Tag / Pastor Homosassa Seventh-day Adventist Church

by In Light Of The Cross

Speaking in Tongues in the Bible

Early in my ministry I found myself talking to a man who felt he was led by the Spirit because he spoke in tongues. However, it was not the Bible version of speaking in tongues, where “every man heard in his own language.” He was speaking things no one understood. He told me about a Pentecostal prayer meeting he recently attended, where he was “filled with the spirit,” spoke in tongues and ended up at a hotel with a lady he met at the meeting! I assured Him the Holy Spirit would not have led him to do such a thing. He would not listen to me. He was on an emotional high, going strictly by feelings.

This man was not the only one who put emotions and feelings above Scripture. Not long after, I began studying with three members of a 7th-day Pentecostal church in west Texas. They explained the wonderful emotions that overtakes them when speaking in tongues. Interestingly enough, I preached in their church a handful of times, but they never spoke in tongues while I was there. Still, for years, they put their emotions over Scripture, telling me they knew it was real because they felt it. I sure am glad Jesus did not put feelings above the Word of God, after fasting 40 days in the wilderness, when Satan questioned if He was really the Son of God. I am glad I don’t put need to consult my emotions before the Scripture, when John tells me if I confess my sins, God is faithful to forgive me, even though I still feel terrible about what I have done. It took me several years of study and friendship before this trio were convicted and put God’s Word above their feelings and were baptized and joined my local Seventh-day Adventist Church.

What I find ironic, is how many people sincerely believe that a church has to speak in tongues in order to be spirit-filled, while at the same time scoffing at the Seventh-day Adventist Church for claiming to have the Spirit of Prophecy. Fact is, though, that the Spirit of Prophecy is an identifying mark of God’s last day church, and not speaking in tongues.

And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.  Revelation 12:17 NKJV

the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10 NKJV

Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14:1 NKJV

God’s church has the Spirit of Prophecy, and the Spirit of prophecy is the gift the Bible tells us to pursue above all others, and not speaking in tongues. Why?

Because…

Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe. 1 Corinthians 14:22 NKJV

According to Acts 2:6 Biblical speaking in tongues is when people hear the gospel in their own language.

About ten years ago I heard a young lady preaching. She was a student at Southern Adventist university near Chattanooga Tennessee. She spoke of a mother she knew who was at a local park with her 6-year-old English-speaking daughter. The daughter met a little Spanish girl at the swings, and started talking to her about Jesus. The two little girls continued talking, and both of the girls’ mothers were amazed to hear them  speaking to each other, because the English girl only knew English and the Spanish girl only knew Spanish! God created a miracle so the little girl could hear about Jesus in her own language just like on the day of Pentecost. According to 1 Corinthians 14:22 speaking in tongues is for the unbelievers to hear the gospel in their own language. It is not for the believers in church, because they have already heard the gospel. That’s why they are there.

By contrast, prophesying is for those who already believe. This is very important to understand. We are not supposed to use the Spirit of Prophecy to convince unbelievers. The Testimonies for the church are directed to the church, not unbelievers. It was the same in Isaiah’s day.

Tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Isaiah 58:1 NKJV

Isaiah was given the Spirit of Prophecy to show the church its sins, not the world. The world is to be told there is a Savior, and then they can be instructed through the Spirit of Prophecy, not before. What that means to us today is that we need to be telling our neighbors that Jesus loves and died for them, and not that they need to stop eating cheese or drinking with their meals. But I digress…

So Biblical speaking in tongues is when someone hears the gospel in their own language. Speaking in tongues does not need to be used in the church. It needs to be used outside the church to share the gospel with unbelievers in their own language. When unbelievers accept the gospel and become believers, they are welcomed into the church, where the gift of prophecy is shared with them.

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

by In Light Of The Cross

“That’s Why I’m Here”

Photo by Guy Kawasaki on Pexels.com

The late evangelist Ron Halverson told a story of him knocking on a door one night in Harlem, New York. A young woman answered the door. She had grown up a pastor’s daughter, but had become a prostitute. The woman looked at the Bible in Halverson’s hand and said, “I’m not interested!” Quick-witted Halverson responded as she tried to slam the door, “I know you’re not interested! That’s why I’m here!”

Granted, such an approach would not normally work, but this time it woke the young lady up to a need she had been neglecting. Sometimes we look at our mission field and think the grass is greener in other mission fields. Fact is, the green mission fields don’t need us as much as the parched fields do. The young lady, who answered the door to Pastor Halverson, may not have looked promising, but she actually needed his message more than anyone else in Harlem that night.

Once I was working in a church that seemed just as worldly as the … well, world! The youth teachers openly confessed to me that they entertained the kids instead of teaching them, because they themselves did not know anything about the Bible. When I held evangelistic meetings, the greeters were never around to hand out lesson outlines, because they went home when the meetings started! The musicians would come in and play before my presentation, and everyone would watch as they walked out and went home as soon as they were through playing. An elder in the church told me that his neighbor wanted to come to the meetings and would I please give him a ride. I asked the elder why he could not just bring his neighbor to the meetings himself, since, after all, they lived right next-door. The elder told me he would not be coming to the meetings since he had already heard it all before. It was very discouraging!

I asked God why he sent me to such a spiritually parched church. God told me that it was because the church was my mission field just as much as the community. This changed my attitude, and instead of getting upset because the youth leaders did not know their Bibles, I took advantage of the opportunity to teach them about the Bible and Jesus. The leaders in the church became my mission field. Before long God sent other missionaries more skilled than myself, to help turn the church around. When I left, the church was not at all like I first found it. Thanks to God and the other missionaries He sent, the youth leaders grew (and sadly some left) and there was a totally different spiritual climate in the entire church family.

I would rather have been in a church where the youth teachers knew their Bibles and the members were are on fire to do evangelism, but you know what? A church like that would not have needed me as much as this one did. While it may be easier and a lot more fun to work with people who are spiritually mature and on fire for the Lord, Pastor Halverson realized he was needed where people did not seem interested. I learned the same lesson.

When I was 11, I started piano lessons but quit after just a few weeks. A few years ago, at the age of 48 I started taking lessons again. So I don’t like to say I actually quit when I was 11. I just took a 37-year sabbatical. When I started again, my teacher just happened to be a college musician who I actually met a few years ago when she was only 11. She is more than young enough to be my daughter. Fact is, if I had stayed with my piano lessons when I was 11, I might  have been able to teach her instead of her teaching me. Instead, at the age of 48 I began taking piano lessons from a 19-year-old. She’s never said anything like, “You are almost 50. You should know all this by now.” She never said, “Look at how old you are. You should be teaching me, but instead I am teaching you.” Instead she enthusiastically seized the opportunity to teach me in the here and now.

Sometimes we get discouraged when we see people in the church who we think should know more by now. Maybe they should, but instead of getting discouraged, let’s seize the opportunity to teach. I need a good teacher like my piano teacher, because I don’t have it all together. I struggle with my timing, among other things, so I need a good teacher. If I was a polished musician I would not need her. If everyone in the church already knew their Bibles and had it all together they would not need me. There may be more gifted musicians in the world that are easier to teach than I am, but it is because I am not a gifted musician that I need my piano teacher so much.

So if your mission field looks parched and pitiful, and you are tempted to think the grass would be greener in another mission field, remember, a greener mission field would not need you, like the parched pitiful mission field does. If you look around your mission field and don’t see much potential or interest just remember what Pastor Halverson remembered – that’s why you’re here!

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

by In Light Of The Cross

Why we Need Thorough Bible Study Before Baptism

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV

Many people ask, why the Seventh-day Adventist Church has people go though an entire series of Bible studies before baptism? It is because Jesus tells us to “teach them to observe all things I have commanded you.” This cannot be done in one or two sittings. So why did Philipp baptize the Ethiopian after just one Bible study? Keep in mind that the Ethiopian, as many people were in his time and place, was aware of the seventh-day Sabbath, clean and unclean foods, as well as other Bible standards. Even today there are people we may  be baptized sooner than others because of what they have already learned. I have had people come to my church who have been watching programs like It is Written for several years, and as I interview them I find they are already quite capable of explaining many doctrines from the Bible. That allows us to move on to other topics they may not be as familiar with.

Baptism is a major decision in one’s life – even greater than marriage or a career, as being a baptized disciple of Christ will have a major impact on who we marry and even on the way we perform our work or careers. Just like we do not want to rush into marriage without knowing what we are doing, or choose a career without being properly trained and informed about everything that career includes and demands, we need to have a clear understanding of what it means to be a baptized disciple. Jesus tells us right up front this not a decision to be made nonchalantly.

A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.  And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Luke 14:25-28 NLT

Of course we do not know everything when are baptized. We will be learning throughout eternity, but those considering baptism should be taught enough from God’s Word so they can count the cost and have a thorough enough understanding of what it means to be a baptized disciple of Christ.

Ministers who labor in towns and cities to present the truth should not feel content, nor that their work is ended, until those who have accepted the theory of the truth realize indeed the effect of its sanctifying power, and are truly converted to God. God would be better pleased to have six truly converted to the truth as the result of their labors, than to have sixty make a nominal profession, and yet not be thoroughly converted. These ministers should devote less time to preaching sermons, and reserve a portion of their strength to visit and pray with those who are interested, giving them godly instruction, to the end that they may “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” – Ellen White, Evangelism, Pages 320. 

Over the years, as a lay person giving Bible studies and then as a Bible Worker and now as a pastor, my ultimate goal is not to see people get baptized. It is to see them enter the kingdom of heaven. As we all, lay members and clergy alike share the gospel and give personal and group Bible studies, our goal should be to  study with each person in such a way as to encourage them to not only be baptized, but to be in the kingdom of God. Jesus Himself warns that many will make a nominal profession without ever being saved into His kingdom.

Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws. Matthew 7:21-23 NLT

We need to be faithful while studying with those seeking baptism, in teaching them as Jesus said, “to observe all things I have commanded you,” so we can see them reach the ultimate goal of being with Jesus in His kingdom.

Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. Revelation 22:14 NKJV

You may study this week’s Sabbath School lesson here.
by In Light Of The Cross

Making Friends for Eternity

Before becoming a pastor I spent almost 30 years as a Bible Worker. However, growing up I was not familiar with the term “Bible Worker” until I  found myself on a church softball team, captained by the new local Bible Worker. I failed to eat breakfast before running off to play. Not too bright. In the middle of the game, I began to get dizzy and lightheaded. My team was up to bat when I pretty much blacked out. I was sitting right next to the Bible Worker and told him, as the batter was striking out, “I am blacking out. I can’t even see anything right now.”

His reply? He threw my mitt in my lap and said, “That’s the third out. Let’s go take the field!” Not exactly the reply I was expecting. Needless to say, I did not go out onto the field. I managed to get myself to a nearby building where I got a drink and laid down until my sight came back. I had heard people who had been studying with this Bible Worker say how wonderful he was. I guess already having been baptized, I was not a potential “notch on his belt,” So he was not that wonderful to me. He never even missed me when I failed to come back to the game. I never heard from him again.

At this point in my life, I was not really that familiar with the Bible Worker concept. My church never had one. Therefore I had never really considered becoming one, but on my way home that day, I remember thinking to myself, that if I ever did become a Bible Worker, I would not be like that one! I also told myself that if I genuinely care about people who are about to be baptized, then I would genuinely care about people who have already been or will never be baptized too. So, years later when I became a Bible Worker, I told myself that, as well as being theologically sound, I also want to be relationally sound. I decided to be a genuine caring friend, as well as someone who taught theology.

I was studying with a man, in the first district I had been assigned as a Bible Worker, when he showed up to church with his 14-year-old step-daughter. She had never been to any church before. I went up to the parents of teenage girls in the church, and told them, a young girl is here who has never been to church before. Please have your daughters greet her and befriend her. One parent, who had two teen girls, shrugged her shoulders and said, “My daughters already have friends.” I could not believe what I heard. The girls did not befriend her. Her step-father eventually went to another nearby Adventist church where he got baptized. I do not know the fate of his step-daughter.

Later in another district, I was studying with a war veteran who needed a ride to the veteran’s hospital one day. Wanting to connect him with members of my church, I called several retired members and asked them to give this worthy veteran a ride. One person told me they were unavailable because, “That’s the day I water my garden.” And that was the most legitimate excuse! Not only did this veteran never come to my church, but that was also the end of our Bible studies. Do you blame him?

After studying a few months with a young married couple, they became baptized and joined my church of mostly older people. One of the older elders never reached out to this young couple, until finally he heard them say something in Sabbath School that was not theologically correct, so he took it upon himself to call them later in the day, to “reach out” and tell them that they were wrong! That was the only contact he had with them, and it was not long before they were out of the church. How long would you stay in a church whose elder only called you to tell you that you were wrong?

In Texas I studied with a teenage boy, that for sake of anonymity, I will call Scott. He found a ride to church every Sabbath, as no one else in his family came to church. Shortly after his baptism he moved to Tampa Florida. We had a going-away party for him, and I wrote in a card, “Bible Workers come and go, but friends are forever.” I did not think that much about it. Eight years later I moved to Tampa Florida. I had talked with him a few times after his move. One day, shortly after moving to Tampa, I ran across his name in my address book, and the address “Tampa Florida” jumped out at me. I called the number, to find out that he was in jail. I arranged a visit. Not exactly the reunion I had planned with a former Bible student, huh? We were glad to see each other and had a lot to talk about since our last visit. He explained to me what had been going on with him lately and how ended up in jail. Towards the end of our visit, he told me, “When I moved away, you wrote in my card, Bible Workers come and go but friends are forever. I never forgot what you wrote, and now that you have come to see me after all those years, even though I am in jail, shows me you meant what you said.” I realized even more, that being relational is just as important as being theologically sound. I realized too, that even though he had been baptized eight years ago, my work with him was not through. Scott needed a forever friend. I am glad God moved me across the country to where I could reach out to him.

As a Bible Worker my goal goes way beyond seeing people get baptized. My goal is to see them in heaven. That means being a forever friend to those who are preparing for baptism, and to those who have already been baptized, as well as to those who I may never see get baptized.

Some people think they can’t do Bible work and give Bible studies. Believe me, if I can, anybody can. Even so, what a young teenage girl needed in a small church long ago, was not a Bible Worker but a friend. A veteran just needed a ride to the hospital. A young couple needed someone from the church, to call them just to say hello, instead of just to tell them they were wrong. A young man sitting in jail needed to know someone still cared, even though he was less than perfect.

Bible workers or pastors may get people baptized, but in order to see them all the way into the Kingdom, it takes more than a Bible Worker. It takes a forever friend. Will you be that forever friend?

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

by In Light Of The Cross

Turning Sabbath School Into a Bible Study

I actually thought I was the only one concerned about how little Bible study is actually done in Sabbath School. It seems we study the quarterly more than the Bible. Then I found this quote from 1991, and found out I am not alone, and have not been for years.

“Too often I find that what passes for Bible study in many Sabbath School classes is little more than a rehash of familiar sayings, personal opinion, and Ellen White quotations. It isn’t Bible study, but simply comments about the Bible…..Our “lesson study” has the guise of Bible study but isn’t. It is more a study of the Sabbath School lesson quarterly than the Bible.” –Myron Widmer, Adventist Review, September 12, 1991.

During the quarantine I would ask people what they have been finding in their personal Bible study time, only to get answers about what they heard a television preacher say. I never got any direct answers to my question about personal Bible study time. This greatly concerned me. In Acts 17:11 they were not only listening to Paul preach, but they were searching (not just casually reading) the Scriptures (Not a quarterly or periodical) daily, not just every now and then.

This is why I enjoy Michael Fracker’s teaching plans. These plans make Sabbath school a Bible study that may casually reference the quarterly, instead of a study of the quarterly that may casually reference the Bible. Quarterlies are great as they direct us to the Bible, but we need to follow those directions and go to the Bible. By the way, after using Michael Fracker’s lesson plans for twenty years, I have also helped write his lesson plans on occasion and even edit them. In the process I have also developed a somewhat similar set of lesson plans  following Michael Fracker’s vision of making Sabbath school time Bible study time. While some use my plans and many more use Michael Fracker’s teaching plans, I talk to several Sabbath School teachers who feel more comfortable making their own teaching plans. That is really best. The suggested plans are just to get you started. What is most important is making sure Sabbath School time is Bible study time.

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

by In Light Of The Cross

A Prisoner of Circumstance or the Lord?

Photo by Donald Tong on Pexels.com

Have you ever felt like you were a victim of circumstances? Due to lack of education or money you have missed opportunities? Maybe if you had not married right out of high school you could have explored the world instead of getting tied down. Now you are sacrificing your own dreams in order to create a better life for your family. Meanwhile others wish they had married so they could be experiencing a family. Now those are examples of being a victim of our own choices and not necessarily circumstances beyond our own control. Others feel like they were born victims.

Some blame the location of where they were born on how their lives turned out. Several years ago a friend came to visit me from South America. We were stopped at an intersection where a man was begging. My friend was amazed that there were poor people in the United States. She thought all Americans were wealthy because America is known as the land of opportunity. It seems that, no matter where people come from or what their lot is in life, they can see them selves as victims of circumstances.

While I enjoy my freedom of being single, there are times I miss having a family. I was talking to a friend the other day about one of the things I miss about not having my own family. I miss having someone with whom to share my stories. I don’t have a wife with whom I can share my school yearbook and tell her my high school and college stories. I don’t have any children to whom I can tell my “when I was a kid” stories. Then again, I know married people who don’t have anyone in their family who wants to hear their story either. 1

My friend then made an amazing comparison. She told me while I have no family with whom to share my stories, I share them with my church family and extended family through blogging. She told me Paul was the same way. Maybe that is why he wrote so much and loved his church so much. Having no immediate family, the church was his love and passion, and he shared his story and testimony with them through his letters. Maybe that is why he wrote so much!

Now I have no doubt Paul wrote because God told him to, and it got me to thinking about Paul’s circumstances and one thing I have always noticed: While being persecuted and in prison Paul never thought of himself as a victim of circumstances. He never even though of himself as a victim of the Jews or Romans while in prison. Paul writes,

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.. Ephesians 3:1

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you… Ephesians 4:1

Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner:2 Timothy 1:8

Paul never refers to being a prisoner of the Romans or Jews. Even while in prison Paul saw himself as a prisoner of the Lord! He knew he was exactly where God wanted him to be. Paul did most of his writing from prison. If he had been free to travel and talk to people in person, he would not have written so much, and we would not have had all of his writings preserved in the New Testament that we have today.

Paul was well aware of how an angel freed Peter from prison. Paul was well aware of how Philip just disappeared from one place and appeared in another. Paul knew that the iron bars and soldiers were not really holding him there. He knew he was right where God needed him to be, so he calls himself a prisoner of the Lord instead of a prisoner of man or circumstances.

I have a friend who recently took a job for which she was over-qualified. Based on her education and degree, she should be somewhere else making much more money. She may have even faced ridicule from her friends and family for “lowering” herself to take this job, but where she is living, and based on other “circumstances” this is the best she can do for now. She never complains. Instead she tells me of the people she meets there who need Jesus, people she never would have been able to reach out to if she was not working with them. They never would have come to her church. She never would have met them working any place else. She is glad she is where she is because she is being used by God to reach people who need Him! And really isn’t that where we all should be?

No matter where we are born and raised and work, our real home is in heaven and we are just missionaries to this world, sent from God to share the good news with others. Some of us may be missionaries in places of poverty. Some of us may be missionaries in our families, or if we have no immediate family then in our church family and communities. Some of us may be missionaries in difficult work places, and some of us may be missionaries in literal prisons. Either way we are not prisoners of circumstances. If we love God and have chosen to serve Him, we are only prisoners of the Lord.

  1. By the way, just because I am happy being single does not mean I have chosen to remain single. I am just happy being single until God brings me the right woman. I am not desperate. I am happily content. ↩

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

by In Light Of The Cross

12 Simple Words That Changed How I Look at Life and People

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” Ephesians 6:1-2

My Family with my Grandmother Ruth Holzkamper at her 100th birthday party.

One summer when I was ten years old I spent a week with my grandmother in Arkansas, just a couple hours from where I lived in Oklahoma. At the end of the week my mother came to pick me up. As we were all visiting my mother said something, and I responded with a rude comment. My grandmother told me, “You don’t talk that way to your mother!” I thought she was going to say, because she is the boss of me or bigger than me or something like that, but what my grandmother said next took me by surprise and I have never forgotten. She finished by saying, “You don’t talk that way to someone who would die for you!” My grandmother was right, Of course we obey those in authority because they do know best. We respect them because of their wisdom, experience and guidance, but we should always honor our parents because they love us so much they would give their life for us. 

This does not mean we cannot have disagreements, but those disagreements should always be respectful disagreements, keeping in mind the person we are disagreeing with loves us so much he or she  would give their life for us. This also goes for school teachers. How many tragic school shooting stories have included a teacher dying while protecting her students, even though those students may have been very disrespectful to her? It also goes for law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line. Just earlier this summer I read about an off duty police officer who intentionally got in the path of a wrong way driver and gave his life, to save others who would have been hit. Before cursing the stranger who took the parking space we were aiming for, remember you don’t know their story. Maybe they have risked their lives to save another life. Maybe they were the ones who donated the blood that saved your uncle’s life. Maybe they would take a bullet for you too, you never know. Strangers have taken bullets for other strangers before.

“You don’t talk that way to someone who would die for you.” Twelve simple but profound words, I heard uttered one time almost 50 years ago, that have changed the entire way I look at life and other people. 

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

by In Light Of The Cross

How A Proper Understanding Of The Heavenly Trio Keeps Churches and Families From Falling Under A Dictatorship

Submitting to one another in the fear of God. Ephesians 5:21 NKJV

Do you picture God as just one Being who is a dictator, or do you picture God being a heavenly Trio made up of three persons creating a community of love? If we view God as a single dictator then it is highly likely our families and churches will fall under a dictatorship mentality. If we view God as three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each one creating a community of love, then it is more likely our families and churches will follow the same model. 

1 John 4:8 tells us God is love. Love is being others centered. Even before another creature was ever created God was love, because God was three Persons, each one centered on the needs of the other. 1 Corinthians 13 describes love so it must also be describing God. 

It does not demand its own way.  1 Corinthians 13:5 NLT 

Love does not demand its own way. If God is love does He demand His own way? No. In Matthew 26:39 you have the Son submitting to the Father, saying, “not my will but your will be done.” Did the Son submit to the Father because the Father had to have His own way? No. when being arrested Jesus said in Matthew 26:53 He could have asked the Father to send him 12 legions of angels to rescue Him and the Father would have complied. What you have in Matthew 26 is a heavenly family submitting to each other, the way Paul says families should all submit to one another in Ephesians 5:21 as well as the rest of Ephesians 5. God is all powerful but God is not all controlling. God is not a tyrant  calling all the shots. God is a community of love creating other communities of love. 

Lucifer, on the other hand wanted to destroy God’s community of love and set up His own dictatorship. In  Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” Notice how God did not speak as a lone dictator. God spoke as a community of love, using words like “us” and “ours.” Now notice how Lucifer spoke as he sought to destroy a community orientated government by attempting to set up his own dictatorship. 

For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Isaiah 14:13-14 NKJV 

Notice instead of using words like “us” and “ours” Lucifer is using words like “I” and “my.” Instead of a government being operated by a community of love Lucifer is introducing himself as a lone dictator. Lucifer is also creating something God never intended- a hierarchy. Remember God is all powerful but not all controlling. Lucifer now wants to be the lone dictator with total control. This is something God never intended-ever. God created Adam and Eve as equal partners. Not the same of course but equal. When they sinned in Genesis 3 they were blaming everyone but themselves. By saying others should have been more responsible they were saying others have more responsibility which creates a hierarchy. So when the Lord tells Eve in Genesis 3:16 that your husband will rule over you, He was not creating a hierarchy as much as He was telling Eve by passing blame and responsibility they had just created a hierarchy. 

In Ephesians 5:21 Paul tells us to submit to one another. In Ephesians 5 Paul is trying to destroy a hierarchy and tyrant model family, and replace it with a family like the heavenly Trio, which is a community of love model family. If we see God as just one person who is all controlling, then it is very likely our churches will fall under a hierarchy with one very controlling tyrannical  “leader” calling all the shots. It is also very likely that our families will fall under a hierarchy with one person dominating the rest of the family.

This obviously is not God’s plan. God never created a hierarchy. He never created a dictatorship. He created a community of love. Years ago my church was having evangelistic meetings. One night I was clearing several baptismal candidates for baptism while the baptistry sprang a leak. Deacons were working all night to fix the leak so we could have the baptism the next day,  while I cleared the candidates for baptism. We were working together. That night both our jobs were extremely important. The deacons and I were not the same. We had different functions, but we were equal. As the pastor on the church board, I have a multitude of counselors as Proverbs 15:22 suggests. God’s government is not a dictatorship and neither is my church family. I have worked with a church that changed its lead elder every year, but all the elders worked so well together they often forgot which one was the current lead elder. A community of love is like that. When teaching 1st graders I liked to play a game where one student stepped out of the room while a leader was chosen. When the student stepped back in, the class would be following the leader as the leader would pat her head or rub her stomach and then clap and so on. The others followed the leader mimicking the same motions so closely so that the student who was watching could not tell who the leader was. I believe our churches and families should be governed by a community of love, working so well and closely together that you can’t even tell who the leader is. 

We destroy Lucifer’s tyrannical dictatorship and hierarchy system when we revert back to God’s plan of a government which is a community of love, just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit create a community of love.

If you view God as being one single dictator, then chances are when you read Ephesians 5 you only see the part about the husband being the head and the wife is supposed to submit to the husband. But if you understand the heavenly trio, and understand the Godhead is one family where each one submits to and serves the other, then chances are when you read Ephesians 5 you see more than just the husband being the head and the wife submitting to him. You will also see Ephesians 5:21 where we are to submit to each other. You will also see the part where the husband loves the wife so much he would die for her the same way Christ died for the church. You will see the wife respecting the husband, not because of his power and authority but because of his self-sacrificing love for her. 

Lucifer presents to our churches and families a government ruled by a  lone tyrannical dictator. The heavenly Trio offers our churches and families a government ruled by community and self sacrificing love. 

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

by In Light Of The Cross

One Word of Kindly Cheer

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Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. Ephesians 4:29 NLT 

Forgive me (And I know you will because Ephesians 4:32 tells us to)  for tarrying in last week’s Sabbath School lesson a little longer, but I believe Ephesians 4:29 is worth another glance. We live in a world of negativity and discouragement. Insults are considered comedy and are mainstream in the entertainment world. If you are single, how many times have you woken up, knowing you had a challenging, seemingly impossible day ahead of you, and wished there was someone to share an encouraging word with you as you headed to work? If you are married, how many times have you woken up to a challenging seemingly impossible day, and instead of your family encouraging you, only spoke words of discouragement, making you sink even further into hopeless despair? How many times have you heard a friend or coworker say, “This is not what I needed today!” when they were already carrying an unbearable burden, as someone added the straw that broke the camel’s back with a discouraging word? 

Many, many, have fainted and become discouraged in the great struggle of life, when one word of kindly cheer would have strengthened them to overcome. Never should we pass by one suffering soul without seeking to impart to him of the comfort wherewith we are comforted of God.-Ellen White, Desire of Ages, Pages 504-505. 

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver. Proverbs 25:11 NKJV 

With some rare blessed exceptions, I believer we all at one time or another have longed for an encouraging word in a sea of hopeless despair, only to receive none. Still God’s grace carried us through.. Hopefully this has taught us how much others need a word of encouragement. At the same time, while the world is full of negativity and discouragement, God has His wonderful encouragers all over the place. 

Years ago a pastor friend told me about a visit he had with Jamie. Jamie had been ten years nicotine free, and was the lead teacher of her church’s primary Sabbath school class. Things were going well for her and she was so happy that God had turned her life around from an atheist chain smoker to a productive disciple for Jesus. Then one day things became very stressful at work. Her boss’s temper became uncontrollable and he was threatening to fire people right and left. Jamie was surprised and depressed to find herself smoking cigarettes again-something she thought she would never do again. Saddened by her falling back into an old addiction, she went to my pastor friend and confessed that she was smoking and needed to stop teaching Sabbath School. Instead of accepting her resignation and condemning her, the pastor told her she should definitely not stop teaching Sabbath school. Instead she should and could stop smoking. He reminded her that Psalm 51:17 tells us God will never despise a broken and contrite heart, no matter how many times the same sin has already broken that heart. Jamie went ahead and kept teaching even though she had not totally broken away from the cigarettes. The pastor kept her secret, and prayed with her and encouraged her. Jamie ended up losing her job along with several or her coworkers. Jamie found a new job and soon after shared with the pastor that she had totally stopped smoking again. Jamie was in a small church with a small primary class, and it turned out a couple of the parents had begun to smell the smoke on her even though she never confessed to them. However instead of gossiping and condemning, these parents knew Jamie’s character and understood what was going on in her life, so they prayed for her. This story had a beautiful ending because the pastor and parents were encouraging instead of condemning. They followed the example of Jesus.

Others  He [Jesus]met who were fighting a hand-to-hand battle with the adversary of souls. These He encouraged to persevere, assuring them that they would win; for angels of God were on their side, and would give them the victory. Those whom He thus helped were convinced that here was One in whom they could trust with perfect confidence. He would not betray the secrets they poured into His sympathizing ear.-Ellen White, Desire of Ages, Page 92. 

Who can you speak an encouraging word to today? 

PS If you are reading this and struggling with discouragement, and no one in your circle seems to understand how much you need an encouraging word, please know you are not alone. Jesus knows how you feel. All his friends left him in His darkest hour, yet He said “I am not alone for the Father is with me.” God is with you. He loves you. He sees you and cares for you. God loves you! Don’t give up my friend. I may not even know you, but God knows you, and impressed me to write this paragraph just for you. God loves you and He will see you through to victory!