotions, and He will not turn us into hard-hearted robots, when we see that some have chosen to be lost after so great a price was paid for their salvation.

Yes, there will be tears in heaven, but God Himself will wipe those tears away. Again, my question, who will wipe the tears from God’s eyes? If you are lost, do you believe God will turn Himself into a hard-hearted robot and just forget about you? No way! God says, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3. To me, everlasting means everlasting.

While God’s love is indeed everlasting, some have thought that meant they could get away with anything, and God will still love them. While that is true, unconditional love does not mean unconditional salvation. You see, I can be lost and go to hell, and God will still love me! Which leads me back to my question once more. Who will wipe the tears from God’s eyes?  In Isaiah 49:15 NLT God asks, “Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!” God is not simply making the comparison to a newborn baby. The word “nursing” is present tense. God is saying it would be harder for Him to ever forget you, than it would be for a mother to forget her child while she is nursing it! This is impossible!

Friends, if I were lost, that would be sad for me. However as sad as that would be, my sadness would not last forever. I would be destroyed by hell fire and then would be no more. I would not be missing God for all eternity. But if I were lost, would He be missing me? Would there always be an empty place in God’s heart?

Imagine the prodigal son’s father looking out from the front porch for a trace of his wayward son somewhere off in the distance. Looking day after day, year after year for just a glimmer of hope. Then one day he hears that his son has died while roaming. He won’t be coming home. Do you think that Father who for years watched from his front porch, will no longer pause as he looks out his window into the hills off in the distance?

In Hosea 11:8, After years and years of Ephraim’s rebellion and idolatry, God wrestles with His own emotions, as He cries, “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?”

Revelations 6 finishes with the 6th seal and asks the question who will be able to stand when Jesus comes, and not ask for the rocks and stones to fall on them? Revelation 7 answers that question, that it will be those who are sealed with the character of God. Revelation 7 goes on to describe the various tribes or characteristics that will be sealed. The tribe of Ephraim is not mentioned. Ephraim is not among the saved.

Revelations 8:1 says that after the sealing, there is silence in heaven for the space of half an hour. Many scholars agree this half hour is one week in Bible prophecy, when heaven is emptied of angels as they attend the Son of God as He returns. Without disputing that, I wonder, could the silence be God pausing, just asking Himself if there was anything else He could have done to save Ephraim? In Isaiah 5:3-4 Could God have been referencing a future judgment when He cried,  ”O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?”

Of course God has done all He can do! Still, doesn’t a parent in those situations pause to ask themselves if there was any other way a wayward child could be saved, even when reason tells them everything that could have been done has already been done? Our God is a God of principle, but He also created us in His image with emotions. Do you believe God in His infinite wisdom, knowing that all has been done, will just wipe His hands clean of the lost? My God may be a God of infinite wisdom and principle, but He also has an extremely huge heart! No parent has ever loved with as much passion and emotion as my heavenly Father has loved you! And if there has ever been a parent, who has lost a child, and asked themselves what more they could have done and even second-guessed themselves, it would be my heavenly Father!

Does my heavenly Father err? No! Has He already done all that could possibly be done? Yes! Do I still think He may pause for a moment, before declaring the doom of the lost, to search the depths of his infinitely wise brain just one more time, to see if He can come up with just one more idea? Yes I do! Will He find one? No. Everything has been done.

In Genesis 44 Judah tells the Egyptian ruler, not knowing it was Joseph, about how he broke his father’s heart when his father lost his son. He goes on to explain the heartbreak it would bring his father if Benjamin does not return home. Judah then goes on to convey that he will not break his father’s heart again. Judah would rather rot in prison than break his father’s heart.

Friend! Don’t break my Father’s heart! Yes, you may be able to forget Him but He will never be able to forget you! Please! Be there for my Father! He loves you so much! Be there on that day for my Father. If you choose not to be there, who will wipe the tears from His eyes? Who will be there to put their hands on His shoulder as He peers from His front porch off into the distant hills, and remind Him, no, you aren’t coming home – ever?

I have broken my Father’s heart so many times already, but I, like Judah, refuse to break His heart like that again. I want to be there, not just for myself but for my Father! Will you be there too? If not, who will wipe the tears from God’s eyes?

Be there. Please.

You may study this week’s Sabbath School lesson here.

 

by In Light Of The Cross

The Scapegoat in The Sanctuary

Christmas Tree Cerca Pier

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

There is a song I remember singing a hundred years ago, when I was a teenager. It went something like this, “I owed a debt I could not pay. He paid a debt He did not owe.” Beautiful song, but not exactly theologically correct if you want to get technical. And no, I do not like to get technical and I guess it may be theologically correct in one way, but in another way, it’s not. You see, fact is, I can pay the debt that I owe myself. Romans 6:23 tells us the wages of sin is death. I can pay for and atone for my sins all by myself with no help from Jesus, by dying. I am eternally grateful though, that Jesus did paid that debt for me! Because fact is, I could not pay the debt and live.

Satan, on the other hand, will have to pay the debt and atone for his sins himself.

“But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, [and] to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.” Leviticus 16:10

The scapegoat is cast into the wilderness to atone for sin. The scapegoat represents Satan who, after the cleansing of the sanctuary and investigative judgment, has now been blamed for the sin problem. The guilt and responsibility for sin is placed upon the scapegoat who goes off to the wilderness. This represents Satan, after the literal investigative judgment, spending a thousand years after the Second Coming here on earth, as it lies wasted and barren. After a thousand years of considering his great idea to rebel against God’s government and start his own, he will then realize it was not such a great idea after all.

Still, many have trouble with the scapegoat representing Satan. The Seventh-day Adventist church is unique in believing Satan is the scapegoat. Other denominations ask how can Satan bear our sin? Good question! Fact is, he does not bear our sin, he bears his own sin. He shares our guilt when he tempts us to sin. While Jesus died for our guilt, He did not die for Satan’s guilt, so it is still placed upon Satan. Others point out that the word “atonement” is used. How can Satan atone for our sins? Again, he does not atone for our sins, he atones for his own sin by dying an eternal death. You see, often it is said Jesus died for our sins because we could not atone for our own sins, but this is not true. We can atone for our own sins by dying an eternal death. The wages of sin is death and we can pay those wages in full if we so choose. We can atone for our own sin if we want. Satan atones for his own sin and shared guilt in our sins by being the scapegoat sent off to die an eternal death (Revelation 20). The universe will no longer blame God for the sin problem. Ironically, when the sin problem has been done away with, the only trace of sin will be the nail scars in Jesus’ hands. Thus, the only Person who will bear eternally the result of sin will be the only Person who was totally innocent.

The perfect Lamb of God is my Savior for all eternity! Hebrews 7:25 says, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” My Savior does not live so that He can force angels and humanity to worship Him and sing His praises. He does not live so that He can be a tyrant and boss everybody around. Once the sanctuary is cleansed, and guilt is put in its proper place, it will be seen that the Son of God lives to make intercession for sinners. We will be able to look as far in the past as eternity goes and as far into the future as eternity goes, and see that Jesus lives for one reason; to be our Savior!

You can study this week’s SS lesson here. You can download the SS lessons to your phone here.

by In Light Of The Cross

Expressing Our Love

Nativity St. Pete

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, [so let him give]; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7

I heard someone ask this Christmas season, why we give gifts to each other when it is Jesus’ birth we are celebrating and not our own. Good question. I think the answer comes from Matthew 25:40, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Really, if you think about it, it is no different than when we give tithes and offerings. Our money does not float up to heaven. It stays right here on earth where the tithe helps support the pastor, and the offerings help support everyone else, including the poor who represent God to us just as the pastor does.  So they way we express our love to the church and the poor, ultimately shows God how much we love Him.

 

Soviet Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, the author of Tortured for Christ, suffered terribly for the Lord. Yet he said that even while in prison, he saw fellow Soviet believers practice generous giving. “When we were given one slice of bread a week and dirty soap every day, we decided we would faithfully ‘tithe’ even that. Every tenth week we took the slice of bread and gave it to the weaker brethren as our ‘tithe’ to the Master.”

 

I am sure God did not demand that these prisoners tithe their bread and soap. Yet they felt compelled to, in order to express their love for God.  After understanding the awesome sacrifice Christ had made in expressing His love for them on the cross, they wanted a way to express their love for Christ. They wanted to give all of themselves to Christ since He had given all of Himself for them.

 

It is the same case with the woman in John 12, who broke open a bottle of ointment costing a year’s wages, so she could anoint the feet of Jesus. She was simply giving all she had because Jesus was giving all He had for her. Like the Soviet prisoners she needed a way to express her love.

 

God did not give us the tithe and offering system because he needed our money, but because He knew we too would need a way to express our love. God nor the church needs our money. Both were getting along just fine before we came along and both will do just fine after we are gone.

 

So why did God give us the tithe and offering system? I have a plaque with a picture of the cross and written are the words, “ I asked Jesus how much do you love me?” “This much” He said, ’Then He spread out His arms and died.”  God will finish the work with or without our money. Yet He has given us the tithe and offering system so that when He asks us, “How much do you love me?” We will have a way to answer.

You may study this week’s Sabbath School lesson here.

by In Light Of The Cross

Joyce, Robert and Bradley

In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!.  Luke 15:7 NLT

There was much rejoicing today in heaven and at the Tampa First Seventh-day Adventist church this morning! Bradley was baptized, showing heaven and earth the love for Jesus that has been in his heart for some time now.. Joyce and Robert also took their stand for Jesus and their commitment to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Please enjoy the pictures and short stories.

Seeker's Class Picnic(Click on pictures to enlarge)

A few years ago the evangelism team had a special July 4th celebration at our church. Joyce, who lives in the neighborhood saw our sign and joined us. She had such a wonderful time she has been coming ever since. She joined my Seeker’s Sabbath School class, which is pictured here on a recent picnic, where we had class at the park. Joyce is on my right. Joyce has also joined a small study group, that Mike and Karmin help me lead out. She also was in the Best Weigh program with me, and was a big source of encouragement with all of her success. We already considered Joyce a part of our church family, but this last fall, during our “One Hope” evangelistic meetings, Joyce filled out a card asking to become a member. Joyce, who was already baptized into the Methodist church, where she faithfully loved and served Jesus for many years, joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church today on profession of faith.

Joyce writes, “I learn a lot about God in this church, and everyone is very friendly. I feel very comfortable in this church.”

Robert was a part of the Seventh-day Adventist church a while back, when the Tampa First Seventh-day Adventist church was on Nebraska Avenue. Sadly, Robert and the church parted ways back then, but God has brought healing and that relationship has been restored. Robert has been back with us for about six years, and today, after meeting with Pastor Brad rejoined the Seventh-day Adventist church family. Welcome back Robert!

Robert says one of the reasons he is back,is becasue the Seventh-day Adventist Bible doctrines all make perfect sense.

Bradely

Bradley has been preparing for baptism for some time. He has attended my baptism class at Tampa Adventist Academy, and as pictured here, in my 5th and 6th grade Bible Chain referencing class, where he is learning with the rest of his class to give Bible studies and share his faith. Bradley’s sister Heather, has a small study group for teens at her house. While Bradley is not quite a teen yet, he attends and participates in the studies.

Vows

Pastor Brad went over the baptism vows before we voted Joyce, Robert and Bradley into membership.

Bradley writes: “I want to be baptized to wash away my sins and start a new life with Jesus.”

Bradley2

“In their early years children may be useful in God’s work. . . . He will give them His grace and His Holy Spirit, that they may overcome impatience, fretfulness, and all sin. Jesus loves the children. He has blessings for them, and He loves to see them obedient to their parents. He desires them to be His little missionaries, denying their own inclinations and desires for selfish pleasure to do service for Him; and this service is just as acceptable to God as is the service of grown-up children.”  –Adventist Home, Page 486

Bradley3

” For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.” Romans 6:4-8 NLT

Bay Sunset

Please don’t let the sun go down on your life before you choose to be baptized and give your life to the One who gave His life for you. “Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2 NLT I would love to visit with you about making this step. You can contact me at laypastor@TampaAdventist.net

by In Light Of The Cross

The Spirit of Christmas

Christmas gallaria

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

It was my first Christmas season in Florida. Shortly after Thanksgiving, a father showed up to our Bible study, very discouraged. It was his daughter’s 11th birthday, and due to finances at home he did not have a single dime to buy her a gift. Several days later, I was surprised when his daughter called me at the church, asking to put an ad in the church bulletin. She was organizing a group at her school to collect Christmas gifts for kids who had no gifts. In talking to her, it was clear that she was excited about this, and she definitely was not thinking about any gift for herself. That really touched my heart. This child understood more than the meaning of Christmas. She understood the meaning of life! She was so busy thinking of others that she had no time to feel sorry for herself. I appreciate the Christmas season as it helps me to see the good that is in people all year long. I’m sorry not everyone sees it that way.

Imagine this scenario. It’s a beautiful sunny Florida day. You call me and say, “William, let’s go to the beach and enjoy a beautiful sunset.” I respond, “No way! Don’t you know that some pagans worship the sun, therefore we should have nothing to do with it!” Not very balanced thinking huh? Likewise just because there may be some pagan things pertaining to Christmas it should not keep us from worshiping the Son on that day! I have heard that Christmas is a Catholic holiday. Does that make it wrong? Just because you are not a Catholic does not mean everything they do or have done is bad. Catholics operate good hospitals all over the world where people of all faiths and beliefs receive compassionate care. If we are not Catholic does that mean that we should not have good hospitals just because they do? There are many good Catholics who pray every day. Should we refrain from prayer because Catholics pray? Of course not. So why should we refrain from celebrating a holiday that makes the whole world think of Jesus? Remember, like Christmas, Martin Luther’s origins were Catholic too, so as good protestants should we reject him too? No. We need to “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21  Please remember that in Romans 13 Paul tells us to go along with things as long as they don’t go against the Word of God. While Sunday observance opposes the Sabbath observance, celebrating Christmas does not oppose anything Biblical.

Please remember, that while Paul clearly taught that the feast days were no longer binding, but were a shadow of things to come (See Colossians 2:14-17) that he still went up to Pentecost, as it was an opportunity for him to share Jesus with everyone. (See Acts 20:16 and 1 Corinthians 16:8) with the same missionary Spirit that Paul had, should we not also take advantage of celebrations that enable us to share Jesus, including Christmas and Easter?

The Spirit of Prophecy that rested upon Paul stays consistent as it rested upon Ellen White, who tells us Christmas serves a good purpose.

As the twenty-fifth of December is observed to commemorate the birth of Christ, as the children have been instructed by precept and example that this was indeed a day of gladness and rejoicing, you will find it a difficult matter to pass over this period without giving it some attention. It can be made to serve a very good purpose. –Ellen White, Adventist Home, Page 478

I believe that if Christmas was a day that we should ignore, that God’s prophet would have instructed us so very clearly. She does not instruct us to ignore this day. God gave her no such message.

Nor does the Spirit of Prophecy tell us that a Christmas tree within itself is pagan.

God would be well pleased if on Christmas, each church would have a Christmas tree on which shall be hung offerings, great and small, for these houses of worship. Letters of inquiry have come to us asking, Shall we have a Christmas tree? will it not be like the world? We answer, You can make it like the world if you have a disposition to do so, or you can make it as unlike the world as possible. There is no particular sin in selecting a fragrant evergreen, and placing it in our churches; but the sin lies in the motive which prompts to action, and the use which is made of the gifts placed upon the tree.  –Ellen White, Review and Herald, December 11, 1879 par. 15

Yes, we all know Jesus was not born on December 25. We do not need to celebrate it as Christ’s actual birthday. We celebrate the fact that Jesus became a man and died for our sins. Maybe Christmas was inspired by pagan motives. Joseph’s brothers had “pagan” motives when they sold him to the Ishmaelites. No matter. God used it for good and made Joseph a savior of his times. So today, we have an excellent opportunity to allow God to use a day set up by sinful mankind to turn peoples’ minds and hearts to the Savior. The original motives good or bad do not matter at this point. God can use it for good. This does not contradict Bible doctrine.

My mind goes back to another Christmas I celebrated with my church in Fort Worth Texas. Christmas fell on a Sabbath that year. My church decided to spend Sabbath feeding lunch to the homeless downtown. We had several kids of all ages with us. They were delighted to serve. Now, most of these families waited till sundown to celebrate Christmas and open their gifts, so even though it was late in the afternoon, these children had not opened their gifts yet. After we served and cleaned up I figured, and the parents figured too, that the kids would now be in a hurry to rush home in time for sundown to open their gifts. That is not what happened. These kids begged us to let them stay and serve the evening meal as well, even though another group was coming in to do that. The kids were so excited that they got to stay and serve total strangers instead of rushing home to open their gifts.

Friends the Christmas Spirit these kids manifested, and the Christmas Spirit of my Bible study student’s  daughter was not a pagan spirit. It was a spirit of self sacrificing love, which is what true Christianity is all about!

When Joseph found out Mary was with child, he thought it was rather obvious she had an affair. Wouldn’t it seem obvious to you too? Joseph was wise to hold his peace and not say anything publically against Mary. Good thing he didn’t say anything, because Joseph found out that what had happened was actually done by the Holy Spirit. I am saddened when people judge the motives of people celebrating the Christmas Spirit, by calling them pagan, when in fact they are actually moved by the Holy Spirit celebrating the meaning of life which is Christ Himself.