by Pastor Kent Crutcher,

Bible quotations are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Always a Way

In an industrial town, many years ago, a new smokestack was being built for a factory. Smokestacks were some of the tallest structures of the day and required specialized design and construction. That is where John comes in. John was the foremost smokestack engineer in the country. His design and construction of smokestacks was considered the best. When a tall smokestack was required, John was called. He traveled with his family from job to job. On this particular job, this was one of his tallest projects ever. It took months to complete to complete the smokestack. The elaborate scaffolding required to do the job was a work of art in itself. John wasn't the kind that sat in an office and gave directions, he was a hands on kind of man. He trusted only himself to do the job right. He was on the site day after day. As the smokestack went up and the scaffolding went up beside it, he directed in everything that was done. The smokestack was completed. There it was standing proudly in the sky, but it was still surrounded by all that elaborate scaffolding. The scaffolding had to be removed. Of course, John, being the kind of man that he was, saying, "I can do it. I'm the only one that knows how." He oversaw the entire project, including the removal of the scaffolding on the last day of the job. To supervise this task required him to stand on top of the smokestack and give orders through a megaphone to his crew. This was a critical procedure because the scaffolding had to be removed in a balanced way or else the whole thing would collapse, killing workers and damaging the smokestack. The job would take a complete day. At the end of the day, as it was getting dark, John would go around to the back side of the smokestack, tie a rope around himself and be lowered to the ground by use of a pulley and strong workers at the bottom. The rope would be drawn through the pulleys and the job would be done. On this particular job, everything had gone according to plan, and he had been feeling proud of himself as he looked and the scaffolding was down and he saw the sights. He could even see the home where his family was staying for this particular job, smoke coming from their chimney, for it was winter. He shivered a little bit and was looking forward to coming down, and as he walked around to the back side of the smokestack, he stopped. He stared in disbelief. The rope had slithered through the pulley, unbeknown to anyone, and was piled up on the ground. John s brilliant mind raced through all of the options. He found none. This was in the days before helicopters, no ladder was even close to being tall enough, the scaffolding would take days to rebuild, and it was winter and night was near. John s heart experienced utter despair! He had no doubt that he would die. He resigned himself to that fact. He was a very factual person. "I am dead," he said to himself because it would take weeks for them to rebuild the scaffolding: a lot long to put it up than to take it down. It was winter, and it was night. No possible chance of rescue. Options ran through his mind, but there was only one logical conclusion. "I might as well get it over with. Before my family finds out I'm stuck up here and comes running, I might as well jump and be done. I can't do it with them watching. I might as well commit suicide. He thought about his wife and family who lived in a house which he could see. He knew that he would never be able to see them again. He saw no reason to prolong the inevitable and decided that the best thing to do was to jump before his family arrived on the scene so that they would not witness his suicide. Total despair and discouragement had taken hold of John s life. Discouragement is Satan's secret weapon!  

Once upon a time 'tis stated, Satan publicly announced 
That he was going out of business, all the past he had renounced;
And at one great public auction, he would sell his stock of tools.
Some, no doubt, would buy them gladly, for this world has many fools. 

On the evening of the auction, people came and saw displayed
Many vices we could mention, all the devil's stock and trade.
There was malice, there was envy, jealousy and hatred, too;
Sensuality and anger and other vices, not a few.

But apart from all the others lay a large wedge-shaped device
And a placard stating plainly what seemed a most outrageous price.
"This wedge is called Discouragement," said Satan with a bow;
"'Tis worth more than all else I have; I hate to sell it now."

"I use it more than all the rest.  It is well worn, you see,
and few there are who really know that this thing belongs to me.
Can I but enter this great wedge within the consciousness of man,
'Twill drive him to these other things and frustrate His Maker's plan."

The devil never sold his wedge.
The price was far too high!
He kept it, and is using it,
As the centuries roll by.

 

Discouragement has been Satan's favorite method of soul winning throughout history. Almost every character in the Bible is afflicted with discouragement at some point in their lives.
• Think of Moses, wandering all that time in the wilderness like one great big back-packing trip with everybody's got a can of applesauce. All the discouragement that was there, all the complaining, year after year, and even knowing himself that he would not enter the Promised Land.
• Think of Jeremiah. Have you read Jeremiah? Look at all of the things that God asked him to do that were strange and humiliating. And all seemed to no avail.
• Think of Jonah, sitting on the hill waiting for God to destroy Nineveh, only to be humiliated by God's mercy.
• Think of Noah, preaching for year after year after year. Evangelistic crusade after another. Not winning a single convert.

The list goes on and on. But when we think of discouragement, one man seems to really stand out from the rest Job. If we combined all the trials and problems that each of us has had in our lifetime, they probably would not add up to what Job went through in a very short period of time! Just listen to a few of the words from this faithful but discouraged man of God: "Let the day perish wherein I was born."..."O that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!"..."I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul."..."O that I might have my request. Even that it would please God to destroy me. Then should I have comfort." Not exactly the words of a happy individual. Job was a man in total discouragement. And these are just a few words from chapter after chapter of this type of saying. On the topic of Job, Prophets and Kings by EG White reads: "Into the experience of all there come times of keen disappointment and utter discouragement days when sorrow is the portion, and it is hard to believe that God is still the kind benefactor of His earth- born children; days when troubles harass the soul, till death seems preferable to life. It is then that many lose their hold on God and are brought into the slavery of doubt, the bondage of unbelief... "Could we at such times discern with spiritual insight the meaning of God's providences we should see angels seeking to save us from ourselves, striving to plant our feet upon a foundation more firm than the everlasting hills, and new faith, new life, would spring into being." Though weary of life, Job was not allowed to die. To him were pointed out the possibilities of the future, and there was given to him the message of hope. This message was not only meant for Job. It is meant for each of us! It is found in Job 11:15-19 starting half way through verse. 15. These are words from Zophar, one of his counselors. then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm without fear. You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor. Job had a hard time believing that. That anything could make him feel better after all of this happened to him. But from the depths of discouragement, Job rose to the heights of implicit trust in the mercy and saving power of God. Triumphantly, he was later able to declare: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. He also shall be my salvation." "I know my Savior liveth!" I can't believe those words. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!" It reminds me of a dog I used to have. Her name was Sally. Sally was an interesting dog, very loyal, a mutt, Heinz Fifty-seven, and a stray dog that we took in. Sally would lay down her life at your command. If I picked up a hoe when I was working in the garden and raised it above my head at the dog, the dog would not run away from me in fear. She would simply lie down on the ground and expose her neck. That brought tears to my eyes, because I didn't mean it. I would never hurt her. Can we trust God so much as that dog trusted me with her life? "Though you slay me, yet will I trust you." Quite a reversal of Job for what had been a seemingly impossible situation! There are different types of discouragement. Job seemed to have had experience with most of them. Three types seem to assail us most often: Physical, Temporal, and Spiritual. And what a discouraging rainy day! Did you know that people get discouraged more this time of year than any other? Have you tried to find a parking place at one of the local hospitals lately? The other day in the afternoon I was at Memorial Hospital. Usually I just pull in and get a spot. No problem. But this day I drove around and around and around for forty-five minutes waiting to find one parking place. I wasn't the only one. There were twenty something other cars driving around with me. Waiting for a spot. People are discouraged this time of the year. There are more people in the hospitals than ever at this time of year. Well, just look at our prayer list, how long it was this morning. This time of year seems to bring trials like none other. It's easy to become discouraged. When I was in the Seminary, this is the time of year that people dropped out. This is the time of year that people that were making A's began making C's and people that made C's, well, they just didn't want to tell you what they were making. Grades fall. I'm sure that can be attested to right near here at Southern Adventist University. People are struggling to make good grades. It's hard to think clearly when one is discouraged. Physical and Temporal and Spiritual. Three types of discouragement: If you'll remember, Job had his share of physical problems. Not only the physical problem of losing his family, but Satan's last attack was covering Job himself with boils from head to toe! I've seen a person with just one boil. They were utterly miserable with just one. Job was covered from the top of his head to the soles of his feet with these boils. The very God that healed and comforted Job was the same God that walked on this earth and healed and comforted the multitudes and is the same God that can take care of you and me! Many blame God for the things that happen to them. I was reminded this week of a verse that says: "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father." When Jesus walked this earth, he spent His time healing the results of sin, the true cause of our problems. He was a reflection of the Father. What are often called "acts of God", are acts of the evil one. God is the healer! He is the answer for our discouragements. Another type of discouragement is called Temporal. We have all experienced this. It comes from having too much to do and too little time to do it. Have you ever woken up in the morning and thought about all that needed to be accomplished that day. Sometimes it can be so discouraging that you feel like staying in bed with the hope hat it will all just go away like a bad dream. There's no way it can all be done. It's times like this that we can claim some of the promises in scripture like Matthew 11:28-30 which to me is one of the most refreshing and encouraging texts of Scripture: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. That's more than just a Sabbath day's rest that we experience today. "I will give you rest." Have you ever claimed this promise? In the midst of a I-don't-know-what-I'm-going-to-do kind of day? I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." I love the idea of rest, and I'm so grateful for Sabbath. Something that every week reminds us that we can turn everything over to God. Now look with me at another promise found in Isaiah 41:10 and 13. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. ... For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, "Do not fear; I will help you." And that means me, and that means you. Each one of you. "I will help you no matter what the problem is." When we need help, God is the one we should rely on, NOT OURSELVES! Often we rely upon ourselves like John was relying on himself to get the job done but he found himself in an impossible situation. A textile factory with complicated machinery posted these instructions: "If your threads get tangled, call the foreman!" A man was working at a machine in which his treads became tangled. He tried and tried to fix the mess, but everything he did made matters worse. The foreman noticed the situation and sighed his frustration as he tried to untangle the mess the worker had made. The worker answered the unspoken rebuke by saying: "I did my best." The foreman replied: "Remember this, doing your best means sending for me!" The best that we can do is hand our tangled lives over to the Creator! We can do nothing on our own but make it worse. The same goes for when we become spiritually discouraged. Satan has brought down the mightiest of prophets with this type of discouragement. Remember the discouragement that Elijah suffered while fleeing from an infuriated woman? This came after one of the greatest spiritual victories of all time. But, like Job, Elijah just wanted to die. Satan uses spiritual discouragement on you and me, showing us pictures of ourselves and telling us that we are not good enough for God. That's when we need to remember that Jesus stands in our place and we claim Psalm 46:1 and 2, which says: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. When we become discouraged, Satan has no mercy on us. He tries to pull us deeper and deeper into despair. But, no matter how discouraged we may become, no matter how bleak the outlook is, no matter how impossible the situation seems, there is always a way out! There is always a reason to hold on to what is dear. So many want to give up the fort just before help arrives. So many do not see the beacons burning that herald the soon coming King. So many need to know that there is always a way. Where we see no way, Jesus sees ten thousand ways that we never thought of! He begs us to place our lives into His hands and be content with a peace that passes understanding. Then, situations which once seemed impossible, will become possible. At the beginning, I was telling you about John standing in utter despair on top of the smokestack. The rope was gone. His only hope of rescue was non-existent. People were gathering below as they always will at such times. They saw the hopeless situation and feared that John would end it all. They knew John. He was a thinker. He would see that there was no possible way down. Someone, in despair, ran up the street, banged on the door of John's home. Quickly the situation was described to John's wife and she ran to the scene. When John saw her, he knew that he could no longer jump. There she was, he couldn't do it in front of her. He still had no hope of survival. John's wife took a megaphone and began speaking to her husband. "John, don't you even think it." He used the megaphone that he had been using to instruct his workers on removing the scaffolding. "What hope do I have?" She ignored him and asked, "What are you wearing?" His mind tried to understand why his wife would ask such a question at such a time. "What do you mean, what am I wearing? What does it matter what I'm wearing?" "Shut up and tell me what you're wearing." He answered, "I'm wearing the sweater that you knit for me last Christmas." "Take it off," she yelled. "What??" "Take it off!" It's cold." "Take it off." He still had no clue why his wife was asking these things of him but he obeyed. He had nothing better to do, so he removed the bulky sweater. And then she yelled up at him, "Unravel it." This time he argued, "But you made it!" "Do as I say, unravel it!" So he clipped a thread and began to unravel it. As he did,, it began to dawn on him what his wife had in mind. And as it dawned on him, he started to unraveling that wonderful sweater. He loved that sweater now. The yarn was piling up beside him. When it was completely unraveled, he tied a piece of brick to the end of the yarn and lowered it down. It reached all the way to bottom of the smokestack. A man quickly tied a piece of twine to the yarn, which he pulled up and passed through the pulley. When the twine passed on down to the bottom, they hauled up the rope that had fallen. One minute he had been contemplating suicide, in a few minutes later he was in the arms of his family. Where there seemed no possible way out, there was a way! There is always a way! Where we see no possible way out, Jesus sees ten thousand ways if we will only trust Him. There may be times when you sink into discouragement. But there is a thread of divine love that comes from the throne of Heaven. Seize that thread. It may seem small at times, but it is golden and will lift you away from this world and into the arms of the One you love the most! This peace is possible for your life and is only a prayer away.  

Opening Hymn: 525, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less
Scripture: Psalm 46:1,2

by Pastor Donald J Gettys

Biblical quotations are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Twenty Minutes to Heaven

What an exciting time to be alive as we approach the Third Millennium! Jesus' coming is closer than it ever was. Before I begin, I'd like to pray. Dear Father in heaven, please let my words reflect your will for our lives. May the words that are spoken and read uplift Jesus Christ, our Savior. I pray in His name, Amen. I don't know what the future will hold, do you? But, as it's been said, "We know who hold the future." If you know Jesus, you don't worry. A lot of things have happened. The Cold War is over. The 1990's ended up very fine. The 1900's were exciting. I lived in over half of the 1900's. And I hope to live a good share of the 2000's. I don't know what will happen in the future. I know that we face, as Christians, formidable challenges. There are many things that are going on. Morally, I think society is going downhill, "going down the tubes" as some people would say. Some so-called Christian churches have abandoned their faith in the unerring Word of God. Some Christian churches no longer believe in the entire Bible. And such a shame. Twenty-first century Christians are not reading the good old Book like their mothers or fathers used to. As a result, America has a fifty percent divorce rate. In fact, I heard on the news yesterday that marriage is dying in America. Now, that's too bad. Our Christian ethics are little more than a faint memory. Homosexuality is an accepted alternative lifestyle. Modern media moguls manipulate movies and music to massacre morality. The evil entertainment industry and the United States courts are generally hostile to Biblical Christianity. One million teen age girls get pregnant each year. Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases are out of control. Drugs are in charge of all too many people. We are legally killing "aborting" one and a half million babies every year, and new drugs are coming on the market that will multiply this biological holocaust. Something is wrong, isn't it. I tell you, there's an answer, and I will tell you what that answer is. But the answer is not the direction we appear to be going. Public education is academically bankrupt and, in many places, it is physically dangerous to be in school. Prayer and Bible reading and even Bibles are outlawed in the classrooms of this land. We are the industrialized world's most violent society. Sin is politically correct here in America! If you and I are ever going to escape the corruption of these last days we must get back to God. One of the first steps is to return to the infallible Bible. We have thrown our owners manual away. The problem is not one of Bible ownership. We all have a number of Bibles in the back corner somewhere. This is the wrong location. The Bible needs to be in our hearts. That's where God want the bible to be. II Timothy 3:14, 15. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. What will the Holy Scriptures enable you to do? "To be wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ." The Bible is foundational to life. From early childhood, Timothy had "learned" the Scriptures, Verse 14. The Scripture were basically the Old Testament, of course. (Torah, Writings, Prophets) In verse 14, "Learned" is the verb form of the word disciple. If you desire to be a disciple of Jesus, get into the Bible. Let me personally ask you, Do YOU read the Bible? And, why do you read the Bible? Who do you see when you read a verse? Let me be very specific. I'm getting personal here... Let's suppose you happen to read I Timothy 2:9, 10. I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. If after reading these two verses, let's suppose your mind begins to picture a teenager who has tattoos on his or her body, or may be wearing something you object to. May I dare to say that this is not quite proper Bible study. Because I feel that when we are reading the Holy Word of God this book, what should we be doing? Helping us to condemn somebody else? This Book needs to be speaking to ME! When you read the Bible, you need to make sure it is speaking to you. Don't read to judge someone else! Read for your own benefit. Our teenagers are struggling. They don't need our criticism. We are not Judges. Are we called to be judges today? NO. God is. "Judge not lest you be judged." Don't dare to take God's job away from Him. Do not lash out at someone else with the ammunition in your gun being forty caliber Bible verses and Spirit of Prophecy Quotations. Instead, when you read think about yourself. Let those things speak to your heart. Pray that the Holy Spirit will help you see how you personally can be more like Jesus from the verses you just read. After reading I Timothy 2:9-10 You might ask yourself if you are wearing the ornament of good works that God is looking for instead of using your tongue to criticize some struggling teenager. Let's read the Bible to honor God. Psalm 1:1, 2. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. Verse one instructs us what not to do and verse 2 as to what we should do. Verse two says a Happy or Righteous person will delight in God's commands, in God's word. The virtuous person will Meditate on God's Word day and night. Good people will study God's word. They reflect on its meaning. They apply it to their life. Verse 1 says that Christians do not seek advise from the wicked. They do not sit in the seat of mockers. They do not hang around where the wicked hang out. And Happy growing Christians do not mock others. They do not criticize others. Don't use the Bible to pound our young people over the head. Instead put the Bible in your head, in your heart. Carry it in your mind. Memorize it. Allow the precious Word of God to change you into the image of Jesus. Colossians 3:16 (KJV). Let the word of Christ dwell in you. (NLT) Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. That's what God wants us to do. If you want to be levelheaded, if you want to be wise, then let the Words of the Bible live inside of you. Plant them in the garden of your heart. What will the Bible do for you? 1 - The Bible will give you WISDOM. When you daily read the Bible you will be wise. That does not mean you will be another Einstein. But I think your I.Q. will actually increase. What kind of wisdom will you get? II Timothy 3:15 from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. You will be Wise unto salvation. 2 - YOUR FAITH WILL GROW. Daily Bible Study will cause your faith to enlarge. Do you Question whether or not God is real? Then read the Bible! John 20:31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Spending just twenty minutes a day with your Bible will bring a faith in God that you do not now have. An hour would be better. But if you spend twenty quality minutes a day with your Bible, what a difference that will make in your life! I was driving on Interstate-75 this past week to visit someone in the hospital in Chattanooga. As I came up to Moore Road I noticed an abandoned vehicle parked along the side of the road. As I got up closer to it I could see that it had a flat tire. Now, that's not unusual. The unusual thing about this vehicle was that not only was the front tire flat, but the back tire had gone flat sometime before and the driver had placed the spare tire, that little ridiculous looking donut tire, on the back of the car. There was no spare tire, no recourse for a flat. The driver had burned up all his options. As I went on by I saw that the flat tire was totally destroyed. Apparently the driver had continued driving until the rubber was flopping against the inside of the fender and the car was running on the metal rim of the wheel! It looked like the driver just continued on. Here was apparently a person who did not value preparation. He did not value readiness. There was no reserve there. He had burned all his bridges. I want to ask you, are we as Christians running through our spiritual life on our little donut-like spare tire? Is that what we're doing? Running on fumes in our gas tank. There's not stockpile. We need to build into our lives some spiritual reserve and some strength. You do that by immersing yourself in the precious Word of God every day. Why not live your life with a spare reserve of spiritual strength? Stockpile some power into your life by immersing yourself in the precious Word of God. Daily Deposit extra goodness into your character by regularly reading from the Bible. Meditate on its rich promises. 3 - POWER will come from Bible study. II Timothy 3:16, 17. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. You're going to be thoroughly equipped, empowered for every good work.  

Notice the benefits of the Bible:
• The Bible will teach you,
• rebuke you,
• correct you,
• train you and
• equip you to do every good work.

That's what the bible will do for you. Have you been wanting to quit some bad habit, but can't? How do you get that power? You get that power to do every good work through the Bible. That's where you get the power. And if you say, "I'm living a life with no power" that tells me that you are not into the Word like you should be, because this is where the power comes from. So, you need to go to the Bible. It will equip you to do "Every" good work. You can get the victory. You can be a fully equipped Christian. It can happen to you. 4 - Notice in II Timothy that Scripture will CORRECT you. It's sort of like an airplane that has an automatic Pilot. This can be a small fine-tuned device that constantly guides that aircraft. You cloud be flying from Chicago to Tampa, and that will just keep you on course, minutely correcting you the whole way, just guiding you right down there. You never feel those little corrections, but they're taking place. Always on track, always focused, always pointed toward your goal. What keeps you that way? The automatic pilot. It nudges you. It keeps affecting the way you are going. And that's just like the Bible. When you read the Scripture every day, when you study the Bible every day, this Word will keep you on track. It keeps affecting the way we think, the way we draw conclusions, and the way we make the daily decisions of life. It's just through minor ways it affects your thinking and eventually, immersing yourself in this Book, will direct you all the way to heaven. This is the way to get there. And that's why, we as Christians, we should never turn off our automatic, Spiritual, pilot. The Bible will uplift your thoughts. I think we need to get back to the Bible. 5 - THE BIBLE WILL STRENGTHEN YOUR MIND Diligent Bible study will increase the horsepower of your mind. I have heard many stories about college students who made better grades when they set aside a daily time to really study their Bible. "The mind will enlarge" through Bible study. "There is nothing more calculated to strengthen the intellect than the study of the Scriptures." - Steps to Christ, p. 90, E G White. This is beautiful. Nothing. You mind will enlarge. Your mind will be strengthened. Do you want to strengthen your mind? Immerse it in the Word of God. It'll do it. The book you want to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. The Bible will uplift your thoughts. Jesus' whole education was undoubtedly based on the study of the scriptures. Can we improve on education by leaving the Bible out of our schools? The Bible will give you true Knowledge, wisdom and understanding. I must warn you about the Bible. It's shocking reading in certain places! It is much like life. You will see things that will leave you flabbergasted. Some stories in the Old Testament will irritate you. You may Question God when you read of Him making that teenage rascal Samson into a superman, while later on you will read about how God rewards saintly Job with boils. You're going to say, "This doesn't make sense." But there's a lesson in that. The Bible is a down to earth book about life. You will see yourself reflected in each page. You will learn how to face life. And zigzagging through it's pages is none other than Jesus. The golden thread through each verse is Christ. Jesus said in John 5:39 (KJV), "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." If you want to learn more about Jesus, you need to get into the Bible. 6 - THE BIBLE IS A LIGHT Psalm 119:105 (KJV) states: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Keep that light on. There was a little girl and her mother who were riding a Steam Train? The small child saw the trainman coming through the car lighting the lamps. She asked: "Mommy, why is he lighting the lights? It is the middle of the day, the sun is shining. Why is he lighting the lamps?" The mother smiled and said, "Wait a bit and you'll see." In a few minutes the train plunged into a long dark tunnel. Then the little girl saw the wisdom of the lamp lighting process. Friends, the Bible contains thousands of verses that you may consider unnecessary. You don't see any purpose in all those verses, verses that you can't understand why God has gone to all the trouble of lighting each of those lamps of truth. It doesn't make any sense. But some day you are going to enter a long dark tunnel. Maybe it will be a tunnel of pain, or bereavement or temptation... Whatever it is and whenever it comes then you will see the value and appreciate the verses that appear so ordinary today. So, Keep reading your Bible. You are a different person than the last time you opened it's pages. That's why you need to keep reading the Bible. The Bible is our owner's manual. It's ultimate source is the Creator Himself. Our manufacturer wrote the Book! We need to read THE BOOK!! There is a big difference in the books that men make and the Book that makes men! The Bible will revolutionize your very life. You will never be the same. So spend time with this treasure. If your Bible is covered with dust and neglected then you are a surface Christian. You are a dwarf. The superficial student of the Bible will eventually apostatize (See 6T 133). Superficial Christianity is about as inadequate as you entering the Indianapolis 500 with a tricycle! You wouldn't stand a chance! You don't stand a chance of being a solid growing strong Christian today without the Bible. It's like going on a tricycle. If you want to be a winner and have power to really live the Christian life, then spend quality regular time with God's powerful Word. Watch that power rub off on your life. Discover the Power! Discover Jesus. We went up to Oshkosh, Wisconsin and had a big Pathfinder Camporee. It's theme was, "Discover the Power." You can discover the power because it's there. There is no lack of power. There's a lack of discovery. Hebrews 4:12 (KJV), For the word of God is quick, and POWERFUL, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, Do you know what makes it so powerful? I hold in my hand a powerful flashlight. This is powerful. I'm going to light it up. See how bright that is? Can you see that? I'm going to shine it up here on the wall. Do you see that? (Hardly any sign of light shows.) Isn't that great? It's got two triple-A batteries in it. I've got another flashlight with two triple-A batteries in it. I'm going to shine it up on the wall. (Tiny bright red spot shows on wall and moves around as Pastor Gettys moves the light.) Can you see that? I'll shine it on that dark smudgy place there. (It can still be seen.) What's the difference between these two lights? One is a regular tungsten light and the other is a laser light. They both have the same batteries, the same amount of power. The difference is direction. The coherent laser light is focussed. The flashlight just goes everywhere. The difference between lasers and a light from an ordinary bulb is Direction. I could shine this laser light all the way over to the gymnasium! A regular light bulb sends light out in all directions. A laser sends parallel beams all in the same direction. All focused on the same point. If you want some real power in your life, you need to be focussed. Every beam coming out of this laser light is parallel. Every beam is focussed. You need to focus your life on the powerful Word of God. It will focus you one Jesus Christ and you'll receive power. You'll do things you never thought you could do before. The same amount of power. You see the difference? The Word of God is like a laser beam. Each of the sixty six separate books inside your Bible is pointed in the same direction. Focused on Truth. Focused on Jesus. They bring out Jesus in every page. Let the Bible take aim at you and discover the power it really has. YOU CAN TRUST THE BIBLE. Psalm 12:6, 7. (Clear Word) "The words of the Lord can be Trusted. They are as genuine as silver that's been refined seven times. The Lord will protect us and keep us safe. His word can be trusted forever." If you want to win the race of life, then Get off your tricycle and step up into the powerful supercharged Word of God. What a difference it will make in your life!  

Opening Hymn: #245 More About Jesus
Scripture: John 17:14-17
Closing Hymn: #286 Wonderful Words of Life
McDonald Road Sermons

by Pastor Donald J Gettys

Biblical Quotations are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Choosing BARABBAS

An old godly preacher was dying. He knew that he would have just a few hours. So he called for two members of his congregation to come by his bedside: his banker and his lawyer, who were both members. They were honored to be with him in his final moments. As they came into his bedroom the old preacher held out his hands and motioning for one to sit on each side of the bed and he held their hands as the sat beside him. The preacher grasped their hands and gave a sigh of relief. For a while, everything was silent. They thought what a privilege it is to be with him, this godly preacher in his final moments. They were a little amazed that he thought that much of them since they both remembered his many long uncomfortable sermons about greed and covetousness. Finally the banker got up his courage and said, "Pastor, why did you choose us to come and to be with you during your final moments?" The old man mustered up his last strength and then said weakly, "Well, I'm dying and I always wanted to die like Jesus did, between two thieves! And that's why I called you." Let me tell you, there should have been three thieves on the crosses. There should have been three. Jesus should never have been hung on a cross. There should have been three thieves, three criminals that day, almost two thousand years ago. But the shame about this is: the Jews chose Jesus to die instead of BARABBAS. They made a bad choice. And how people make choices is a very important thing. And so, BARABBAS was allowed to go free. But Jesus had to die on the cross. In a sense, three criminals did die on those crosses that day because Jesus was a criminal, was He not? In a way. He was sinless, but Jesus was a sinner. All the sins of the world were on Him at that moment. They were there. All the sins of the world. And when Jesus died, He died for us. I want you to take your Bible and turn to Acts 3. A lot of Christians hate Jews. Do you think that ought to be the case? Should we be anti-Semitic? I don't think so. And yet, Peter condemns the Jews. Acts 3:14,15. "You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you." (Barabbas) "You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead." And so Peter condemned the Jews in a very harsh way: "You killed the Author of life! You bad people!" Peter is not alone in his feelings. I had a newspaper clipping out of the Chattanooga Times. Jacquelyn Mitchard wrote an article in response to the Pope's recent Apology for past sins of the Roman Catholic people. This lady says as a girl her "Catholic friends explained the real deal about Jewish people." She was told that all Catholics were to resist Jews, or even hate Jews because it was thought that they killed Christ. Is this biblical? Did Jews kill Jesus? Were they responsible? Should we hate Jews? Come to Matthew 27 for a eyewitness account of what really happened that horrible day almost two thousand years ago. (Also found in Mark 15:6-15 and Luke 23:13-25) Matthew 27:15-17. Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" Now, who was Pilate in favor of releasing? Jesus. Because Barabbas was bad. The people had a decision to make. How fascinating to watch how some folk come to a decision. I think the decision was made out of peer pressure, or mob psychology. That's what happened that day. This fateful day the peer pressure was a determining factor. That fateful day they decided because that's what the crowd decided. Everybody went along with it. I want to speak to that. Maybe some you are a teenagers. Maybe on a Saturday night your group gets together and you decide, "Well, let's have a great time tonight. One of us here is of age, why not get him to go buy some alcohol and we could just have a good party instead of a mediocre time. We could do it up!" Instantly the whole group decides they're going to have an alcoholic party. Peer pressure, and they make the wrong decision. If you do that, and you're part of that crowd, then you basically are choosing Barabbas. Do you see how that works? When you know you ought to do right, and you know that, and you choose what is wrong, you are choosing Barabbas. In choosing Barabbas quickly and carelessly, they made the wrong choice. When you choose wrong, when you fully know what is right you are choosing Barabbas. A hasty decision is often a bad decision as well. Pilate presented two fathers' sons to the crowd. Jesus Barabbas and Jesus Christ. Jesus Barabbas means: son of A father." (bar - son of, abbas - daddy or father) Jesus Christ means: "son of THE Father." The one, poisoned by the devil, ready for hell. The other, sinless, perfect, ready for heaven. Everybody in the whole wide world was there represented in Barabbas or in Jesus. Look for yourself in this amazing story.  

The contrast was very clear. One was a robber, a criminal. - The other was compassionate, kind, loving.
• When the crowd chose Barabbas they chose lawlessness instead of law.
• They chose war instead of peace.
• They chose hatred instead of love.
• They chose Satan instead of God.

A bad choice! You can the full account there in Matthew 27. Very, very bad. Read a key statement here in Matthew 27:22. "What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked And that is a key question of life. What are you, fellow McDonald Road member, going to do with Jesus Christ? What are you going to do? Are you going to accept Him or are you going to choose Barabbas? And the crowd, of course, chose Barabbas. In verse 25, all the people said, Let his blood be on us and our children!" And that's why some people don't like what the Jews did back then. And for years, fingers have been pointed at Christians saying that in our roots is anti-Semitism. We encourage hatred for Jews because they killed Jesus. The Roman governor was willing to set Jesus free, but the Jews shouted, "Crucify Him!" And Pilate gave in, rather than jeopardize the peace. So it sounds like the vast majority of people who were Jews hated Jesus. Now is that true? What had happened to Jesus just five days before? What were the crowds doing to Jesus five days before? They were laying down the palm leaves, they were laying down their garments so He could cross over. They were honoring Jesus Christ. And now, all of a sudden, five days later, here they are crucifying Jesus Christ. What a fickle bunch of people. What in the world is happening to this crowd? What had Jesus done in the last five days that had agitated them? Nothing! Nothing had changed. Let's take a little closer look at this group. Are these people really wishy-washy? Why did practically everybody suddenly hate Jesus, now, and before, they loved Him? Well, the Bible plainly declares that Caiaphas and his confederates were determined to kill Jesus, not because He was unpopular, but because he was popular. So, the crowds were not against Him. So we can't say that Jesus was hated by everybody, because He was popular. In fact, verse 18 says that they envied Jesus: they resented His success. So, it's the opposite of hatred. I think they feared that the people would welcome Jesus as the Messiah and all of the pharisees, all the leaders would be unemployed because He was very popular. So, not everybody hated Jesus. In fact, very few did. So, we could ask the question: Were Jesus' accusers even Jews? The crowd that were there that day, were they Jews? Let's look at this a little more closely as we read here in Matthew 27 you can tell that they were Jews by where they stood. These fault-finders stood out in the courtyard because they didn't want to be contaminated. To go into this civil court would contaminate them and they would not be able to do anything about it and they would not be able to celebrate the passover. So, they couldn't go in. Pilate had to go in and talk with Jesus, and go out and talk to the crowd... back and forth. That's what you see going on here. Did that zealous, accusing crowd hate Jesus? I don't believe so. Now, could it be that almost nobody in Jerusalem even really knows that Jesus is on trial? Most of His friends aren't quite aware of it yet. It's really in the morning while this trial is going on. The crowds are possibly supporters of Barabbas who have come to get him released. And so we need to ask, Who was Barabbas? In John 18:14 Barabbas is called a robber. In Mark 15:7, he's called a murderer. He's actually an insurrectionist, he's a revolutionist. This man is a self-proclaimed messiah. That's who Barabbas really is: he's a freedom-fighter. He's trying to get freedom for the Israelites to be free from the bondage of Rome. The purpose of the crowd that day was to get him released. Jesus was also a freedom fighter. Jesus was trying to get freedom from the devil. They were very similar; Jesus and Barabbas. Jesus' way involved gentleness, not swords.  

The crowd apparently believed in do-it-yourself liberation.
• Salvation does not come by riot but by surrender.
• Salvation is never by violence, it is by faith.
• Salvation is not delivered by gun barrels and bullets.
• Salvation does not come by works or by swords.
• Salvation comes by yielding your life to your Savior, your God.

And they did not know that. Both Jesus and Barabbas wanted to save their people. The difference between Jesus and Barabbas was like the difference between a lamb and a wolf: totally opposites "Both Jesus and Barabbas were brought before the people and stood side by side. Jesus stood there wearing the robe of mockery and the stripes, from which the blood flowed freely. His face was stained with blood, and bore the marks of exhaustion and pain but never had it appeared more beautiful than now. Every feature expressed gentleness and the tenderest pity for His cruel foes. In striking contrast was Barabbas. Every line of the countenance of Barabbas proclaimed him the hardened ruffian that he was. (Desire of Ages, p. 735 - EG White) Barabbas was a ruffian. Jesus was tender. Yet they chose Jesus to crucify. They chose Barabbas to set them free. And what they did: they chose short-term, immediate deliverance from Rome rather than long-term immediate eternal deliverance from sin and the devil. We are just like them today. We are so short-sighted, we choose wrong, don't we? Even babies would rather have a pacifier than a one-dollar bill. How crazy those babies are! They'd rather have a bottle than a Bible! Eve chose the apple rather than eternal security. Sometimes the dance seems so more important to us than attending prayer meeting. When you as a teenager go out and you choose to take some illegal drug into your life, you are choosing Barabbas because you are choosing a temporary high rather than an eternal high that you could have gotten. Gentlemen, when you look at some other man's wife and you choose that pleasure, you are choosing Barabbas rather than what God has designed for you. We choose Barabbas every day. We shouldn't. It's wrong. It's sinful. We're crucifying Jesus when we choose Barabbas. Do you realize you hurt Jesus when you go on drugs. You hurt Jesus when you look at that "other" man or that "other" woman. That should never happen. Today, we choose Barabbas when we put anything ahead of Jesus. Jesus should be first and best in our lives. The bulk of the crowd had assembled that morning for the legitimate purpose of extracting their hero, Barabbas, out of the iron grip of the Romans. They had not really come to condemn an innocent man, Jesus, to death. Does this explain why Caiaphas wanted Jesus dead? Notice John 11:47-50, Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." Caiaphas had been around. He knew the Romans would not tolerate revolt. His motive is clearly seen in verse 50. It would be best for Jesus to die than for the entire nation to perish. Caiaphas feared that one more uprising would end what little freedom the Jewish people had left. Perhaps Jesus had a larger following than Barabbas. To kill Jesus was better than to let Him live and lead the nation to oblivion. I wonder what ever happened to Barabbas when they set him free, which they did? I wonder if he went on to become a freedom-fighter? I believe he did. In fact, I believe that the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. could have been caused by this one man being a freedom-fighter, going out and getting a group together and causing the Romans to come against them. It could have happened. That mob's choice of Barabbas over Jesus contributed to the fall of Jerusalem a generation later. Even Jesus stated that in Matthew 23:37-39. So, be careful when you choose the world because it could in fact contribute to your fall. When you go out and you choose to smoke that cigarette, you choose to defile your body by some way, it could also hurt your family. Those who live in Jerusalem could be hurt by your actions. You must be careful what you choose when you choose Barabbas. You are in danger of doing that when you place anything else ahead of Jesus Christ. Be careful when you chose the world. You are in danger when you place anything above Jesus. There is an old song... "NOTHING between my soul and the Savior." So be careful. Jesus came to His own, and His own received Him not. They took Him and cast Him off. They judged Him worthy of death. And the whole multitude cried, Give us Barabbas! Liberation through Jesus Barabbas! He believed in self-redemption, not in redemption through the loving Messiah. Look at Mark 15:25. All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!" What the crowd was saying here is, "We release you, Pilate, from all guilt. We're not going to hold you guilty. Pilate, if you just destroy Jesus, everything will be all right." Is that true? Yes, in a way that is true. Everything can only be all right if Jesus is destroyed. If Jesus hangs on that cross, then everything can be okay. That's what can happen. The people chose Barabbas. And only Barabbas could say to Jesus, "You have physically saved me from death." Because, Jesus died in the place of Barabbas, didn't He. And from physical death, Jesus saved Barabbas. I imagine Barabbas was waiting in his cell. He was there on death row waiting to be crucified on that cross. And they tell me that people that are about to be hung oftentimes their hand goes around their neck and feels their neck. They know that rope is going to be there shortly. They know it won't be long and they kind of put their hand around their neck and feel it. And people that are on death row and they're going to be taken to the gas chamber, I have been told, that those folks practice holding their breath before that event takes place. They know that soon they'll be in the gas chamber, so they hold their breath. They practice that until their eyes nearly pop out of their heads. Because they know that some day they will be taken into that room and they will be tied in that chair and soon they will hear a little hissing sound, and that death vapor will be coming in. And they know that if they hold their breath, they can elongate their life just a little. But soon they will have to exhale the last oxygen and they will inhale the death vapor. I think that Barabbas must have looked at the palms of his hands and he realized that soon spikes, big nails, would be driven through his hands and he would be impaled onto a cross and he would die. Every time a hammer struck a blow out in the courtyard he thought, "Oh dear, they're building a cross for me." And I imagine that when the soldiers came to his cell that day, that he probably thought, "This is it! This is it." And yet they came and released him. And they said, "That man over there took your place. See that man over there? That's Jesus. He took your place. You're free because of Jesus." And I want you to know that you can be free because of Jesus. That's the only person that can set you free. In Matthew 20:28 we read a fascinating verse: "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Praise God for Jesus. He is the Ransom for many, many people. I'm so glad for that. He came to serve. Let us pray. Dear Father, Give us wisdom to make the right choices. Give us the courage to stand for you even when the crowd goes the other way. Forgive us for choosing Barabbas in the foolish days of our past. Give us the heart to choose Jesus now and forever.  

Hymn of Praise: #154, When I Survey the Wondrous cross
Scripture: Matthew 27:20-26
Hymn of Response: #159, The Old Rugged Cross

McDonald Road Sermons

by Pastor Donald J Gettys

Biblical quotations are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted

Mother Eve

Mother's Day brings cards and flowers and love. And we all have a mother. Love messages are sent by snail mail, E-Mail, telephone; every way that you can imagine. Be careful if you get on the computer. But not all love messages are good. A new computer virus sends communications saying "I Love You" and then infects the host computer. One nasty worm is simply known as "Mothers Day." When it poisons your computer, Windows must be reinstalled all over again. So far damage estimates exceed two million dollars. Shame on hackers for misusing "Mother" and "Love. Today I will try to bring to you the true meanings of those wonderful terms. It's sort of like Eve standing under that tree, you know. She thought that was a good apple to eat, but it was the wrong tree. It was kind of bad. Shame on these hackers for using the name "Love" and "Mother's Day" to propagate their evil worm that worms it's way. I think today we need to bring out the true message of what love really means, and mothers. Shame on these people who are hacking away at our mothers. We all appreciate our indispensable mothers. And I am told in a book called Adventist Home by Mrs. Ellen G. White that "the influence of faithful mothers will last for eternity." Isn't that a great thought? When Jesus hears the earnest prayers of a faithful mother, that He gives it special regard. Come over here to EZEKIEL 16:44 (KJV), Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. Like father, like son. Like mother, like daughter. That's the way it is, isn't it. We tend to raise children that are just like us. That might be good, if we're good. There was a little girl, age eight, Diane from Cincinnati, Ohio. She wrote a little note and handed it to her mother, "I hope you like the flowers I got you for Mother's Day. I picked them myself when Mr. Smith wasn't looking". Good intentions, but villainous methodology. A mother is someone who can love and reward the good intentions of a child's best efforts. Ministry of Healing, p 378 (EG White) says: "No other work can equal (the work of the mother) in importance." Do you think father's are more important? Or mothers? I'm afraid it's the mother. That's good. When the kids' hurt, who do they go to? They usually go to their mother, don't they. We are going to study the life of a great Bible mother today whose name is spelled the same backwards as forwards. Several are spelled like that (HANNAH) for example. We're going to study the life a great Bible mother today, whose name is spelled the same forward as it is backwards (a palindrome: also applies to phrases that read either way). I know that instantly you're thinking that it is "Hannah," and it's not Hannah. There are several mothers like that in the Bible. We're going to study "Eve." EVE is the mother of all living. The name EVE means LIFE! She was the beginning, the first woman, the originator of life apart from creation. Genesis 4:1,2 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. We are all Eve's great, great, great, great...grand children! We're all sons and daughters of Eve. Eve was the first woman, the first wife, the first mother, the first grandmother. She was not the first baby. Eve was not the first child to grow up. When she was created, she was an adult already. She was the first mother. Eve was mother to two boys. Has any mother here had children, some of which turned out good, and some of which turned out bad? That has happened, hasn't it. The same mother, and some of them turn out okay and some of them don't. Now, what could Eve blame that on? Surely it could not be the fault of imperfect heredity or genes! Where did she get her genes from? She got them from God. She couldn't blame it on heredity. Maybe she could blame it on a bad environment, I don't know. Blame it on something, whatever. Maybe it was bad environment. Nonetheless, one of her children was good and the other was real bad. And the two hated each other. It was sort of the beginning of the great controversy between good and evil. It is the case that evil hates the good. Eve was a mother of sorrow and Eve was the mother of joy. How can one mother produce a really nasty, evil, bad son and then just a year or two later produce a gentle, kind, tender Christlike child? The same mother! That's what happened to Eve. Someone said that one of Eve's problems was that she raised CAIN around the house! I've seen people do that. I've heard them do that. Fortunately my wife has never raise cain around the house. I appreciate that. Others say that one of Eve's problems was that she did not RAISE Cain (did not raise him properly). Maybe she learned on Cain and did a little better on Abel. Motherhood does not come with training. Nobody really has the experience of being a mother the first time around. I don't know as we do any better the second time around. We give our best I'm not so sure about that. I feel that Eve did the very best job at being a mother that she possibly could for both boys. She raised Cain every bit as good as she could. Eve, fresh from the creation factory, had 10 times more intelligence than modern mothers do. We are not evolving you know. Actually as we increase technology, at the same time we're letting our morals and mores slide downward until today we have very little left. Eve did her best for both boys. She had better information than Dr. Spock. She could consult with Christ Himself. Angels of God were there to help teach her children according to Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 83 - EG White. They taught those boys. They were taught by angels. I think Eve was an excellent mother. She certainly was the best mother the world had ever known. Eve had made a serious mistake back there in the garden. Now, It was not wrong to eat an apple. She just ate the wrong apple. Some things are reserved by God, and we should not touch them, even though normally they would be good. One day she saw a pretty animal up in an apple tree. The beautiful golden serpent spoke to her in a musical voice and said: "Let's see if you are as smart as you are beautiful! I am a lowly snake and I just ate one of these apples here and now look at me. Do you see what happened to me? I can talk just like you! Just imagine what would happen if you ate one! You might become like God Himself!" Then about that time the brilliant flying creature plucked and apple and placed it in her hands. Remember, God had said that she was not supposed to even touch it. "The day that you touch it you will die." And there she had it in her hands. It was touching her! She thought, "Am I dying? Oh, I'm not dying. I'm still here. What is death? I don't know." She was told not to touch it. Remember, she didn't reach out and grasp the apple: it was given to her. It seemed to be just the opposite of what God said would happen. It seemed like she could feel new life coming into her. It seemed like she was achieving a higher plane. She had that feeling. Do we go by feelings? And she turned to Adam and gave an apple to him "This is the best apple I've ever tasted, and she explained it to him and soon Adam joined her in eating some of her apples. And then things started going downhill fast. They lost their clothing, the atmosphere started changing. Eve said: "Adam, it's chilly in here." Adam didn't know what to do so they went to a fig tree and started to sew some leave together. They discovered what cold was because the air lost its mild uniform temperature. Soon their robe of light started to go out like when someone dims the lights. Peace of heart left them and their hands got clammy with a cold sweat. Somewhere back in a forbidden acre of that orchard they could hear in the distance a snake, laughing with great satisfaction. He had done it. "I got her! I got them both! Just where I wanted them to be." That snake was so excited his forked tongue shook like a dog coming out of the water. With the garment of light turned off, for a long time, Eve's pregnancy became even more obvious. A few weeks later the leaves on the trees started to turn an ugly brown and fall off. Genesis 3:21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. "The world's first mother and father grieved more deeply over the changes in nature that they saw than anyone today mourns over the death of a loved one!" - Patriarchs and Prophets, p.62 - EG White. Can you imagine that? Mothers day was not very good. Flowers drooped and died. Things were happening. They began to realize what their actions had done. Not only had their act set into motion the decay process that would end their own life. But the life of every tree, plant, bird, and animal that Adam had so carefully named would die because of their sin. Even their children die because of their sin. The whole world was dying. They had killed the whole planet! The whole planet was in the process of dying. Now let's talk about the world's first murderer. And who is that? Adam! Adam was the first human being to kill, to take life. He had to sacrifice an animal, did he not? And as he sacrificed that animal, the true consequences of death came upon him. "To Adam, the offering of the first sacrifice was a most painful ceremony. His hand must be raised to take life, which only God could give. (of a pure lamb) It was the first time he had ever witnessed death." - Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 68 - EG White. You must realize that Adam had a great mind, and he clearly understood that as he took the life of that innocent victim, that someday his personal sin would be responsible for the blood of the Savior Himself, the spotless Lamb of God. Adam understood that. With no modern Kleenex Adam and Eve must have had red eyes for months from so many tears of sorrow. However there was one little bright spot...Eve was pregnant! I wonder if they even knew what that bulge was. I wonder if she thought, "Boy, I'm gaining weight. Adam isn't gaining weight. What's the matter?" But eventually one day, with the first pain of child-birth, out came Cain. The world's first mother named her fifty pound baby, "Cain." What a good name! How many of you are named, "Cain?" Nobody. It was an ideal name she chose. We're told that Adam and Eve were much taller than we are today. Cain was probably about forty one inches long. Imagine a baby like that. A full head of red hair. Eve named him Cain because she thought he would be the Messiah that had been foretold. The name Cain means: "A Man: The Lord!" She thought he was the Lord, the Messiah, the Savior that was to come! The first mother's day must have been a special one. Here she was admiring, holding this little baby, and thinking, "Here he is who will reverse everything that I have done. He's going to make it all right again, all this death that's happening, he's going to restore, and bring back life. He's going to reverse all this damage that I have started." How fitting that she who had messed up, would be given the privilege of bringing the one into the world who would right everything again. What a special mother's day that was! He would restore to humankind the life that she had taken away. But alas how wrong she was. Actually she had given birth to the world's first taker of human life. Later, Abel was born. Imagine the grief that Eve had over the years. Yet as far as we know when we all get to heaven, Eve will be there. Because she was converted. Because even though Christ had was not born yet and did not grow in her womb, yet she had allowed Christ to dwell and grow in her heart. And that's how we can all be saved. We may not give birth to the Savior, but if the Savior is born in us, that's the important thing. After Cain and Able grew up Eve witnessed human murder. I can tell you that it is hard to lose a loved one. I never knew what it was like until two weeks ago. It's very difficult, and you go through stages. If Eve went through anything like I'm going through, Eve undoubtedly thought "What If..." What if, maybe if I had just been there, I could have stopped it." Or, "What if I had been more observant. I would have seen how depressed Cain was and how angry he was. I could have talked with him. Or maybe somehow I could have stopped it, I've messed up here. What if I had prayed harder for Cain. What if... what if..." And you go through stages like that, I can tell you. But, alas, nothing could bring poor Able back. Nothing. Many times Eve must have cried and wished she had acted differently in the Garden of Eden. Look at II Corinthians 11:3 where it talks about Eve. I imagine she regretted deeply what happened in the Garden of Eden and this brings out very clearly what did happen. Paul says, But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. So, today, we like Eve, must also be on our guard. The apostle, Paul, tells you this. "Be on your guard because Eve was deceived. That's what happened there in the Garden of Eden." Eve could not bring Able back. With Able gone, what did Cain do? You cane read it in Genesis 4:16 and 17, here's what happened: Cain went out and started to build a city and he named this city after the descendants of Enoch, not the Enoch that you and I know. Here he was, building up the city, Enochville, establishing wickedness. Eve was overjoyed when her third born son came along and she named him, "Seth." And we are told that taller than Cain and Able (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 80 - EG White). Seth resembled Adam more closely than the other two than the other two ever had. He looked just like Adam. Seth, just like his parents inherited the fallen sinful nature of his parents. Seth received the same instruction and training that Cain had. But Seth turned out to be good. He carried on where Able was not been able to carry on. But sin was spreading like AIDS, spreading fast like a computer virus. For almost a thousand years Adam tried to hold sin off. Adam was the first teacher and he taught all his children and most of his grandchildren. Maybe he was the first pastor, the first preacher. But it was a losing battle. Sin was taking over. And you understand, Adam and Eve were hated by most people. Every time they passed, they would think, "It's your fault. We could be in that Garden right now if it wasn't for you!" They hated Adam and Eve. Often times they were met with bitter words and cursed for the sin that they had brought upon everybody. And so their life was one of Sorrow. They were bowed down with anguish. It seemed that most of their children became sinful. The power of sin is so great. Men used their great intellect to attain deeper and deeper levels of wickedness. Little children were about as intelligent as adults are in today. Imagine the wicked levels they reached. We use so little of our brains today. With minds so great, just imagine what depth of true knowledge of God they could have achieved! Visualize the Spiritual giants they could have become. Do we have spiritual giants today? Yes, we do. Imagine what they could have become. Our first mother took her little children to church every Sabbath. Church was located just outside the gate of the Garden of Eden. As they sat for Adam's Sabbath sermon they could look inside the garden and see the eternal plants with their unfading leaves. They could see the lions and the lambs playing together. In the winter time it was cold where they sat, perhaps some of the warmth poured out of the garden gates. As they sat there in their outdoor church, all around them was dying. Leaves fell, snow blew, cold brought shivers. Mosquitoes bit them but they could look inside the perfect garden that was full of life where everything was wonderful and perfect and peaceful. The contrast was like a sermon itself. You would think with so much evidence it would have been easy to convince the world that God was real. Did they believe in God? Yes, they did. They all believed God existed, but almost all of them hated God. Why did they hate Him? Because He would not let them into the Garden of Eden. Instead all the wicked could think about was their trouble and sweat and pain. Whenever the followers of Cain looked over at Eden they hated God because He would not allow them access any more to the good land. They thought God must be totally unfair to deny them entrance to the Garden of Eden. They despised God. We only know of three of Eve's children although she must have had more. Whenever Eve attended a graduation or a wedding...in fact any crowd she found herself in, everybody there, they were all her children. How many she had we do not know. If Eve had a baby every 5 years during the first 500 years of her life they could have produced 8,000 grandchildren by the time she was six hundred years old. By the age of eight hundred she could have had 500,000 offspring. Half a million! It would have impossible for her to attend all the weddings, or, impossible for Adam, as the first minister to perform them all. Imagine all the baby showers. Imagine remembering the names of the grandchildren. Of course, she had a pretty good mind. Most of our pictures of Eve show her as a young beautiful young woman. I wonder what she looked like at age one thousand? Well, you may say, "Maybe she didn't reach the age of one thousand." Well, we don't know. Most women outlive men by seven or eight percent and Adam lived to be 930, so Eve could have been the oldest human being to ever live. Imagine her birthday cake with a thousand candles on it. Antediluvian Smoke detectors going off! What a cake. What a party! What a mother! Eve, the world's very first mother. A poor snake handler but probably a very good mother. No wonder most mothers still hate snakes! The evil that began in Paradise has extended clear down through the ages to the year 2000 AD. It exists today. Although Adam and Eve recapitulated with sorrow to their children the sad story of how Eden was lost and how it might be regained, their family became a divided family. They had the followers of Cain, and the representatives of Abel. Cain chose to serve Satan, Abel chose to serve God. Now, I think as modern mothers today, we need to realize that we're not perfect. Nobody here is perfect. If you're a perfect mother I'd like to meet you. It just doesn't happen. But we need to do our best. I want to challenge you mothers today to commune with God. Your children deserve the best mother they can have. Shame on you if you're not developing your spiritual powers to the utmost. We need mothers who are mothers of prayer. We need mothers who put God first in their life. The greatest want of the world today is for mothers, since they have the upper hand, since they have the most influence on us, we need mothers who know Jesus Christ. Who know their Bible. "My mother's old Bible is true..." Do you have an old bible? Is it all marked up? Have you read it over and over? I urge you to do that. So, modern mother, even if you came fresh from the hand of the Creator, you are not perfect. Do your best. Commune with God as did Eve, on a daily basis. Be a Godly woman. Live what you want your children to become. Avoid the trash sex novels and afternoon TV soap affairs. Spend time with Jesus and with your family. Get on your knees. Mothers are so special, so special. They work so hard. We love them so much. It is fitting that we honor them today on Mother's day weekend. Six year old Mary Jane was looking at the photograph album and found the pictures of her parent's wedding. Her father described the ceremony and tried to explain its meaning. Suddenly the light seemed to dawn on her. "OH!," Mary Jane exclaimed, "Is that when you got mother to come and work for us?!" Look at Genesis 33. We're going to read a couple of verses. There's a little nugget found in here that I missed. (In Genesis 33:13-14) Jacob is making a statement here about children and animals. Remember, Jacob was fleeing from Esau. There's always problems between brother. It didn't stop with Cain and Abel. Genesis 33:13, 14 (KJV). And he said unto him, "My lord knoweth that the children are tender and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant and I will lead on softly according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir." Do you get the little bit about children here? It says the "children are tender" and because of that, how will I lead? "I will lead on softly." That's a little gem that I had missed. Children are tender, aren't they. "Every daughter of Eve should be so educated that if called to fill the position of wife and mother, she may preside as a queen in her own domain." - Adventist Home, p. 88 (EG White) You can gently lead your tender little flock. Jesus will bless your efforts. I believe that Eve will see Able again, and perhaps many her children in heaven. She'll see Seth if she gets to heaven. Will Eve be saved? Come over here to I Timothy in your bible. This gives a strange thought of how Eve might be saved. I hadn't really thought about that until last night. I Timothy 2:13-15, For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. You know, I've seen that. I have seen a woman have a baby and suddenly they get to thinking, "You know, I haven't been going to church. Here's this little baby here. I'd better start taking this baby to church." And so the woman starts attending church. The man starts attending church. Have you seen that? That's how that works. It says, "Women will be saved through childbearing." That's an amazing statement If Eve will be saved in Heaven she will be one of many who have sinned, but they are saved sinners, saved by the blood of the true Lamb of God Jesus! That is how we all gain entrance to heaven. Mothers: I appeal to you today to give your life unreservedly, totally, with nothing held back, to Jesus Christ every day. Give your hearts to Jesus, totally, daily, sincerely. Give your children to Jesus every day. Get on your knees and name them one by one to Jesus and your life will be different. We don't want to raise cain in our homes. We want to raise Christ-like children. If we have made some mistakes, let's pray to God for then conversion of our children. That can happen. Let's all join together and help our children on the way to heaven. Happy Mothers Day!  

Hymn of praise: #337, Redeemed
Scripture: Proverbs 31:27
Hymn of Response: #551, Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me.

McDonald Road Sermons

by Pastor Donald J. Gettys

Biblical Quotations are from the New International Version NIV unless otherwise noted.

The Wisest Fool

Somebody said, "We weren't going to have much of a crowd for church today because of Campmeeting, so your sermon will be a lot shorter. Right?" No, this is going to be a full sermon. So, we'd better get started. We're going to talk about the smartest and wisest fool the world has ever known. I think by now you have guessed who it is. Of all the Who's Who in the Bible, we know about Moses and Jesus and Elijah and David and Paul, and a host of other renowned Bible Heros. About all we seem to remember about Solomon is that he wrote the book of Proverbs and several other books of the Bible. He was a wise man. He was rich. He built a beautiful temple. And he did things like that. You can read also in Ecclesiastes 1: that he is a preacher. In verse 12 he says, "I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem." So, he's not only a preacher but he's a king. Some preachers, I suppose, act like kings. He started out as a good king on his daddy's throne. Now keep in mind that Solomon never had to go out and kill Goliath. He never really did any big battles. He probably didn't even know much about swords unless he just played with them as a baby. He grew up pampered a little bit. But, he was a good king at the beginning. He made Jerusalem to shine like a diamond glistening there between the shimmering blue waves of the Mediterranean Sea and the glimmering salty waters of the Dead Sea. Jerusalem was a crown jewel in Solomon's day. Gold and Silver were as common as dust. Come over here to 1 Kings. We're going to do a lot of study in First Kings. Chapter three and four tell about Solomon. I Kings 4:25 Every man sat in safety under his vine and fig tree. Everybody was safe. It was a great experience. No wars were going on. They were blessed with money and everybody had plenty to eat. They were good times. God was blessing the whole nation. And, you know, God has done that with America. God has blessed this country. But when I look at our lifestyle, I wonder how long that blessing will continue. How long did Solomon's blessing continue? The first thing he did when he got the throne was to put his enemies to death. A little bit of bloodshed there. And then in 1 Kings 3:1, Solomon made an affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David. And he had her there and kept her in the house and married her. Shortly after this God appeared to Solomon to give Solomon a request. Sort of like a genie in a bottle here because look at what God says. Look in I Kings 3:5. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you." God is lavish with His people, isn't he. He loves His people. He wants to give us great gifts. Continuing with verse 6, Solomon answered, "You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father, David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?" The Lord was very happy, wasn't he, with that request. God says, "Well, since you asked for this, you didn't ask for a long life. You didn't ask for wealth. You didn't ask for things for yourself. You didn't ask for the death of your enemies. I'm going to give you this type of wisdom. Verse 12: "I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will you what you have not asked for--both riches and honor--so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in my says and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life." That's an amazing blessing, isn't it. Now, before David died he cautioned His son Solomon in I Chronicles 28:9 "And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." Oh that Solomon had been more Solemn and attentive to David and to God. He was the wisest man in the world, but even that can be lost. You know, you can lose your wisdom. There was a sign on a school bulletin board: "Free! Wisdom on Mondays through Fridays. Bring your own container." You've got to want wisdom and you you've got to contain it or it will be lost. King Solomon showed rare wisdom one day when two women came before him. These two ladies were having a squabble. Both claimed to be the true mother of a child. In I Kings 3:24-25 Solomon said: "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword for the king. He then gave an order: "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other." Well, I want to tell you that very quickly the real mother was discovered. She said, "Oh, no! Don't do that. Let the other lady have the baby." But the other said, "No! Cut her in half." All Israel saw that Solomon fantastic wisdom. He had extraordinary quantities of God's wisdom. In fact it was so great that the Bible says: I Kings 4: 29-31 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Now, that's pretty intelligent, isn't it. I don't know what his I.Q. was. It may not have been very high, but he had a lot of common sense and a lot of wisdom, at least at the beginning. Verse 30, Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than any other man... Nobody was wiser than Solomon. After he killed all his enemies, the next thing he did was to build up his own house so that he (verse 26 KJV) had four thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horses horsemen. Imagine having four thousand garages for your Porsches and your Corvettes. Any cars you can afford because you've got all the gold and silver in the world. Four thousand garage doors to open with your remote. Which car shall I choose this morning? That's Solomon, you know. He had all those horses and twelve thousand horsemen. He had wisdom and riches and fame. Finally Solomon got around to building the glorious temple. His workmen cast two pillars of brass for the temple that were each 27 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter! Each would weigh 20 tons! (I Kings 7:15) What a temple he built. The temple was one of the wonders of the world. And what craftsmanship there was. I Kings 6:7 says that the stone was prepared at the quarry so that the hammer or any iron tool was not heard during the construction of that temple. Just silent, holy, a holy place. Isn't that fantastic? I want to tell you today that we are the temple of the living God. II Corinthians 6:16 As you spend the days of your life, as you spend the time God has allocated to you, are you building a solid structure of materials that will last, or are you building with inferior materials? We need to build a solid temple. Are you using jewels or junk in the constructing this temple? Do not cut corners in our spiritual life because you are building the temple of God. God wants to live in your heart. Build your body temple not our of junk, but out of jewels. At the dedication of the Temple Solomon preached the sermon- (I Kings 8:12-21). Solomon concluded with a wonderful prayer and a sacrifice, dedicating that temple to God. His fame spread around the world. He had a tremendous palace, he had all these garages with all these Volkswagens in there, whatever they were. He was famous. One day the lovely Queen of Sheba heard so much about Solomon that she wanted to come and see what made this man so wise and what brought him such blessing. And so she came and I think the Queen of Sheba was searching for the truth. Maybe she was honestly searching for a relationship with the God who she had heard about, the True God. 2 Chronicles 9:3-8 When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, as well as the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servant in their robes, the cupbearers in their robes and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed. She said to the king, "The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe what they said until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told me: you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on his throne as king to rule for the Lord your God. Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them forever, he has made you king over them, to maintain justice and righteousness." Solomon impressed the queen of Sheba with his wit and his wealth, and even his God. I want to ask you, when company comes over to your house, what do you show them? Do you show them all the doodads? all your stuff? Or do they see your Jesus? They ought to see Jesus when they come to your house. She went away very impressed with Solomon, but not with Solomon's God. She came all the way from Africa to find God and true wisdom, and she found Solomon. Solomon started slipping down into a steep spiritual decline. You can read this in I Kings 11:1-11. King Solomon did not fall suddenly. It happened gradually. But when he did fall, it was from a great height! Remember he was the richest and the wisest man that ever lived. He went from being the wisest to being the most foolish. Perhaps the praise of the thousands who thronged around Solomon to catch the pearls of genius as they poured forth from his royal mouth, that all got to him and was more than he could stand. It changed him and puffed him up. Come over here to Ecclesiastes 2 in your Bible. In Ecclesiastes we see a lavish list of Solomon's quest for meaning and happiness. He tried everything. Ecclesiastes 2:9-11 (NAS) "All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them." Isn't that amazing. Anything he saw he, did it. If people were taking drugs, if they were doing anything, he saw it and he tried it. You can read the list of the things he tried. He tried money. Does money bring happiness? (Who said no!?) Are you sure? If you had more money would things be a little bit better? Money is sort of a condensation of your life. But the love of money doesn't bring happiness. And the misuse of money doesn't bring happiness. And the excess of money does not bring happiness. But prosperity did not work. Pleasure! He tried laughter, leisure, liquor, licentiousness, labor, lucre, lovely ladies, he tried it all. And he got bored. He was an unhappy camper. He says in Ecclesiastes 2: 10,11 "I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." I think that when everyone is doing your work for you, you probably get that feeling. I think honest work brings happiness and reward. You work hard, you gain something, that something is valuable to you. If you get it all given to you, it is not valuable to you. I think you will find that when you lose Jesus, you will eventually have an empty life. And Solomon lost God. How did Solomon begin this downhill path? It started back when he married the wrong person. We have a chart at our house of the things that make a person happy. The number one thing on that chart is that ninety percent of the happiness or grief in life comes from marrying the right or the wrong person. You need to marry the right person. Who did he marry? Solomon married a heathen: Pharaoh's pretty daughter. And aren't the heathen beautiful? Why are the heathen so beautiful? They are! He married Pharaoh's pretty girl. Forbidden fruit looks better?! Cows try to eat the grass on the other side of the fence. It looks better over there. But she had heathen idolatry in her heart. She had idols packed in her luggage. And he brought her home and she brought a lot of stuff into his house that he did not need. And it rubbed off on her Solomon. Please marry someone who can help you on your journey to heaven. Don't even date somebody that's going to take you the other way. She may be pretty, but if she's a heathen - the wrong direction. Solomon began to worship the gods of his wife and to burn incense on High Places. I Kings 3:2-3. It was different and cute. But it had its effect. Stealthfully, and imperceptibly like a spreading infection, this thing got hold of Solomon's heart. Sin got a foothold in his life. There it festered and spread throughout his body, throughout his soul without check, until toward the end of his life its malignancy had eaten to the core of his spiritual life. He was dead spiritually toward the end of his life. Look at another thing he did. In I Kings 9: 10-13 we see Solomon's friend Hiram being paid for his beautiful cedar lumber. At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings--the temple of the LORD and the royal palace-- King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and pine and gold he wanted. So this was payment, this was his pay. "I'm going to give you twenty cities." But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. "What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?" he asked. And he called them the Land of Cabul, a name they have to this day. You know what Cabul means? Worthlessness. Maybe swamp land or flood land, a bad place. No good. He cheated Hiram. And I think there's nothing worse than somebody who cheats you in your business. You charge them a certain amount and they don't pay. They owe you. They're a cheapskate. When you cheat others in shady business dealings, you begin to go down the path of Solomon. Oh that we were honest! I Kings 10:22 Solomon had a fleet of trading ships that sailed with Hiram's fleet. Once every three years the ships returned, loaded down with gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. Peacocks for pleasure and apes for frivolous entertainment and other purposes that you don't want to know about. Here the whole world was looking on and what does Solomon exhibit before them? In I Kings 11:1,2 he imported "fast women" into his kingdom. King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter--Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not inter- marry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. I think here it would be fair to exchange the word sex for the word love. He held fast to them alright! I don't think it was love. Oh that he had held fast to God. Verse 3, He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. Solomon's sensual sweethearts spoiled his spirituality. Slowly but surely sexual seduction shriveled up Solomon's sense of sin. Scorning scripture, staunch Solomon slid speedily on sinking seriously into the swamp of separation from his Savior. The wisest man in the world, the one who had the answer to the hardest questions, had flirted with sin too long. He had worked almost eight years building the glorious Temple as a place for God and His word to dwell, but did not want the Scriptures to dwell in his heart. Jerusalem, that holy city, was where God lived! It was made holy by God's presence. Solomon lived in the Holy City but even though God lived in town God was not welcome in Solomon's heart. His heart was already full of lust and an obsession for pretty women. Solomon was not holy because God did not live in Solomon's heart. God needs to live in our hearts. He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines! Solomon collected beautiful women like some people make it a hobby to collect antique automobiles. It was a hobby. Every day he was surrounded with one thousand of the most beautiful women in the world. He didn't get junk. These beautiful women disconnected him from heavenly things. I want to say something about us. If you sit there and watch sensual women on TV, and if you do it enough times, you will slowly be changed. If you stare at enough lewd pictures and movies, you will also go down that same road that Solomon went down. You be careful what you look at. I Corinthians 10:11,12 gives us some advice. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! It could happen to you. Solomon should have been more Solemn! Instead he fastened his eyes on wild wicked women and his women friends took him away from God. Wise Solomon was outwitted by food, frolic, fortune, fame, and females. When you go to Egypt (not the country today), the heart of wickedness to seek a bride, you go to the wrong place. You will bring home with you a force that can undo your connection with God. Albert Einstein said: "The greatest tragedy of life is when growth stops and decay sets in." This can happen in the teenage years. You teenagers, you can get up, grow up, be just fine and all of a sudden get a hold of something that is going to decay you to the core. How many shining youth are led over fools hill by drugs, alcohol, or a wild life. Or ruination can happen during the mid-life crisis of a persons life. Affairs or reversion to old habits knock out many a person in mid life. But with Solomon his decay got totally out of hand in his old age. Now you would think that when a person gets past sixty they have survived the temptations of life and have smooth sailing into the beautiful sunset of their life. But rocky roads await even the senior saints. I Kings 11:4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. Ashtoreth was the sex goddess which sanctioned sexual activity of any variety. Molech worship included child sacrifice. Solomon was doing all of that. Do you think you're going to meet Solomon in heaven? Heathen genes mixed in with Hebrew genes and from this point the kingdom of Israel was never the same. Rehoboam and Jeroboam led the whole nation into deep sin. The Kingdom was divided into the ten tribes and the two tribes. War and bloodshed came in never to leave. It all started with Solomon, the wisest fool. His sons followed suit. You know, there's a lesson in that. If you have children and you fail in mid-life, if you fail in your older age, what is that going to do to the generations that follow you? Did you ever think about that? You're going to flounder, and in all likelihood, that's what happened here. He sons followed suit. Friends, your spiritual example or lack of one can have devastating effects or fantastic effects on your descendants. You cannot afford to slip into sin. Your ungodly example may lead hundreds into the quagmire of eternal loss. Solomon sowed a lot of wild oats, especially in his latter life. Solomon died. His children, indeed the whole nation reaped a harvest of strife and bloodshed. His mistakes were so costly. Hosea 8:7 They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. Lord Byron, the English poet wrote:  

"The thorns which I have reaped are of the tree I planted, 
      they have torn me  
            and I bleed:  
I should have known what fruit would spring from such a
seed."

How God must have looked to Solomon for something special and He didn't get it. I think today that God is looking for godly men and women. God want people with integrity. He doesn't want you out there feasting on the music channels and the HBO channels. He doesn't want you out there filling your mind up with lust and sin. He wants you feasting on His word. He wants you on your knees. He wants you to talk to Him, to be Holy and pure and like Him. Now if your father was immoral, maybe your father was an alcoholic. You can break that cycle. It doesn't have to continue on and on. You might say, "My daddy did this, therefore I'm doomed." You can break that cycle through Jesus Christ. It can happen. It doesn't have to be propagated on generation after generation. You don't have to have a hot temper. You don't have to gross sinner. You can avoid alcohol. You can be like Jesus. You can do it through Him. Today is the time to be a follower of God. If you have failed God in the past that is irrevocable. What is done is done. It can never be changed or recalled. Lord Byron, the English poet, once wrote, "No hand can make the clock strike for me the hours that are past." But today, and every day forward, you can decide for God. Don't put it off. Listen to some of Solomon's last words: Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them. Verses 6,7. Remember him--before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Verses 13,14. Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. I want to tell you that in my opinion, Solomon was the greatest failure in the whole Bible. He had more intelligence than any other person who ever lived. Luke 12:48 "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." No one who ever lived had any more opportunity than Solomon, the world's wisest fool. You can be wiser than Solomon. And you are wiser than Solomon when you give your heart to Jesus Christ and stay loyal to Him all the days of your life.  

Hymn of Praise: #337, Redeemed!
Scripture: 1 Kings 2:1-4
Hymn of Response: #306, Draw Me Nearer

McDonald Road Sermon