The Uncommon Denominator

Larry Kirkpatrick. Fairplain Church

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"It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times." So begins the famous novel written a few centuries ago by Charles Dickens. I suppose that that thought is truly among those which best portray the situation in our time. For as we move closer and closer to the rapidly approaching end of the great controversy between good and evil, we both rejoice, lifting up our heads, knowing that our redemption draweth nigh, and yet we grieve as we see a tidal-wave of misguided innovations rushing into the very midst of God's last-day church. To be a follower of Jesus today means to find one's self operating in a battle-field upon which it can be very difficult to know just what to do. Which soldiers are on the same side as you? Have things as the pioneers of this message knew, understood, and taught them, been so wrong? Is that why there are so many winds of doctrine blowing today? Friends, could it be that what we as God's people need to know today, is what we could call the uncommon denominator? What agency has God chosen to link us together with Him and with each other? What is the one thing that all who would successfully serve God have? Today, we have gathered here, into this place to observe the ordinances of the Lord's supper. And so we want to place our mind in a positive frame. Today we know that the Holy Spirit and the angels of God have gathered into this sanctuary with us here in a special manner to impress this service upon our senses. Today Jesus meets with us here, through His Holy Spirit, and energizes us with His presence. Today we gather to publically proclaim our belief in Jesus as Lord and our soon to be fulfilled hope that Jesus is coming again. So let us turn then, to 1 Corinthians 11:23f. These lines place before us the service of the Lord's supper:

"For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread: and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me."

No, things were not at all just right "in the church" on the night when Jesus launched this service of the new covenant. On that very night, He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. And so along with the truth that most of Jesus' servants were only seeking to be loyal to Him, there was another one who betrayed Him there too. There was something missing for Judas. Between him and Jesus there something was lacking--something very important. The uncommon denominator was missing. Another story in the Bible makes a portrayal that appears vividly similar. Come with me to John, chapter six. John, chapter six, and read with me starting in verse 52. You see, Jesus had just fed the 5000, and many had only days before sought to make Him their King. But He had refused (John 6:15). The kingdom they had expected and the one which He had come to preach were not at all the same. And when they saw Him feed the 5000 they were amazed. Ah. Free food! "If He can do this, then surely He can wipe out the Romans who control our land," they thought. But Jesus saw through it all; He knew that they were largely attracted by the miracles that He did. Because the truly big miracle is when you and I submit to God and permit Him to change us on the inside. Now that is a big miracle. But all these other ones are small ones. No, Jesus said, you folks are attracted by the free food. They asked Him what sign He would give them, and then suggested one (they were so subtle!). "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert," they said (John 6:31). Then Jesus told them that He Himself was the true manna from heaven. Manna was just a figure of the true sustenance for God's people--His own Son, Jesus Christ. But they reacted just as Nicodemus had reacted at first. "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" they mocked (John 6:52). But "Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you" (John 6:53). I suggest to you today, that the uncommon denominator that we all must share in, if we are to be God's people in these last days, is our acceptance of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Yes, today we will receive the unleavened bread and the pure juice of the grape, in symbol portraying what Jesus has done for us. But let us try also to understand why He uses these symbols. So what does it mean to eat the flesh of Jesus? What is the breaking of His body? Today, we can only look for a moment. So we cannot dwell upon the full meaning of the foot-washing service, or of the reason we take the wine today. But let us consider briefly, the broken body of Christ. Remember what Jesus said about the bread in 1 Corinthians 11:24? "This is My body, which is broken for you." When He had prayed, He broke the bread. Do you remember Gethsemene? When He had prayed to the Father there, He just kept on pleading and pleading. Finally He chose to go through with the horror of the full experience of the second death on our behalf, and then fell dying to the ground. The weight of the sin of the world was bearing down upon Him. Every filthy wickedness that you and I and billions of other humans had done or ever would do, was pressing down upon His heart there in that garden, like all the pressure of a giant press, squeezing and squishing Him. All the holiness of God washed up against all the vileness of our sin and no, we cannot really even begin to conceive of what our Saviour went through to secure for us the possibility of our salvation. "This is My body, which is broken for you." That is, Jesus points to the hours just ahead of Him, when He will die on our behalf, and ratify the new covenant. "This, My body, is on the point of its momentous breaking on behalf of humankind. But although My face will be marred more than any man (Isaiah 52:14), I will do it because I love you so much." As He entered that garden, the disciples would notice the change that was to come over Him. In the cold breeze of the evening they would see a new expression on His face that would strike terror into their souls. What did Jesus feel there in the garden? Listen with me to a few lines from The Desire of Ages, pp. 686-687.

He went a little distance from them--not so far but that they could both see and hear Him--and fell prostrate upon the ground. He felt that by sin He was being separated from His Father. The gulf was so broad, so black, so deep, that His spirit shuddered before it. This agony He must not exert His divine power to escape. As man He must suffer the consequences of man's sin. As man He must endure the wrath of God against transgression.

Christ was now standing in a different attitude from that in which He had ever stood before. His suffering can best be described in the words of the prophet, "Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts." Zech. 13:7. As the substitute and surety for sinful man, Christ was suffering under divine justice. He saw what justice meant. Hitherto He had been as an intercessor for others; now He longed to have an intercessor for Himself. As Christ felt His unity with the Father broken up, He feared that in His human nature He would be unable to endure the coming conflict with the powers of darkness. In the wilderness of temptation the destiny of the human race had been at stake. Christ was then conqueror. Now the tempter had come for the last fearful struggle. For this he had been preparing during the three years of Christ's ministry. Everything was at stake with him. If he failed here, his hope of mastery was lost; the kingdoms of the world would finally become Christ's; he himself would be overthrown and cast out. But if Christ could be overcome, the earth would become Satan's kingdom, and the human race would be forever in his power. With the issues of the conflict before Him, Christ's soul was filled with dread of separation from God. Satan told Him that if He became the surety for a sinful world, the separation would be eternal. He would be identified with Satan's kingdom, and would nevermore be one with God.

So. Do you get a sense of what Jesus faced? What does it mean when He tells His disciples that His body is broken... For us? He was willing, just for you, to put His eternal unity with the Father at risk. But what is the result of what He accomplished for us on the cross? Turn with me to Hebrews 10:16: "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them." Jesus made it possible for us to live as He did. Through His experience in Gethsemene and upon the cross, His body was broken for us. A sacrifice worthy to be offered in the heavenly sanctuary was wrought out for us. Again, hear this from Desire of Ages, pg. 664:

'Verily, verily, I say unto you,' Christ continued, 'He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also.' The Saviour was deeply anxious for His disciples to understand for what purpose His divinity was united to humanity. He came to the world to display the glory of God, that man might be uplifted by its restoring power. God was manifested in Him that He might be manifested in them. Jesus revealed no qualities, and exercised no powers, that men may not have through faith in Him. His perfect humanity is that which all His followers may possess, if they will be in subjection to God as He was.

Today we can rejoice that heaven has paid so high a price for us. We do not realize how precious we are in the sight of God. And He would have gone through all of this, just to save your soul, if you were the only soul that needed to be saved. This is the weight with which God values you. Now some of us come here today, and we can't see these victories in our life. "Well," we say, "my life sure isn't worth much. I don't have the victory. I am still drowning in my sins. How can God love me?" But may I ask you, where in the Bible does it ever say that Jesus' love is founded upon our gaining the victory? He died to give us the victory because He loves us; not to keep us at arms length until we get the victory. Oh, how we long for that victory over sin in our lives. And God is absolutely ready to give it, and does give it. But remember that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Shall we then despair? Should that person quietly arise and slink out of this sanctuary, and wait until they've gotten "better" before they partake of the communion? No friend. No. Search your heart before the Lord, confess to Him your sins, and plead with Him to put them away from you. Ask that He cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Plead with Him, "O Lord, take this day and let me make a new start with Thee." Take hold upon His strength, and be strong. He is our hope, not we ourselves. Today, for you, make it the best of times. Recommit yourself to Your Maker, and go forward. Let joy fill your heart and not sorrow. The end is closer than when we first believed. God will purify His church. The shaking will only intensify as we near the end. The grand finale cannot be far off. We cannot wallow in our old way of living any longer. Let us go forward today, and break loose, and look unto Jesus. On this day may we all stand closer to Him, uniting ourselves with Him, and receiving His uncommon empowerment that makes us more like Him. Let us fill our lives with His life, which is the uncommon denominator. May Christ in us, the hope of glory, make this morning one ever to be remembered as one of the unique moments of commitment in our spiritual journey. When we invite Him in, He will not disappoint us, and the church will go forward under the approval of heaven, accomplishing His will, and Jesus will return.

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Who Shall Stand With the Lamb?

Larry Kirkpatrick, Fairplain Seventh-day Adventist Church Revelation 6:15-17; 14:1-5

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Somewhere right now, perhaps, someone is aiming a bowling ball down the alley. And the grand result is a big gutter ball. But do you know, that in the end, it really doesn't matter. It just doesn't. And maybe a few lanes away, anotehr ball is carefully aimed and launched, and with a glorious crash the result at the other end of the lane is a strike-every pin down. But. It just doesn't matter. Who won the NBA championship last year? To some of us somehow that's very important. But in the long term or event he short-term scheme of things-guess what? It just doesn't matter. Probably the most important question that anyone can ask, is who shall stand with the Lamb? Who are the flesh-and-blood, true-to-life people, who will successfully pass through the grand finale of the conflict between good and evil--God and Satan? Oh yes. The question is, who will do it without a stunt double? Unfortunately, Scripture tells us that in the end there will be a tragic loss of people who were too-salvation-assured. Matthew 7:21-23 records their appeal to God. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Please notice right off that as our Lord introduces this group He immediately pinpoints the issue. It is not saying Lord, Lord, but obeying the Lord that is at the bottom of His appeal. "Many will say to me in that day"--is this a large group or a small group? "Many"--and when? "In that day" what day is that? The day of "entry into the kingdom"--The end-time, just on the other side, just after all decisions have been made. "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?" My, don't they sound like religious folk? Haven't we prophesied, haven't we spoken as your mouthpiece, as authoritative spokesmen of your will to humankind? (Exodus 4:15-16; Amos 3:7). But God says that is not yours or my supposed spokesman-for-God status that is a condition of entry into His kingdom, but doing His Father's will. "And in thy name have cast out devils?" Haven't we done miracles? Haven't we acted as religious specialists for you? But God says that miracles done through our ministry--true or false miracles--are not about our entry into His kingdom, but what matters is doing His Father's will. "And in thy name done many wonderful works?" Like their spokesmanship for God, and their ministry of miracles, their many religious activities, were empty. They were so caught up in serving God on their own terms that they didn't realize that they weren't serving God at all. They were serving themselves! They were caught in a loop of counterfeit Christianity. How does Jesus define this counterfeit Christianity? As our religious activities done in service of ourselves, in contrast to obedient following of God and His truth. It is the substitution of a mundane life-experience and a mundane Christianity for the real thing. It is a question of sin, for Jesus finished by saying to them "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." What we do in God's name does not make us Christians, but what we do defines whether we are Christians. Does going to church every weekend make us Christians? Or returning tithes or offerings to God? Or being a member of a church? Does living up to all the spiritual understanding that our grandma and grandpa had make our claim to Christianity valid? Or even living up to all the light of our own spiritual understanding from five years ago or ten years ago or thirty years ago. In other words, have I learned more since then? And if so, can I stop advancing and still be a Christian? John 12:35 says "walk in the light while ye have the light." The next verse says "While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light." Here is the pattern: opportunity to know, belief in, and actively living by. How well are we presently taking advantage of our opportunity to know? How are we treating our opportunity? In Ellen White's book Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, we read on page 146 "A belief that does not lead to obedience is presumption." In Genesis 25:29-34 we find the story of Esau selling his birthright cheaply for a bowl of red lentils. Verse 32 shows that He was caught up in the interests of the moment. Consider His point of view "I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?" And so he sells to Jacob his birthright--both its material and its spiritual endowments. Would you sell out you Christianity for a cheeseburger? If we willingly accept the out-dated Christianity of the past, aren't we--in these last days--selling our spiritual birthright short? What is our birthright? Ø to become sons and daughters of God (John 1:12) partaking of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:3,4); although born into a weakened nature grossly inclined to selfishness, we can receive from God a supernatural inward change. We can be morally re-harmonized with God and heaven. Ø to be the primary participants in the vindication of God's character in the great controversy (Romans 3:4), sharing as a group in this unique experience (Ephesians 3:10,21; Revelation 14:1-5). What does it mean to finally stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion. What does it mean? This is sometimes one of the most carefully avoided sections of Scripture, because of its implications. Consider these implications: that God can produce a people who are really "guileless" and "without fault;" a people, who--willing to be made willing through their Savior's inward work upon them--are called to stand with Him through His decisive and final demonstration in the great controversy. If God can produce such a group, then what excuse is there for sinning? All excuses are removed and every mouth is stopped. God's fairness and our responsibility for our continued sinning is clear. Our condemnation is made crystal clear. All escapes are cut-off, and man finds himself responsible to live a gospel-empowered life. Is it an option for the last generation, or a necessity to be in the 144,000? This question must be asked and answered. These are scriptural givens: Ø All men are saved the same way Ø God's kingdom is not a society of distinct upper and lower classes Ø The climax of the conflict between good and evil occurs not at the beginning, but at the end of the conflict Ø There is more "light" provided to God's people at the end than at any time previous to that, and thus more responsibility Ø God does not expect impossibilities of His people or impose arbitrary requirements Ø Through the playing-out of the conflict between good and evil, God purposes to end sin once and for all without taking away our free will Ø In the end there are only two groups, no matter how you cut it: Ø Matthew 25:31-46. Sheep and goats Ø John 5:28-29. They that have done good and they that have done evil Ø Revelation 7:1-4; 13:16. Those who are sealed with God's seal and those who are marked with the beast's mark Ø Romans 2:13. Those who do God's will and those who don't Since the 144,000 are obviously the saved group, everyone else must be in the lost group. Some have thought that the "great multitude" are a separate group (Revelation 7:9-17). But a comparison of the great multitude with the 144,000 shows them to be the same group during two different time periods: one while on earth, and one while in heaven. The great multitude are the 144,000. Again, all sin, when full-grown, leads to death (James 1:15), so no one that has sin in them will enter heaven. There is no one else on the playing field, so to speak. Only the 144,000. They will not be sinning. 1 John 3:6. We will all be saved in the same way, but from out of a situation in which all the light that God has given to the final generation is necessary for their protection. God is neither stingy nor wasteful in giving us His light. He gives what is needful. Let's turn now to Revelation 14:1-5, our main passage, and see what we can learn from its description of these people who stand finally with Jesus. "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion." John is looking, and up there on center stage appears one altogether lovely. It is none other than Jesus Himself. In John 1:29 He was declared to be "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." In Revelation 13:8 we learn that Jesus was in effect, slain from the foundation of the world. Yes, here He stands. Our Lord, our personal Savior, Jesus. He gleams with purity and truth, unspotted, untainted, altogether holy. Before Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, Jesus and the Father had agreed that if man should disobey while still immature, He would be given a renewed opportunity to reenter His birthright. Jesus would die in our place, so that we could live and receive His power for obedience. His death would stand in the place of the death of the repentant sinner. He would die so that we could live. What a transaction heaven makes for us! And where is Jesus standing? "on the mount Sion." Mount Zion was what the city of Jerusalem was called. But Psalm 48:2 shows us that Mt. Zion has a spiritual meaning too. "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King." Where did Satan want to ascend? "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north" Isaiah 14:13. Satan wanted to stand where the Lamb stands. He wanted to win all humanity to his side and chain us to his chariot, his lost slaves suited only for destruction. He wanted to stand victorious, having defeated God in the great controversy. But instead the Lamb stands--with the 144,000! He stands on mount Zion. Again God says of Mount Zion, "For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth" Isaiah 62:1. God bound His own fate and the fate of His universe up with the fate of His people. He refused to rest until the righteousness of His government would go forth. Here "righteousness" is paralleled with "salvation." God wants to make His government a Jerusalem, a city of peace. But until Satan's charges against God are put down and shown to be false, God works among us, to bring both us and Him to mount Zion, standing together. Can He pull it off? Obadiah 21 says so. "And Saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's." As Noah judged his world by his obedience in building the ark, we judge this world by letting God bring us to the place where we keep His commandments, we live victory over sin, and in doing so, we become like Jesus our Saviour, and in a very different sense, we too come to stand on Mount Zion, judging Satan's kingdom. God points to us and says, "Satan, you are wrong. These people loved righteousness and salvation more than the pleasures of sin for a season. They stood for something that really mattered." So God blows the trumpet in Zion today (Joel 2:1) telling the world that "the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand." Yes, Jesus is standing on Mount Zion, and He is not alone... "and with Him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads." What marks this group? Something unique in their forehead, something unique in their minds, in their actions and thoughts and habits and motives; something unique in what they are, in what they have become! The mind was made for God. Romans 12:2 commands us to cease from being conformed and molded into the shape that the world is molding us. And make no mistake, it is in the very process of molding us. It doesn't shut off the moment we walk through the doors of the church. Even as we sit here and hear the word of the Lord Satan is at work to conform us to the world's ways in the place of God's. We have already allowed him to put such a load of poison into our minds that even as we hear God's message he suggests attitudes toward it. "Oh, Larry's preached all this stuff to us before." Or "I read a book about this, and this is a bunch of balony." Or "This is boring. I already heard an evangelist talk about this and I already know the answer." But instead, God urges us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. In the devotional Sons and Daughters of God, page 370, Ellen White puts it this way: "All who enter [heaven] will have on the robe of Christ's righteousness, and the name of God will be seen in their foreheads. This name is the symbol which the apostle saw in vision, and signifies the yielding of the mind to intelligent and loyal obedience to all of God's commandments." God's name in your forehead means you have yielded your intellect, your emotions, and your will, to an settled and comprehending obedience to God. It means that your mind is no longer Satan's garbage pit, but it has become an environment where God's ways are constantly playing in the background and in the foreground and in the midrange. It means a mind literally reprogrammed by the living God. But God only reprograms the willing. And only a willing person will invest the personal energy required to allow God to work inside of us. "And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and before the four elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth." John listens while in vision and does he hear angel songs? No! He hears the song--the unique song--of the redeemed! They are singing before God's throne. Only they can sing the song that they sing. Remember, the Bible says that when it comes to singing we are sing with the understanding (1 Corinthians 14:15). These people are singing with understanding about a unique experience that they share. They have lived through the end-times. In Great Controversy, page 649 Ellen White, speaking of these people says "These, having been translated from the earth, from among the living, are counted as 'the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.'" "These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins." Women in Bible prophecy represent churches; a pure woman represents a pure church (Revelation 12:1; Jeremiah 6:2), an impure woman represents a fallen church (Revelation 17:3-5). These Christians who stand upon mount Zion with Jesus victorious in the end are not defiled by false religious bodies or churches. They have followed the Lamb out of religious bodies that along their track have ceased to follow Him in obedience. They have left behind misguided and unbiblical teachings and practices. They are thus identified as "virgins." They arrive at a pure faith--they have allowed God to cut-away from their thinking the doctrinal flim-flam that soft-sells God's will and promotes disobedience to Him. "These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." They follow the Lamb anywhere that He goes. Because Jesus is not stationary. He has moved from earth into the heavenly sanctuary, and from its holy place to its most holy place. Behind the veil with the ark of God that contains His law and the presence of the Father Himself, Jesus is there. And by faith we also follow Him there. Friends, this is the ultimate identifier of God's last day people. They are perhaps best described in all the Bible, as "followers of Jesus." That is demonstrated by their obedience to His commandments. Yes, they receive the seal of God. But note that where His law is, Jesus is. God's people are there because Jesus is there. His law in stone is wonderful, but Jesus is God's law in the flesh. He is the embodiment of righteousness. He is to us the one altogether lovely. And so we follow Him. You know, it is interesting that the only one who told Jesus he would follow Him whithersoever He would go was the only one that was ultimately lost. Jesus told Judas, when he came to follow Him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head" Matthew 8:19-20. Judas was seeking the earthly kingdom. The things that mattered to him were to serve God on his own terms, his own agenda. Jesus pointed out to him that His kingdom was not of this world. But Judas tried to make his religion that. And there will be no Judas's standing with Jesus on mount Zion. Could that be you or I? Are we seeking God's kingdom, or our own kingdom? Will we follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth? What if it means giving up our darling sins? What if it means becoming holy people? What if it means we must step out of the common tracks in which we walk to follow the Lamb? "These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." These were redeemed, bought back, taken away from among the lost, made safe, purified, and preserved. They are the first entire offerings to God from the final harvest. They give up all for Jesus. The wave-sheaf was the first part of the grain harvest, offered to God in acknowledgment of His ownership. These followers of the Lamb are heralds of the end of sorrows and the beginning of the joy of eternity, of time when every tear will be wiped away and Zion will be a joy! "And in their mouth was found no guile." There are two words used in different manuscripts. One, dolos is the same as in John 1:47, "Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile--no decoying, or no bait or fakery. But most manuscripts, including many in the Textus Receptus family, have pseudos here, meaning literally a lie. In John 8:44 Satan is identified as the father of lies (peudos). In Romans 1:25 those are condemned who changed the truth of God into a lie (psuedos). In 2 Thessalonians 2:9 we find the man of sin working with al signs and power and lying (pseudos) wonders. In Revelation 21:27 nothing unclean enters into heaven that is "a lie" (pseudos), but only those legitimately entered into the Lamb's book of life. See also 22:15. This is also part of the word used for "false prophets," pseudoprophets. In other words, among the 144,000 there are no pseudoChristians. Only true Christians. You and I must finally be there! We must! "For they are without fault before the throne of God." Ephesians 1:4 says that it was God's will even before humankind was created "that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." Ephesians 5:27 uses the same Greek word, telling us that God wants to present His last-day people to Himself as "a glorious glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Colossians 1:22-23 says that if we continue in the faith, we will become "holy and unblamable and unreprovable." Jude 24 says that God is "able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." Summary of the traits of the 144,000: Ø They are pictured as standing with Jesus Ø They have their Father's name written in their foreheads (they are loyal commandment-keeping Christians) Ø They go through a unique experience Ø They leave behind all false religious bodies and their false teachings Ø They follow the Lamb whereever He goes Ø There is nothing false in them Ø They are without fault, or faultless How can we acquire these traits? Steps that we must take to be there 1. It all starts with beholding Jesus. In fact, when we read the Bible through from front to back, and we see how God intervened and interacted with fallen humanity, we are really beholding Jesus. Without Jesus nothing was made that was made. He walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. He appeared to Moses in the burning bush. He was with the Isrealites as they traveled through the wilderness. He was the shekinah glory in the tabernacle, dwelling between the Cherubim. He became flesh and dwelt among us, lived a guileless and faultless life, never sinning, and died upon the cross in our place. He made Himself a sacrifice for us, being the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He went back to heaven into the true tabernacle, and intercedes there for us today. He has nearly finished His ministry in heaven and is ready to return to earth. But He is still waiting for those who will stand with Him on Mount Zion, having their Father's name written in their foreheads. We must read about and think about what God--what Jesus--did and does for us. But we must do more than behold... 2. It continues by following Jesus. We mustn't just be channel-surfers. The Bible is not a remote control that we flip through its different stories and pick out our favorites and watch them over and over again but not do anything about them. Christianity is not for channel-surfers and remotes. It is up close. It means getting out there and doing Christianity. It means making personal changes in our lives as we respond to what God shows us in the Bible. It means going out and inviting people to take Bible studies. It means to live aglow with the presence of the Holy Spirit so that people come to you and say "You're a Christian, right?" WWJD is good. What would Jesus do. But Adventist Christians can add to that. We can say WDJD: What did Jesus do? "I have kept My Father's commandments" John 15:10. We follow Jesus in many ways, but particularly in obedience. We not only learn what the Bible teaches, but we keep learning, we keep growing. The 28^th fundamental belief should be "Don't stop here." 3. If we persist in beholding, if we persist in following, then we will arrive at last with the Lamb on mount Zion and stand with Him. We will be among the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. We will have let Him finish what He has started (Philippians 1:6). If we persist, we shall stand with the Lamb. There aren't any real shortcuts. You heard me give lists of things you can do at the end of the messages that I present. There are no one minute Christians because there was never a one-minute Christianity. Heaven offers to us the highest privilege: to stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion. But it means more than opening the windows of our soul heavenward. Yes indeed, we must let the light of heaven in from the top. But we must also close the windows of our soul earthward, shutting off the inflow of the paralyzing things that distract us from standing in God's battle in the end of time. Time is wasting. Let us redeem it. In the power of Jesus, we are well able to. Even so, come Lord Jesus!

So i have been a Seventh Day Adventist all of my life and i have heard many times over the years that we are a cult, we are not. Then again i suppose if someone were in a cult, they would not admit that their religion and faith is a cult, either way here goes. I grew up beleiving that the Sabbath was the Holy day, in which we did not sell or buy, but instead dedicated to God. I grew up beleiving that my body was the temple of God and we should not destroy it with Drugs, Alcohol, tattoos, holes in my ears or body for jewelry, or certain foods. Growing up i always knew i was different not because of myself, but because of my Faith.

I suppose it's very easy for others to judge and quickly point fingers but as someone who is in this religion, i don't agree. I am not obligated to be in this religion, nor do i have to fill a quota of how many i can get baptized or spread literature too. My Faith is simply based on God, his love for us, and how we choose to serve him. Here is the operative work.. CHOOSE, this is great, some were born into in,  some  choose to accept it, others were in it and left and others want nothing to do with it. Either way i am here and loving it. Their have been difficult times, growing up my friends would say, your Still a Virgin, you've never had a drink and you don't eat pork???? And of course i would patiently repeat and repeat why i choose to do or not these things. Being a Seventh day Adventist has opened my eyes to acceptance, patience, love, affection and leadership. Growing up i knew that i could, preach, talk, praise the Lord and sing (okay i can't sing well) but i still love praising the Lord. Through my Faith i have learned Tolerance and to really accept why some believe, others don't but through it all God still loves us all Equally,. The prostitute, drug addict and pimp daddy etc... They can and are all loved by our great and wonderful God.

So if being Adventist is a Cult, then so be it, for those that want to believe that. But for me it has been the greatest experience of my life. I have 2 boys and a great husband and hopefully my 2 boys will also feel the love and passion that i feel to serve in such a great religion.

The truth is we Adventist are different, we are NOT the NORM. But it's my Faith, my religion my beliefs are a part of who i am it's the air i breath it's were i choose to belong. I love telling others of this great life, if they choose to accept or not, that's between them and God. All and all at the end of the Day i am a proud SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST, tried and true... God Bless...

Sol Zulema Ramos

25 Secrets to a Great Marriage

By Law Offices of Laurie Israel, Published:  April 08, 2008 As a practicing divorce attorney and divorce mediator, I’ve met a number of couples who would not be divorcing if they had received some good advice (and had remembered that advice) a few years or even months earlier. The following advice is based on my observations as a divorce attorney, a mediator/conflict resolver, and as an experienced, mature married person. 1. Think before you speak. People in marriages tend to have very “hot” buttons causing frequent arguments. One reason for this is that the boundaries that exist at the workplace or with friends and relatives do not exist in a marriage. Marital bickering can be lessened or mitigated if you wait before responding to something that has made you angry. If you think for even five seconds before you respond, the amount of martial bickering will be greatly reduced. It may be better to discuss the difficult issue on another day when the emotions are not so high. You can broach the topic (at that later time) by saying, “Dear, I have some unfinished business to discuss with you. May we discuss it now?” 2. Don’t give up. If you ask any married person, he or she will tell you that marriages wax and wane. There are good times, bad times, and even middle times. A marriage is viable if the good outweighs the bad, even by a little bit. Appreciate the good and try to let the bad roll off of you like water from a duck. The more you stick to it, the easier it will get and the more fondness and connection you will feel towards your spouse. You will also feel good about yourself, because you worked very hard to achieve something of value. 3. Give your marriage as much (if not more) focused attention than you give your hobbies. People spend huge amounts of time, money and effort on their off-work interests. But when a marriage is making them feel bad, everybody seems to “throw up their arms” and decide that it’s useless to try anymore. Actually, reading books on marriage, conflict resolution, and communication techniques will help your marriage. Getting your spouse to read them is even better, but not necessary, to being able to make huge positive changes in your marriage. 4. Treat your spouse better than you treat anyone else. Have you heard the expression “familiarity breeds contempt”? This seems to apply in marriages. As a result, the unfortunate truth is that people tend to treat their spouses worse than strangers. An example of this is the all-too-common behavior of treating the spouse (sometimes ever so subtly) with contempt. Who is this person you are married to now? And who was that wonderful, beautiful perfect person you married so many years ago? Believe it or not, it’s the same person. Remember those times and retrain yourself to view your spouse with the utmost respect and treat him or her accordingly. 5. Have separate interests. Make sure you have some private space and give your spouse some, too. Marriage entails a lot of togetherness, but just because you’re married, you don’t need to be joined at the hip. Make sure each of you has time away from the other with friends, family, or alone. Enjoy your separate interests. Having separate time and interests will help vitalize the marriage. 6. Foster and encourage your spouse’s dreams and goals. In a successful marriage, one spouse is happy for the other spouse’s successes. Good spouses foster the other in achieving their goals. Sometimes goals are scary and need to be carefully evaluated, such as a career change. Do the work together, so that each of you can become satisfied with your own life. Good spouses help each other make the most out of his or her life. 7. Find things you enjoy doing together. A marriage is a partnership. If you both have totally separate interests, you will eventually grow apart. Make time to pursue interests together. These leisure activities and interests will probably change over time. Find shared interests, pursuits, and enjoyment. But remember, you don’t need to share all interests. 8. Don’t think its greener on the other side. Most people who leave their marriages for someone else almost always find the same problems on the other side. Many realize where their first marriage went wrong, and how they (and their spouse) could have worked to fix it. With hindsight, many people regret not having worked things out in their first marriage. Remember, when you get divorced, you now have two problems – the problems in your marriage (that you did not solve) and the divorce. 9. Give each other a break. Don’t be overcritical of your spouse. Don’t carp all the time. The stark realization that comes after the wedding is that you are not the same person. But that’s not a bad thing. Try to appreciate your differences. Admittedly, this is hard to do, but try. It’s worth it. 10. Don’t sweat the little things. As in the world of work, it is important to have priorities. Spouses get angry when criticized over every little thing. Try to prioritize the important things that you want. Carefully pick your battles. Let the other stuff slide. Don’t be a nag and complain about every little thing. If you don’t like something, hold your tongue. Try to roll with the punches. 11. If your spouse loves something (like his/her mother, or football), try to find out why, and you’ll find you’ll love it too. Give credence and respect to your spouse’s judgment, interests, affinities, and opinions. If your spouse is drawn to certain people or things, there is probably a good reason. Ask your spouse to explain. It might open up a new world to you. 12. Compliment your spouse every day, at least once. This leads to a healthy relationship, and it is the right thing to do, because unless your spouse is a total slouch, he or she is doing many good things every day. Thank your spouse for all the wonderful things done for you and your family. Make sure your spouse knows that you appreciate his or her efforts. 13. Work hard with your spouse to create financial security. One of the beneficial effects of marriage is the creation of a strong economic joint venture. As your financial security builds up, it will be one of the things that allows you feel good about each other and the world. It will also be a measure of the good work you’ve both done during your marriage. Financial security is a good thing and provides the foundation of a happy life. 14. Be your spouse’s partner. Keep each other informed as to activities you are engaged in, including your work days and what you do at home. The time you spend separately outside in the world every day is very significant. Always talk to each other at the end of the day about how your respective days have been. Respect and show awareness of and curiosity about your spouse’s separate interests. 15. Always assume the best of your spouse. People have misunderstandings and miscommunications. This is true even of people who know each other very well, such as spouses. If your spouse’s actions displease you, wait a bit, and then try to find out the motivation. You might well find that the motivation was meant to be constructive and not negative, and that you may have made the wrong interpretation or assumptions about what was said or done. 16. Give your spouse a treat occasionally. Spouses have different things that make them feel good. If you know something that your spouse likes, give it to him or her sometimes, even if you don’t care for it. It can be a small thing: a trip to the movies, a ride to a place your spouse likes to go, or maybe a favorite food bought from the grocery store. Be generous to your spouse, even if it is not in your nature. 17. Don’t fight with your spouse about the kids. Disagreements about children can be very corrosive to a marriage. Have your discussions off-line so that your children do not know you disagree. Get professional help, if needed, as to how to coordinate and respect your different views. Don’t let your disagreements about your children destroy your marriage. 18. Don’t complain about your spouse to your friends and family. One complaint at a low time in your marriage will resonate with the listener long after the problem or the short-lived spat was resolved. Your family and friends will always see your spouse in the same bad light in which you saw your spouse during this period of conflict. If you need to talk with someone about your marriage, choose an independent professional. 19. Be faithful and do not have an affair. A couple that is unattractive (physically or otherwise) is actually really lucky in a marriage because outside forces will not be as strong. However, if you or your spouse is unlucky enough to be attractive, don’t take the bait. It never works out. If you can’t resist having an affair, end your marriage first. When you actually think about it, you’ll probably find that you can’t end your marriage and things will have gotten better. 20. Find ways to enrich your lives. Learn and do new things together. In good marriages the spouses are always changing, growing, and developing new interests. Make sure that some of these changes and new interests are shared jointly, so that you can spend good time together developing as people. 21. Spend time together with mutual friends. Outside friendships pursued by the couple jointly are very good for marital health. The outside friends can be single people or other couples. It does not matter. The important part is that you and your spouse share these friendships together. 22. Forgive each other. If you hold grudges, you’ll never get anywhere in marriage. Every spouse (even you!) makes mistakes and treats the other poorly at times. You must be able to forgive your spouse for the wrongs done to you and move on. Remember that the next time it may be you who needs to be forgiven. Marriage is very long. There are bound to be many bad things to happen between you. Do not hold onto these things. Forgive and move on. 23. Appreciate each other’s contributions to the marital venture. Marriages often fail because of perceived differences in the level of contribution of each party. Try to appreciate the other person’s contributions, whether they are financial or keeping the household together. Try not to impose your standards of how things should be accomplished on your spouse. Be appreciative of your spouse’s efforts at all times. 24. Be secure in the fact that marriage is forever. Marriage is a safe container for people to work out all of their personal issues. Because marriage does not end (except by death), a person can be secure in the knowledge that any mistakes, personality flaws, or misspoken words can be forgiven. There is something about the alchemy of two people with a “forever” commitment that helps people find peace and satisfaction in life. 25. Don’t think that marriage is easy. One of the little-known but most important paradoxes about marriage is that it is an incubator for self-growth and self-awareness. This is a surprise to many, because marriage is supposed to be about the other person, or about the couple, or about “love.” Take advantage of your chance to perfect your awareness and ability to enjoy life and relate well to other people. A good marriage will have this effect, and redound to your ability to function well in the world and live at your highest practical and spiritual level. Marriage is not easy. But it’s worth it. If you do all of these things, and if, before you break up, you wait at least as long as you have already been married for rough spots to work themselves out, you will have a long, happy marriage.

Yes There Is Jesus There are no answers when you question what to do, When lives are broken and your heart has been misused. The pain is to deep the problem to steep, Where will you go, it hurts you so? And when your friends misunderstand the words you say. Your hopes and dreams disappear like yesterdays. You're burdened with care, your hopes now despair. Will you ever find peace for your soul. But there is Jesus today Hell console you, Put your life in His hands, on His word you can stand. He will be by your side, in the darkness a guide. He will not forget you, to His word He is true. He is Creator, He is Redeemer, He wants to live in your heart. So when the weight of all your grief has dragged you down, and all the darkness of your past has left a frown. He's calling for your, Your hope to renew. Trust in his strong hand you can stand. Yes there is Jesus today Hell console you. Put your life in His hands on His word you can stand. He will be by your side, in the darkness a guide. He will not forget you to His word He is true. His word is creative, His love is redemptive. He wants to live in your heart.