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Restoration Ministry

Restoration 2006: Prepare Me

Ron du Preez

Virtuous Valentine: The Love of Your Life

That's the greeting many people might have heard already.

Valentine's Day is a pain for some people.

In Japan and in Korea, all women are pretty much expected to give chocolates to all the men in their place of work, Valentine's Day.

Today's news says that Valentine's Day brings in, for chocolates alone, more than $400 million in Japan.

Of course there is another day that they've started called White Day and that's the day a month later when the men are supposed to give the women chocolate but guess what?

The men only give it to the women they love.

Now in Korea there's a third day another month later April 14 and it's called Black Day.

That's when all the men who didn't get Valentine's gifts get together and they enjoy eating Chinese style noodles with black sauce.

By the way, I can understand why some people call this Singles Awareness Day.

And if you notice what the acronym is, S-A- what?

You know, I check to see what are the origins of Valentine's Day and it depends on what source you go to, you might find different things.

But I thought I would share with you today a very, very special story by way of introducing myself to you so you can get to know me a little better.

But before I share a personal testimony, let's just pause for a moment more in prayer.

Bless us as I share my testimony of your goodness.

I arrived in the United States at the age of 25.

I came from the Republic of South Africa.

I came here to do a master's degree at Andrews University, but I was single and seriously searching, looking for a partner.

And it wasn't long before I met a young lady who had newly accepted the Adventist faith, and she was on fire.

You know what happens with people who have just gotten to know Jesus in a personal, deep way?

By the way, she was a lifeguard at the swimming pool, and my interest, back then I was a runner, suddenly my interest switched to swimming, and I was at the pool frequently.

No guys, I didn't act as though I was drowning.

And as time went on, because Sue loved the Lord so much, she signed up to go to South Korea as a student missionary.

And for some unexplained reason, I was filled with missionary zeal.

And I went over to the office of the campus ministries, you know what I mean, by missionary zeal, in quotes, okay.

I went there to Pastor Damron, they used to call him Uncle Chet.

I said, Uncle Chet, I would like to be a missionary.

And he said, Ron, This was true back then, things have changed since then.

Back then, South Koreans wanted to learn American conversational English.

So he turned to me and he said, can you speak American conversational English?

And he looked at me and He said, I want you to pronounce 1 word.

That's the way the British say it, that's the way the South Africans say it.

And Uncle Chet turned to me and said, Ron, I'm sorry.

In the United States, I've been, as in B-I-N, I've been there.

And I'd been in the United States for about a year and I still didn't know how to pronounce B-E-E-N.

And in Michigan they pronounce it Ben as in the name I've been there and he turned to me said I'm sorry Ron you couldn't you cannot go you know that was 1 word you remember there's a story in the Bible judges chapter 12 of these Gileadites and Ephraimites were trying to get across the river, the Jordan River, I believe it was.

And they stopped them and they said, pronounce this word, Shibboleth.

They lost their life because they couldn't pronounce 1 word.

I felt I'd lost my wife because I couldn't pronounce B-E-E-N.

But, but there's a verse in the Bible that I'm applying here.

It says, he who endures to the end shall be saved, right?

I went back to the office and they accepted me and I was overjoyed.

I began to raise funds and now I was going to go to Korea as a student missionary, actually to pursue Su per se.

Is there anything wrong in being a student missionary?

By the way, it's an important lesson I learned through this experience.

Because you know, when I was growing up, 1 of the things I somehow imbibed or picked up, I don't know where it was, but it went this way, If your heart's not in it, then don't do it.

But when I opened my Bible and I read James chapter 4 verse 17, I found a very interesting passage that says this.

Listen to James chapter 4 verse 17 quickly here.

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it to him, it is what?

It doesn't say anything about the heart, the reason.

And I begin to think about that as I've been reflecting over time.

Because you see, here's the problem, and I want to be practical, you know, you here at Loma Linda University, many of you, sometimes there are rules and regulations that you're not comfortable with, your heart's not in it, so don't do it.

Or you're driving down the 10, and you hate the speed limit, right?

If you know it's the right thing to do, do it and ask God to change your heart.

Very important lesson I learned through this experience.

If you know it's right, do it and then just let the Lord change because our hearts, Jeremiah says, our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked.

So well, I decided I'm gonna try to go even though I was going with the wrong motives.

But you see, around the same time while Sue was getting ready to go and I was raising funds to go, around the same time, another young man arrived.

We were both working for campus safety back then.

Yes, many people have heard that greeting today.

I checked the website and tried to see what is the origin of this day.

Depends on what your source is as to what your conclusion is.

But what's interesting is what happens in some countries.

I had the privilege, by the way, of working in both Korea and in Japan in the Far East.

And in these 2 countries, there's an interesting custom.

I almost wish I was there, because what happens is all the women are expected, in fact they are required, it's obligatory, to give chocolates to all the men with whom they work.

It's called giri choco, obligatory chocolates.

Today's news said that the women, 60% of the women, are fed up with that.

Now there is another day, by the way, later on, that is called White Day.

This is in both countries, Japan and Korea, in which the men are expected to reciprocate.

The problem is, most men only give something to their girlfriends.

They ignore all the other women who graced them with all those nice things.

White Day, that's because they're supposed to give white chocolate or marshmallows.

Of course, there's a third day, another month later.

And there is another day, April 14, called Black Day.

That's a special day in Korea set aside for all the men who never got any valentines.

They get together, and they go out together, and they eat Chinese-style noodles in black sauce, and they commiserate.

OK, now I know I'm sharing this with you, but it's interesting the different customs people have in different places.

In fact, some people call Valentine's Day Singles Awareness Day.

Which in case you hadn't noticed, the acronym spells what?

Anyway, as I was thinking about this day, it just so happens that this is the first meeting we're having.

And I thought I wanted to share with you something important about this whole concept of love.

So before we actually begin, can you just pause with me for prayer?

Holy Father, I pray that you will now speak through me.

Speak through me, Lord, so that the words that I share will indeed be words from on high.

Maybe I can share my own Valentine story.

By the way, this is a time in which a lot of people, in fact, they say this is 1 of the major holidays.

It's the second most popular holiday for sending cards.

And in fact, let me just look at the wall for a moment here.

Here's a picture I wanted to share with you.

We, many of you know the story of Honest Abe, Abraham Lincoln, and we wanted to show you a PowerPoint slide here of Abe and his wife.

Okay, we can keep it, go to the next slide later on.

But Valentine's Day is a day in which everybody feels you have to do something for somebody else, for lovers, for people who care about each other.

And so what I want to do is share with you briefly my own story.

I want you to get to know me a little better.

And I'm hoping to get to know some of you.

If I forget your names, please forgive me, but I'm meeting a lot of people and I thank God for that privilege.

It was several years ago, in fact, it was the bicentennial year 1976, that I arrived here in the United States from my home country, South Africa.

I was 25 years of age, and I was what I call triple S.

Yes, I did come to do my master's degree at Andrews University, but I was single and seriously searching for guess what?

And as I looked across the lay of the land, I happened to notice a young lady.

She had just recently accepted the Seventh Adventist faith, and she was overjoyed and bubbly and just...

And as I was reflecting on her and noticed what a wonderful person she was, I said, look, this is the young lady that I need to get to know better.

She was sharing her experience with me as she got to know Christ.

And as I watched her, I found out that, wow, this is somebody I need to pursue.

It just so happened that her name was Sue.

And as I began to pursue Sue, she loved the Lord.

She wanted to go and share her testimony with many others.

And so she signed up to be a student missionary.

And I began to find out that my interests moved from running to swimming.

Now I know there are some guys here who might be a little more mischievous than I was.

There are some guys here who might act as though you were drowning, right?

I swam my laps and had a chance to get to know Su day after day.

Of course, she signed up to be a student missionary to go to South Korea.

And for some unknown reason, just as I was switched from running to swimming, suddenly now I developed an inexplicable missionary zeal.

And so I went to the student missions office and I walked up there to Pastor Chester Dameron and I said, Pastor Dameron, I'd like to be a student missionary.

And he said, where do you want to go Ron?

I said I'd like to go to South Korea and back then this is many years ago I said the bicentennial year which was 1976 long time ago I said he said to me but Ron the South Koreans they want to learn American conversational English.

He said, can you speak American conversational English?

Communicating In Code: The Secret of the Scrolls

I'm so glad to see you back so we can continue traveling this road together.

I shared with you who were here, in case those who weren't here, just a quick mention, I shared with you my own Valentine's story because it was Valentine's Day, how the Lord led in my life even though I was going to Korea for the wrong reason God still provided.

So I shared that with you and as a kind of a modern day parable of the real virtuous Valentine.

And I gave you a phrase that says, let the Lord be the love of your life.

If you were here yesterday, can you say that with me?

I know some of you are still chewing here, but let's say that together.

Holy Father, bless us now as we open Your Word.

I'll never forget the day I was in South Africa.

I was there pursuing further graduate studies And as I was leaving that university, 1 of the secretaries who happened to overhear what I said, I don't know what it was that got her attention, came to me all excitedly and said, you've got to know, I've just come across a new book, a great book, you've got to get 1 and read it.

She knew I was just leaving the country soon.

So I of course went to the bookstore and I bought the book.

I remember flying at 30, 000 feet reading this book.

Fascinating, exciting, incredible materials.

As I read and I read, listen to what this book claims.

The book claims that if you take all the letters of the Hebrew Bible and put them kind of in a huge, giant, type of a cross, word search square, using a computer, you can find predictions of the future, including specific things that tell us that Yitzhak Rabin in Israel was going to be assassinated.

And that Lady Diana, her death would be caused by a photographer.

Of course I was reading this book, reading the book, wait a minute, what is this?

The name of the book was the Bible Code by Michael Drozdyn.

Now many Christians, as I said this was a Christian lady who shared this with me and told me, and Christians have become excited about these books.

Christian books have been written as well.

In fact, shortly after that a video came out, I got this I think 1999 or something, the Omega Code, the Bible Code.

A lot of interest has been generated by these questions.

Very interestingly, a Hebrew scholar by the name of Dr.

Price, used the same basic software and entered into the computer other statements such as, and I'm reading them to you here, he was testing, Is this really the prediction of the future through the computer codes?

And by the way, the letters are spaced out.

They call it equidistant letter sequences.

And so, you'll find 1 letter here, 4, 000 letters later, you'll find another letter, and 4, 000 letters, another 1, and another 1.

And you put all those letters together and they come up with all kinds of very interesting things.

So what he did, he put into the computer the following statements, Jehovah is a liar.

Twenty-three times that showed up in the so-called Bible code.

The conclusion was that whatever you are looking for, you will find in that Bible code.

I wanted you to see this cartoon that I found very interesting.

Don't bother me, I'm looking for a verse of Scripture to back up 1 of my preconceived notions.

By the way, Drozdinen himself, a declared secular Jew, concludes on page 179.

This is like the second last page of the book, okay?

He says, The message of the Bible code is that we can save ourselves.

Especially in light of the fact that Peter says there is no other under whom we can be saved except Jesus Christ.

So, I want you to go with me on a journey this afternoon.

Let's suppose you finish medical school or public health or whatever you're doing and you get an invitation to go and work for the major corporation of health in the United States.

And so they send you the invitation, it's maybe a couple hundred miles away and you get in your car, you don't know exactly where it is but you have the address and you start driving down the road and as you're going you say, wait a minute, I better ask for directions and so you stop and you ask and they say turn left on whatever And you turn left and you say, this doesn't seem to be going the right direction.

And you ask another person and they say, turn right.

And you, wait a minute, and you start getting confused.

You keep, and you look at your watch, you see time is running out.

Eventually you decide, I'm not going to just stop and ask people.

I'm going to stop at a gas station and get a map.

And so you do, you stop at the gas station, the attendant is very helpful, you get a map, he says, you are right here, and you look at the map, sure enough, you know where you are and you are lost.

And he says, now this is the way to get there.

And you start following the map, and you just make it in time to get to that important appointment and you get the job.

If you have your Bibles with you, turn with me to 1 very important passage, a well-known 1.

Some of you who might have learned this in the past might be able to even repeat it by memory.

Psalm 119, that largest Psalm in the middle of the Bible, Psalm 119 verse 105, and I'm reading from the New King James Version, Psalm 109 verse, sorry, 119 verse 105.

The psalmist says, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Spiritually speaking, yes, the Bible does provide answers to those most important questions in life.

Let me give you 7 of them that frequently come up as people reflect.

Number 2, what is the ultimate solution to stress?

And I've got to admit, folks, 1 of the things, when I have stress, I get migraine headaches.

In fact, that's 1 of the reasons I got into running at 1 stage before I got knee problems and I gave up running.

And we're so glad that you've come back today to continue with us.

If you weren't here last night, I shared with you my own Valentine story, how I met my wife as a kind of a modern day parable about the real virtuous Valentine, Jesus Christ, who loves us so much.

Before we get into our second of our series, I want to ask you to pray with me very briefly.

Holy Father, we pause for a moment in your presence, recognizing our desperate need.

Bless us now here, Lord, as we spend these few moments in the written word.

I was visiting a university there And 1 of the secretaries must have overheard something I said and she came to me all excited.

She said, you've got to get this new book.

It foretells the future in an incredible way.

And so she did it with so much enthusiasm, I went and bought the book.

I remember flying at 30, 000 feet and reading and reading, page after page, fascinating information.

You see, this author, a secular Jew by the way, came up with something that he says, if you put all the letters of the Hebrew Old Testament, at least the Torah, together and you have it all letter after letter after letter in a huge giant word search pattern and then you ask the computer to find certain things, it will find for you things such as that Rabin, Yitzhak Rabin in Israel was going to be assassinated.

He maintains that in the book of Genesis you can find the fact that Lady Diana, her death would be caused by a photographer.

Christians got all excited about this thing.

I even purchased 1 called the Omega Code.

Interesting things that came out in the late 1990s.

So he took other words and he put them into this computer program.

Words such as, and I'm quoting now, he put this in to see, does the Bible code also reveal the following?

He put in the term Satan is Jehovah and Satan is God and that showed up too in the so-called Bible codes.

Which is very interesting because apparently you can put whatever you want to in and the computer will find it at this equidistant letter sequencing.

In fact, I have a cartoon that helps to describe this process.

Series

Restoration 2006: Prepare Me

Living it Up for the Lord: It’s Crazy to Cling to Cancer

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Restoration 2006: Prepare Me