Month / January 2016

by In Light Of The Cross

Prophecies and Conspiracy Theories

Journalling through Revelation in the Tampa Bay area.

Journalling through Revelation in the Tampa Bay area.

“I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!”
Revelation 2:2-4 NLT

While studying Revelation and last day events, I see our greatest fear should not be secret societies and conspiracy theories. Our greatest fear should be falling out of love with Jesus.

You may study more about Revelation here. 

by In Light Of The Cross

When You Work For Jesus You Will Always Have Friends

 

Journalling Through Revelation in the Tampa Bay area.

Journalling Through Revelation in the Tampa Bay area.

Even in Patmos he [John] made friends and converts. –Acts of the Apostles, Page 573

It’s good to know, no matter where we end up, God will always make sure we have friends we can share Jesus with.

You may study more on Revelation here. 

by In Light Of The Cross

Humility of John The Revelator

I am Jounralling Through Revelation here in the Tampa Bay area.

I am Journalling Through Revelation here in the Tampa Bay area.

I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. Revelation 1:9 NLT

John walked with Jesus, and was called the disciple who Jesus loved. John was one of three disciples privileged to be on the mount of transfiguration. He also was one of two disciples who asked to be seated next to Jesus in His kingdom. Now, here in this text, John does not set himself apart from us as though he was in some special class. He writes to you and me calling himself our brother and partner.

You may study Revelation here.

by In Light Of The Cross

In Jesus’ Hands

Jounralling through Revelation here in the Tampa Bay area.

Jounralling through Revelation here in the Tampa Bay area.

This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels [messengers] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Revelation 1:20 NLT

Before Jesus tells us about all of the calamity, trials, persecutions and crisis coming to the world, He first assures His messengers who share the gospel of grace and truth, that they will always be held safely in his hand.

You may study more on Revelation here.

by In Light Of The Cross

Reaching Billions While Isolated

Journalling through Revelation here in the Tampa Bay area.

Journalling through Revelation here in the Tampa Bay area.

I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus. Revelation 1:9 NLT

So evil people isolate John from the rest of the world so he can’t tell anyone about Jesus, and what happens? He writes the book of Revelation revealing Jesus to billions of people throughout the ages! Don’t worry. No matter who is trying to isolate you, your story about God’s love will be told!

Study more on the book of Revelation here.

by In Light Of The Cross

January 2016 Open Letter to My Faithful Contributors

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I thank God I am still writing tonight from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

Dear Friends,

I want to thank everyone who has been contributing and/or praying for my ministry. It has been a wonderful year! I have kept all my old friends and Bible study students in the Tampa area, while making new friends and contacts in Plant City and beyond. I am enjoying the best of both worlds! Here is just a little of what’s been going on.

In Plant City: We recently did a mass mailing which brought in way more Bible study requests than I was imagining! This brought me to the door of an elderly lady who invited me in. I studied the plan of salvation with her. She asked what church I belonged to. I told her, “Seventh-day Adventist.” She told me her doctor years ago in Tampa was a Seventh-day Adventist. Dr. Guest. She told me how wonderful he was to her, even delivering medications personally to her home when she could not get out. Since he was such a wonderful SDA Christian she decided I should all right to study with too. I thought how cool that Dr. Guest helped me clinch a Bible study while resting in his grave. I hope to live such a life. I took Dr. Guest’s daughter with me on my next study and she was very glad to meet her! She told us she was looking for a church family. I invited her to our Christmas program at the Plant City SDA church, and she has been coming pretty regularly ever since. Last week she accepted the Sabbath!

Destiny is a young lady who attends the Emanuel SDA church across town in Plant City. She recently attended a Bible Worker school in Boston. She is on fire for the Lord, and has been enthusiastically helping me with all the leads we have. We have been working together on Wednesdays and Sabbaths both learning from each other and enjoying our teamwork. Destiny has lived in Plant City all her life, and is helping me find my way around, and she knows a lot of the people who sent in the Bible study request cards. She is a Godsend.

Our Acts 29, Wednesday night youth study continues to attract people from the community. Now, we have been invited to team up with the Spanish SDA Church, meeting in their church as well, to grow our group even more.

In Tampa: Last Sabbath I baptized two people at the Tampa First Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Frank Certificate

During the holidays, Pastor Brad Cassell asked me to call Frank, who had completed the Amazing Facts Bible Study course. Frank joined my New Believer’s Sabbath School class and fit right in. This was the first time he was ever baptized and he is very excited about being a member at Tampa First.

Janea Baptism

Janea is the granddaughter of Larry and Janice Green, who were members of my class, and I have already studied with and baptized one of their granddaughters. Janea recently moved to Tampa in search of a new life with Jesus! Its been a pleasure and honor working with Larry and Janice’s family.  Earlier in October I had the pleasure of baptizing Dekontee after our Bible studies, just like her sisters years before.

Tampa Adventist Academy: Every year I teach the 5th and 6th grade how to chain reference their Bibles to give Bible studies and get decisions for Jesus. This year I gave them a new assignment. They provided videos of them giving an actual Bible study to a friend or family member. The videos were sensational.

Naomi

After one class, where we chain referenced the Plan of Salvation, Naomi was giving the presentation to her family for family worship before I even gave the assignment to share the studies with others!

Earlier in the year I held my annual baptism class at TAA, which led to four baptisms last fall.

Beyond Tampa Bay: Last October I celebrated my 50th birthday by going to Hugo, Oklahoma where I preached at the Hugo Seventh-day Adventist Church, and used Sabbath School time for a how to give Bible studies workshop. I also spoke that evening at their fall festival. I am available this year for more engagements so I would love to hear from you.

Again I want to thank everyone for keeping my dream alive to be sharing Jesus each and every day. The Plant City SDA Church is currently putting together a new website and hope to make online giving easier. In the meantime I appreciate your systematic contributions to the Plant City SDA Church, PO Box 5379 Plant City, FL 33563. Thank you for marking it for the “Bible Worker Fund.” Thank you for your contributions and for also sharing this opportunity with your friends and asking them to give and/or pray for this ministry. God bless you and happy 2016!

Your Christian Servant,

William

PS Please follow me on Facebook or my blog inlightofthecross.com to see even more exciting things God is doing in Plant City, Tampa and beyond!

by In Light Of The Cross

Who Was King David’s Worst Enemy?

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I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

I trust in you, my God! Do not let me be disgraced, or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat. Psalms 25:2 NLT

David prayed for deliverance from his enemies. He also prayed they would not disgrace him. David faced Goliath, but Goliath did not turn out to be too much of an enemy as he fell by the first stone David threw. King Saul tried to destroy David too, but he was not much of an enemy to David after all, since he fell on his own sword. David’s own son Absalom tried to rise up against David, but he ended up hanging himself in a tree.

We have met the enemy and they are us. -Walt Kelly 1960’s

Then one day, while the war is going well and David’s throne secure, David saw a woman bathing outside on a flat roof. Well, David more than saw a woman bathing. We all see things we shouldn’t see sometimes, and hopefully we look away. David did not look away. He saw, and then he watched. Next thing we know, David hasdone something Goliath, Saul and Absalom could never do – disgrace David!

David was worried about his enemies, but in the end the only person who ever got to defeat David was David himself!

David defeated Goliath head to head, or at least slingshot to head, but the other cases were a little more interesting. Saul was afraid of David, but David did Saul no harm. Saul ended up falling on his own sword. Saul should have been more afraid of Saul, and David should have been more afraid of David, instead of each one being afraid of the other one. They both did themselves in, not each other. David did no harm to Absalom. Absalom hung himself in a tree. So Absalom was his own worst enemy. Saul was Saul’s worst enemy, and David was David’s worst enemy.

We are told that “We have far more to fear from within than from without.” –Ellen White, Last Day Events, p.156. 1

All the more reason to pray:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalms 139:23-24 NLT

You may study this week’s SS lesson here. 

by In Light Of The Cross

Frank and Janea’s Baptism Pictures and Stories

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In 2008 the Tampa First SDA Church invited ASI to hold evangelism meetings at our church. Wayne (far right) an ASI Bible worker met Larry and Janice going door to door, and they were soon baptized into our church family.

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A few years later Aaliyah, Larry and Janice’s granddaughter came to live with them, and  they shared Jesus with her, and I was soon invited to have baptism studies with her.

Janea Certificate

But the story does not end there. Janea, another granddaughter of Larry and Janice has recently moved to Tampa with her family. Janea told me she wanted to be baptized and have a fresh new start, living for Jesus.

Janea Baptism

 

Today Janea received her brand new start with Jesus. While her grandparents shared Jesus with her, Janea now will be sharing Jesus with her children and all of her friends and neighbors. I am looking forward to the next chapter, as I am sure this is till not the end!

Frank Certificate

Pastor Brad called me during the holidays last year to tell me about Frank, a man who had been doing Amazing Facts Bible Studies through the mail, and now wanted to be baptized. While studying with Frank, I learned that he also enjoyed watching Doug Bachelor. Frank had never been baptized before or joined a church, and he told me he was very excited to be baptized for the first time, and join the Tampa First Seventh-day Adventist Church, a Bible believing, Commandment keeping church.

Brad Bapstims Vowa

Before the baptism Pastor Brad went over the baptism vows and welcomed Frank and Janea into church membership.

Frank Baptism

 

Frank is currently attending my New Believer’s Sabbath School class, but wants to join the spiritual gifts class soon, so he can find ways he can serve his Savior in his new church family. Frank, like Janea are already making many new friends at Tampa First.

 

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Please don’t let the sun set on your life before you give all of yourself to the One who has given all of Himself for you. You may contact me at LayPastor@TampaAdventist.net. I would also like to give a special thanks to those who continue to support my ministry, which is based solely on contributions to the Plant City SDA Church PO Box 5379 Plant City, FL 33563. Please note for Bible Worker Fund, so I can continue sharing Jesus in the Tampa Bay area and beyond! Thank you!

by In Light Of The Cross

Why God Needed to Make Peace With Heaven

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I am writing tonight from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. Colossians 1:19-20 NLT

Why did God need to make peace with heaven? This verse right here may help us understand just how real the war in heaven was. Even after Lucifer was cast out, those who remained may have still had their doubts. Did God really love them, or did Lucifer have some good points about God just being a tyrant? On earth Eve was convinced God did not care for her and she needed to eat the fruit and disobey, if she really wanted to be happy. While all this was going on, is it possible some of the remaining angels in heaven still had some questions? Have you ever been loyal to a boss not because you thought he was fair, but because you did not see any way out? So out of fear you remained loyal to him, still wishing you weren’t in that situation? If so, what did it take for you to reconcile the situation so you could have peace at work and not just conformity?

When the Son of God died on the cross He was not just atoning for Eve taking a piece of fruit she was told not to. Eve’s disobedience was a symptom of her doubts. The Cross of Christ did not just take care of the symptoms of sin. The Cross took care of sin itself! The Cross removed all doubt about God’s love. All questions in heaven and earth are answered at the cross! There can be conformity while rebellion is still in the heart. The cross goes way beyond bringing us into conformity and outward obedience. The cross replaces our thoughts of rebellion with peaceful thoughts towards God.

That which alone can effectually restrain from sin in this world of darkness, will prevent sin in heaven. The significance of the death of Christ will be seen by saints and angels. Fallen men could not have a home in the paradise of God without the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Shall we not then exalt the cross of Christ? The angels ascribe honor and glory to Christ, for even they are not secure except by looking to the sufferings of the Son of God. It is through the efficacy of the cross that the angels of heaven are guarded from apostasy. Without the cross they would be no more secure against evil than were the angels before the fall of Satan. Angelic perfection failed in heaven. Human perfection failed in Eden, the paradise of bliss. All who wish for security in earth or heaven must look to the Lamb of God.-Ellen White, Signs of the Times, December 30, 1889

Some have the idea that once we get to heaven, God will flip a little switch in the back of our heads that makes us stop sinning. After all, we will be in heaven and so we automatically won’t sin right? Wait. Where did sin begin? Heaven! The reason why humans and angels will not sin, is the same reason why God reconciled both heaven and earth to Himself. The cross of Jesus. The cross cures the root cause of sin which is doubting God’s love. The reason there will be no sin in heaven is not due to a mechanical correction that the flip of a switch will fix. The reason there will be no sin in heaven will be because the cross will cure humans and angels alike from ever doubting God’s love, and thinking we need anything God has not given us. There will be no reason to rebel. Rules without relationship causes rebellion. The love of Christ on the cross removes our fear of God, so we are not afraid to have an intimate relationship with Him. With our relationship cured we will have no reason to rebel. We won’t be conformists. We will be free thinking moral agents who are at peace with God because God is love.

You may study this week’s SS lesson here.

by In Light Of The Cross

God’s Idea of Repentance

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I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. Genesis 6:5-6

Here we see God’s idea of repentance. When God repented that He had made man on earth, He wiped man out with a flood and started all over with Noah’s family. God’s example of repentance includes change. God repented by changing what He had done. The American Sign Language sign for change is making the “c” sign and twisting your hands signaling a change. The sign for repentance is the same motion, but with the “R” sign. So when a deaf person (or hearing for that matter) sees the word “repentance,” they see “change.”

I saw a meme on Facebook the other day that I think says it best.

“Repentance is not when you cry. It is when you change.”

Unfortunately we can’t change ourselves.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. Jeremiah 13:23

Fortunately God can change us!

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

A while back I was convicted that I was drinking too many sodas. I prayed about it. I started drinking a lot more water, and then one day decided to “splurge” and have a Pepsi. That was a waste of $1.06, because after two sips it tasted so sickening sweet, I dumped the rest out and refilled the cup with water. God changed and converted my taste buds when I was totally powerless.

The repentant thief on the cross never actually said he was sorry (at least there is no record of it). He repented by changing his attitude and behavior towards Jesus. He called Him Lord and professed his faith in Jesus and the resurrection, while everyone else was still mocking Him.

God made no mistakes to be repented of, but in the story of the flood we see that when God changed something it was called repenting.

You may study this week’s SS lesson here.