Fresh Manna 2020

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Strong Tower Radio

Fresh Manna by Bob Benson

Bob Benson

Power of Marriage

♪♪♪ Fresh manna fell to the ground as a gift from God while the Israelites were in the wilderness.

It was fresh From the ovens of heaven, baked by the master baker himself, how the Israelites must have anticipated the taste and smell of each morning's delivery.

Just like the Israelites, you too can now experience the taste and the smell of fresh manna.

Today, you will be listening to Bob Benson, pastor of the Cadillac 13th Street, Manton and Mesick Seventh-day Adventist churches.

Lots of crazy stuff happened in this last week, wouldn't you say?

It's been a while since, I think it hasn't been since 9-1-1 that I've had so much stirring thoughts in my mind of what's going on in the world.

Father, we ask that you would guide us with your spirit and bless us as we contemplate who you are how great you are and the soonness of your coming and the message for the day we pray in Jesus name amen.

So Elsie and I were watching several of the press conferences that the president did coming from the White House.

And when we had a board meeting earlier this week at the school, 1 of our board members said that her husband's business in dentistry was gonna have to shut down because they needed the masks and the gloves.

And I said, well, there goes that income, boom, there goes that income.

But not only him, but you got the dental hygienist, you got the office receptionist.

That's a tremendous economic impact in part of our church family.

The restaurant business and so many other businesses have had to shut down during this time.

Bars, you know, I'm not too sad about that to be honest.

I think in some ways we've been benefiting by some of these this virus kind of thing.

I was talking to my son Daniel yesterday.

He was down in Los Angeles and says, you would not believe the clarity out here.

With no cars on the road, he was able to drive 70 miles an hour all the way through Los Angeles.

And what usually takes 2 and a half hours to drive to Long Beach to see my brother, Took him less than an hour.

So there are some interesting things that have been on the positive side, you might say.

But it did come to my mind, and my wife mentioned this to me too, that Jesus, in his words in Matthew 24 verse 6, he talked about, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars and all of these things don't be trouble these things must come to pass the end is not yet and then verse 7 talks about nation will rise against nation kingdom against kingdoms and there will be famines pestilences and earthquakes in various places Of course the pestilence we're talking about is the coronavirus.

It has a more technical name but I thought about what does that mean pestilence and I looked it up in a Greek there then I looked it up in our dictionaries talked about really a fatal epidemic fatal or a disease And we've certainly had fatalities with this.

In the United States a week ago, 1, 600 confirmed cases.

Of course, there weren't a whole lot of test kits available to find out how many would be diagnosed that way.

But then we have 14, 200 confirmed cases as of yesterday.

Of course again more test kits came on board, people got tested, and Even right here in our own Cadillac community now, we have 1 of those 14, 200 that are positive for the coronavirus.

Looking at the death rate, a week ago, 40 reported deaths in the United States.

Again, you can start to see the numbers starting to stack up.

They're starting to increase, and we're just rapidly increasing as we get more and more testing done.

We're discovering that there's several more people that have this virus.

The global death rate passed the 10, 000s and there are roughly 245, 000 confirmed cases as of yesterday.

Although the good news is out on the East and China as it's reported there are diminishing tests being positive.

So there are some things that are going a positive direction.

But this kind of crisis reminds me of the words of Jesus in Matthew 24, verse 15 and 16.

He talks about when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, then verse 16, then let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains.

So they knew, they had a warning that when you see this thing, get out of town Christians, don't stay around.

So we know that Rome surrounded Jerusalem and then they pull back eventually they would come back again and close it off and they'd eventually kill most everybody inside.

But the Christians had heeded the words of Jesus and it is said that not 1 Christian perished in that huge loss of life because they had heeded the warning sign.

In parallel, as we see a pestilence with the magnitude of the coronavirus in conjunction with the other signs that are taking place.

Even while this was going on, Alcina said, did you see that there's some earthquakes and tremors over here of certain magnitudes?

Wasn't really big like 6 plus, but there's still some rattlers that are taking place out there.

So when we see all these things taking place in conjunction with the other signs Jesus foretold, it reminds me of his words, Mark 13, 29, he says, So you also, when you see these things happening, as we're seeing them happen today, know that it is near, even at the door.

So talking about the second coming of Christ.

And that's not the end point, what Jesus has to say.

That awareness serves a function, it serves a purpose.

We see that in Matthew 24 verse 42 says watch therefore For you don't know what our the Lord is coming that word watch is more than just you know Looking up there is that hand man-sized hand up there in the cloud somewhere?

No, it's not talking about that kind of watching.

It's like reading God's word, seeing prophecy, and seeing how the world and the conditions of the world are matching up and lining up with these things that were foretold.

Then as you see these things, know that it is near.

So, watching also includes another function, watching unto prayer.

So, watching includes not only knowing what the Bible says will take place, but prayer would imply also that our hearts are also right with God, that we are receptive to the impressions of the Holy Spirit, That we are living in the right relationship with God.

So that should we die before he comes, or he come while we yet live, we are ready.

Verse 44, Matthew 24 talks about, therefore you also be ready.

That's just a straight admonition from the Lord, for the Son of Man again will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

So this morning in light of the coronavirus, in light of another shot across the bow, in my opinion, of the nearness of the Lord's coming.

It made me think about my sermon this morning, where we're talking about 1 of the areas that we will need to demonstrate being ready will be that by God's grace and through submission to the Holy Spirit, my spouse and my marriage will reflect the oneness of the Trinity in how we relate to 1 another.

The oneness of the Trinity reflected in our marriages as husbands and wives.

Now we're talking the battlefront, aren't we?

Because there's a carnal nature that wants to get involved.

But Christ has said that he is longing for a manifestation of his character to be revealed.

And I'm gonna tell you, Normally we think about that in terms of manifestation in our personal life in our corporate life But I had never thought about the manifestation of Christ's character to be revealed in marriage in the context of marriage I had never thought about that before and then I realized wow because there's this oneness that God wants Jesus prayed for this oneness in John 17 he says I don't pray for you disciples here alone no for all those who believe in me through their word that they may all be 1 he desires this oneness as you father are in me and I in you that they may also be 1 in us that the world may believe that you sent us so God desires the church us individually us collectively to be in oneness with the father and the son so there's that oneness there but that oneness that's what the oneness is on the vertical dimension, but God also desires a oneness on the horizontal dimension.

Mainly that within our marriage relationship there would be seen this oneness.

And I was reading an interesting comment.

It talked about if God is in oneness with me and God is in oneness with my spouse then oneness with my spouse shouldn't be a problem, right?

If I'm on a vertical relationship with God and I'm working on that and we have an established, we're working, God's working in me through his spirit to establish this oneness with Him, then it's not hard at all for God, with my wife working on that and her relationship with God, for God to just bridge us together and the oneness that's on the vertical would be seen and experienced on the horizontal.

That would manifest the character of God.

That's what he longs for before he comes.

He wants to see the manifestation of his character in his people.

Certainly that would also include marriage.

So in Genesis chapter 221, that a man will leave his mother and father, be joined to his wife, and the 2 shall become 1 flesh.

So there's the oneness of John 17 Jesus prayed for.

There's a oneness given in the Garden of Eden for a husband and a wife to experience together.

But then there's a comment by Ellen White, which I had cited before, but I'll say it again, that joins the 2 together.

The greatest evidence of the power of Christianity.

The greatest evidence of the power of Christianity that can be presented to the world is a well-ordered, well-disciplined family.

John 17, Genesis 2, kind of married between here.

This will recommend the truth, as nothing else can, and is a living witness of the practical power upon the heart.

So God is longing for this manifestation of His character that can only be displayed when there is the oneness with brothers and sisters inside the church family, oneness as husbands and wives, that shows the power of God and the power of the gospel, and that God is living among us.

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Series

Fresh Manna by Bob Benson

Power of Marriage

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Marriage as a Covenant

05 Conflict in the Marriage Covenant

53m

Keala Thompson: Relationships, God's Way

Wounded Hearts Restored

43m

Blessed are the Pure in Heart

How to Choose a Good Mate

52m

Nicholas Drozé Weekend

Through the Eyes of Our Beholder

28m

OYC 2012 Plenary Sessions

Parables in Marriage: Wedding Pictures

32m

Fresh Manna By Darryl Bently

Stumbling Blocks

58m

Marriage as a Covenant

02 Living the Marriage Covenant

58m

Fresh Manna By Jacob Gibbs

The Secret of Marriage

37m

Lineage: Season 2

Episode 29: James & Ellen White’s Marriage

5m

Marriage as a Covenant

03 The Law of the Marriage Covenant

53m

Sound Doctrine