Hartland Winter Convocation 2019: That, Knowing the Time

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Hartland Institute of Health and Education

Norbert Restrepo

A Wonderful Promise

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much because we can come before your presence in the Sabbath day and we know that there is a special blessing that you have promised to us when we seek to have a personal encounter with you on the Sabbath day.

We claim that promise and as we open your word, we ask for your presence to be in our midst, to enlighten our minds and impress our hearts.

This afternoon I want to share with you a message based on the following title, A Wonderful Promise.

How many of you have ever been promised something very special?

So special that you had this anticipation of receiving that, the fulfillment of that promise.

I was thinking about that as I prepared this message And the first thing that came to my mind was a passage in the Bible that I relate with.

If you turn with me to Genesis chapter 15, I will share this story with you, and then I will let you know what was that promise that I was really waiting for.

Genesis chapter 15 and we read the first 4 verses.

After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying, Fear not Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward." God appears to Abram in a vision and in that vision he tells him, I am your exceeding great reward.

And now when God said that to Abraham in a vision, Abraham had the expectation that somehow this meant that God was going to give him a reward.

Verse 2, and Abraham said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eleazar of Damascus?

And Abraham said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and lo, 1 born in mine house is mine heir.

And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir." Well, to Abraham that was a wonderful promise, the promise of a son.

I remember when, together with my older daughter, we were in a campaign to have a second child.

Both my oldest daughter, She was an only child at that time.

And she and I were working together to get mom persuaded that we needed another child.

It took a bit of prayer and perseverance.

And that's why you see between my oldest daughter, she's 22, my youngest daughter is 10.

So that was slightly over 11 years of age.

A lot of prayer and perseverance during those years.

In fact, I was in Germany and I called my wife and she told me, when you come home, I have a surprise for you.

And it's interesting because I had been praying and I said, Lord, I will, if, I'm going to ask 1 more time and if it's no, I will never again bring this subject again.

And it was under this context that my wife tells me, when you get home, I have a surprise for you.

So I can relate with this story of Abraham.

That wonderful promise, that great expectation that something so tremendous was going to happen.

Now when Jesus was here on earth, before he left he gave his disciples a wonderful promise.

In John 14, if you will open your Bibles with me, let's go to John chapter 14.

In fact, it's very interesting that Jesus begins by saying, let not your heart be troubled.

He is preparing them with these words for some not so good news for them based on their perspective and that not so good news was that he was leaving, right?

And whether I go, at that time they could not go with him, but he would come again to take them with him.

So let's go to John chapter 14 and read the words of Jesus straight from Scripture.

If it were not so, I would have told you.

And if I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.

And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know." It's interesting that despite the fact that Jesus couched this news in such a beautiful language, the reason why I'm going is to prepare a place for you.

So Jesus tells them later on in the very same chapter, I will not leave you orphans.

And I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter that He may abide with you forever.

With the Comforter they would have His abiding presence all the time.

Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

And then he reiterates in verse 18, I will not leave you comfortless.

In fact, the spirit of prophecy in the book Desire of Ages says, and I read this quote, before offering himself as the sacrificial victim, Christ sought for the most essential and complete gift to bestow upon His followers.

And notice how this gift is described, the most essential and the most complete gift.

A gift that would bring within their reach the boundless resources of grace.

I will pray the Father, he said, and he shall give you another comforter." What an amazing gift.

It was the most essential and the most complete gift.

They heard, okay, another comforter is coming.

And the disciples could not really wrap their minds around what would this entail, what would this represent for them.

So Jesus continued to explain in the subsequent chapters and in fact throughout scripture we see the description of what this gift meant.

So John 14 and verse 26 we read, But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." So the Holy Spirit would bring comfort to their heart, but he would also teach them all things and bring all things to their remembrance.

The things that Jesus had shared with them.

Now, when he was sharing these things, they did not really understand the depth of that promise.

They would, because they would try, when they no longer had the visible presence of Jesus, They were really wanting to remember all the words He had shared with them when He was physically with them.

John 16, verse 13, Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak.

He will show you things to come." guide you into all truth and He will show you things to come.

So we continue to see a list of some of the blessings that the Holy Spirit would bring to them.

But ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." These were Jesus' words to his disciples and his followers of all the blessings that the Holy Spirit would bring to them.

Now there are other things that as we progress in our study this afternoon we will highlight of the blessings of the Holy Spirit when we look at the work of the Holy Spirit of the salvational function of the Holy Spirit, and in a special way to the promise that we have in end times of a great outpouring of His Spirit.

So we see that the Holy Spirit brings with it a lot of gifts that are bestowed upon us as we seek for them and also as we progress in time, they will increase.

But first, before I elaborate further on those aspects, I want to focus on the following question.

Usually when someone offers you a gift, you have the expectation of what will it entail And it could be like, okay, I'm expecting a gift, but it will not be given to me until Christmas time or until my birthday or there's some type of contingency to this gift.

What is the condition for receiving this gift that Jesus has offered?

Let's turn to Luke 11 and we will start in verse 9.

In fact, Jesus has a story to illustrate the receiving of this gift.

It's a fascinating story because in a way it sounds a little bit discouraging, though the outcome was positive, And you will see that in a minute.

And he said unto them, which of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at midnight, and say unto him, friend, lend me 3 loaves.

Friend lend me 3 loaves for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me and I have nothing to set before him.

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A Wonderful Promise

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