Fresh Manna 2021

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Strong Tower Radio

Fresh Manna by Sean Reed

Sean Reed

The Diagnosis

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 experience the taste and smell of fresh manna.

Today you'll be listening to Sean Reid, pastor of the Holland Seventh-day Adventist Church.

You know, I think sometimes, oftentimes, as I prepare to open the Bible, what an incredible blessing it is that God has given us something like the Bible.

Just imagine if you were reliant on someone else to tell you what God thought and God taught.

And that to discover what God had to communicate to you, you had to go to someone else, or maybe even go on a far journey to find a prophet or a seer or someone who had a direct link to God and was receiving messages from heaven.

And then of course you'd have the challenge of trying to figure out whether or not that person really was communicating God's message or simply their own.

Some years ago when I was a kid, we were members of a church out in California, and there was an elderly gentleman who was a member of that church who had been a very well-known Adventist theologian.

He had retired, and now he was attending church there.

And I remember 1 Sabbath he was having the opening prayer, or he wasn't preaching, but he was doing something that Sabbath morning, and he asked everybody if they had their Bibles, and he wanted to see them.

And he said, I always bring my Bible to church.

He says, that way if the sermon is rubbish, I can read the Bible and still be blessed.

And I felt for the pastor that day, having to get up and preach after that.

We have the Bible, and we can read and study God's Word.

We're an incredible blessing that God speaks to us directly through His Word.

Last Sabbath, we began looking in Revelation chapter 3.

Revelation chapter 3, where we find messages to God's people 2, 000 years ago.

Revelation chapters 2 and 3 contain 7 messages, and each message is addressed to a real congregation.

In John the Revelator's day, 7 different congregations scattered throughout Asia Minor, and these messages are directed specifically to them, addressing immediate local needs and concerns.

And just imagine when those letters came and they were read on Sabbath morning, the congregation listening and nodding their heads, yes, that's exactly what we need to hear.

We also know that the scriptures are timeless.

They speak to the people who first heard the words of the Bible, but they speak down through the centuries with relevance and meaning and continue to address us today with significance in our lives.

And we know at last Sabbath that these 7 messages follow a pattern that we see throughout Revelation, where the prophecy speaks to the immediate need and the immediate situation of the day, but then it looks ahead down through the centuries and carries us through time to the culmination of time when Jesus returns.

In fact, every major section of Revelation concludes with the second coming of Jesus.

And it's the same with Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

Here we have these messages addressed to real congregations thousands of years ago, and yet they also offer a broad sweep of Christian history, addressing the grand periods of the Christian Church right to our day today.

And this final message, this message of the Church of Laodicea, is 1 that speaks to us with a special relevance today.

And we noted that last Sabbath this message comes from a specific figure, and who is that?

Revelation chapter 3 verse 14, it comes from the Amen, the faithful and true witness to the beginning of the creation of God.

The Amen is simply a way of affirming truth.

We sometimes say Amen today at the conclusion of a prayer, and it's our way of saying, yes, I agree, so be it.

In Scripture, the word Amen is actually a Hebrew word, and it means truth, trustworthiness.

He, when he speaks, he's sharing with us something reliable, something we can have certainty in.

We live in a world today when there are a plurality of sources of news and information, and sometimes we wonder, what can we trust?

We can rely and depend and trust what Jesus says.

He's also described as the faithful and true witness.

He bears witness not only to us of who God is, but he is a witness to our lives.

And in the message of the Church of Laodicea, we're going to look a little more closely this morning at what it is Jesus is witnessing happening in the Church.

He's also noted as the beginning of the creation of God.

He's the beginning of the creation of God because He is the source of life.

He's also the beginning of the creation of God because He is the first fruits.

He is the 1 who died for us and was resurrected and ascended to heaven, the forerunner for you and me.

He's the 1 who will give us a new beginning, a recreation as we look to him and as we follow him in our lives.

This faithful and true witness observes the church of Laodicea.

2000 years ago, if somebody said, you're a Laodicean, that would have been a compliment.

Laodicea had a church that was prominent in early Christian times.

And yet, down through the centuries, Laodicea has come to mean something negative.

If I were to tell you, you know what, you're so Laodicean with a smile on my face, you would not take it as a compliment.

Because Laodicea has come to symbolize spiritual apathy.

It has come to symbolize a church that is filled with pride but nothing else, certainly not the love of God.

It is a church that seems disconnected from Christ.

What is it that was endemic in the early Christian Church of Laodicea that Jesus wanted to address, and what is it that's endemic in the last-day Christian Church, just before the return of Christ, that Jesus wants to correct as well for us today?

Notice with me verses 15, 16, 17, and 18.

Well, we'll just go all the way to the end.

I know your deeds, this is Jesus speaking, that you are neither cold nor hot.

So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

Because you say I am rich and have become wealthy, I have need of nothing.

And you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

I advise you to buy from me gold, refined in the fire, so that you may become rich, and white garments, so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed, and I salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

Those whom I love I reprove and discipline, therefore be zealous and repent.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with Him and He with me.

He who overcomes, I will grant Him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne.

He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Jesus bears witness of the spiritual condition of the church of Laodicea.

Jesus bears witness to our spiritual condition today, and he bears a faithful and true witness.

Jesus cares too much about us to simply share with us a message that makes us feel good.

He wants to share a message with us that actually makes us good, that transforms us.

There are times when a straight testimony has to be shared, when a difficult message has to be conveyed.

Most people don't like sharing a confrontation or difficult message.

I was talking to somebody in between Sabbath school and church who said, Pastor, we just learned in Sabbath school today that you need to preach messages that really convict us and really...I forgot the exact words that this individual used that didn't say step on our toes, but kind of step on our toes that really strike to the core of who we are, that inspire us to make a change and tell us the poor condition that we're in.

And the message to the Church of Laodicea is 1 of those messages.

Let's see if we can understand what it is that's wrong with the church 2, 000 years ago and be open to accepting that maybe some of those same spiritual diagnoses apply to us today.

Notice in verse 15, Jesus says, I know your deeds.

At the Door

♪ 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.

Today you'll be listening to Sean Reid, pastor of the Holland Seventh-day Adventist Church, and now, here's Pastor Sean!

Please take your Bibles with me and turn to Revelation chapter 3.

Over the past several weeks, we've been focusing on the seventh message in Revelation chapter 3.

Chapters 2 and 3 are the 7 messages to the 7 churches that begin this apocalyptic last book of the Bible.

And we're focusing on that final message, the message to the Church of Laodicea.

And we noted that Laodicea was a prominent and prosperous community.

Not just the city of Laodicea, but also the Christian church that was there in Laodicea was prominent and prosperous.

2, 000 years ago if you told somebody they were a Laodicean, they would stand up a little taller, a little straighter.

But today, within the Christian Church, if you were to tell someone, you're Laodicean, that would be an insult.

A spiritual insult, because Laodicea has come to symbolize spiritual apathy.

Go with me to Revelation chapter 3, and we've noted over the past several weeks the author of the message, and it's there in verse 14, this message comes from Jesus.

He's called the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

And we noted that this title of Jesus, Amen, we use Amen at the conclusion of a prayer, and we usually mean we agree or so be it or that sounds good to me.

In Scripture, the word Amen in the New Testament is simply the transliteration of a Hebrew word, which means true, trustworthy, reliable.

And in a world with a lot of uncertainty about what sources of information can be relied upon, we're blessed to have a God who we can depend on what he says.

When Jesus says something, we can believe it.

We don't have to worry that maybe somebody's pulling the wool over our eyes, or maybe we're being deceived in some manner.

When God speaks to us, when Jesus sends a message to us, we can depend on it.

Not just that what he says is going to be accurate, but that he is reliable and dependable.

He's also noted as the faithful and true witness.

Faithful and true witness for the Church of Laodicea initially sounds like a negative thing because what is Jesus bearing witness to?

He's bearing witness to their miserable spiritual condition.

And Jesus will bear a faithful and true witness to us of what our spiritual condition is.

James, the brother of Jesus James, encourages us that we should look into the perfect law of liberty and see what our true condition is.

Living in the end times, anticipating a turbulent world, now until the return of Christ becoming more and more unsettled and turbulent, We need to know what we're truly like.

And Jesus bears witness faithfully and accurately to what our true spiritual condition is.

We've all had an instance where a friend has had to read us the riot act.

Down South, we call it a come to Jesus talk.

It's where someone is gonna sit down with you and just really say it straight to you in an effort to reach your heart and get you to recognize and repent from the error of your ways.

And we've all had situations where we need someone to do that for us.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, the Proverbs tell us, and indeed they are.

Jesus' Word will cut us to the very heart of who we are and will convict us and seek to transform us.

We need a faithful and true witness to bear witness to what our true spiritual condition is.

Not that he is some created being that has a starting point, but He is the beginning of the creation of God.

He is the source of all that has been created.

And in the Bible, Jesus is referenced as the first fruits of the new creation.

He came forth from the grave, resurrected, giving us hope and confidence that the promise of the resurrection is true.

And so when Jesus bears a faithful witness of what our spiritual condition is, immediately we're reminded that he is the beginning of the creation of God.

He can start a work of recreation in your life and mine.

We don't have to stay in an abject, miserable spiritual condition.

Then we get to the message itself, and we looked at the diagnosis last week of what the problem with the Church of Laodicea is.

And we noticed a contrast between what they thought their condition was, and what Jesus as the faithful and true witness told them their condition was.

In verse 15, Jesus says, I know your deeds, you're neither cold nor hot, I wish you were cold or hot.

So, verse 16, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth, because, in verse 17 here is their description of their spiritual condition because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing.

Isn't it nice when you can feel self-sufficient and just sit back and think I have it all together.

Is that a good description of where you are spiritually?

We probably wouldn't put it in those words, but oftentimes we live our lives as if we have it all together.

We're willing to say maybe around the periphery there might be a little bit of tweaking that God still needs to do, but overall I think God has accomplished a great work in my life.

I'm, for the most part, pretty solid spiritually.

That was the thought of the Laodicean Church.

They thought they were rich and wealthy, had need of nothing.

Some of you like to keep in touch with latest surveys and I've always been a little bit leery of surveys that are used.

And again we got to take the information we have, the best reliable source we have, but surveys of people are always dependent on a person's self-evaluation.

You notice that you get a survey and you evaluate yourself.

I mean, it probably should be I evaluate you, wouldn't that be better?

Or maybe your husband or wife evaluates you, or your kids, or your parents, or somebody else.

There's danger in self-evaluation Because the human heart is wicked, desperately wicked.

We have a tremendous ability to deceive ourselves.

And that's what happens at the Church of Laodicea.

They're unaware of their true spiritual condition.

They think they're the epitome of what a Christian could be, and they don't even realize that God can hardly stand them because of their hypocrisy and spiritual apathy.

And so Jesus comes to them, as we noted last week, and he identifies what their true spiritual condition is, and we find it in verse 17.

After they say, they're rich, wealthy, have need of nothing, Jesus says, you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

What a contrast between what they evaluate, their self-evaluation of their spiritual condition, and Christ's faithful and true witness to what their true spiritual condition is.

And we noticed last week that wretched is being burdened and encumbered with sin.

They think they're living lives of victory but their lives are filled with sin and they don't even know it.

Miserable is someone who is living their lives for the present without a hope for the future.

We can have an intellectual hope for the future, say, yes, Jesus is coming again soon.

I understand an end-time scenario of the prophecies outlined in Daniel and Revelation, And I know it, and yet if we live our lives as if Jesus is not coming back, as if the only life we have to lead is the life that we're living right here on this earth, we're miserable.

The Church of Laodicea has lots of knowledge of God's Word, but the promises of God's Word are not making a powerful difference in their lives.

They're spiritually poor, while they have access to so much tremendous wealth.

Fear is Bad and Good

Let's bow our heads as we ask God to speak to us through his word this morning.

I thank you that you do long to speak to us.

I pray that we would have open ears and receptive hearts.

You may know a separate language other than English.

Some of you probably think we don't really know English all that well.

And when you're multilingual, sometimes you catch connections between 1 language and another.

Where a word in 1 language, there is a phonetic link to the word in another language, and you can pick up on those connections.

Now probably most of us don't know Greek, but the New Testament was written in Greek, Koine Greek, which was the kind of Greek that the common person would speak thousands of years ago.

And you're going to catch a connection today between an English word, or at least a word that is commonplace in English and a Greek word.

It means a fear of something and for us we think of phobia as an extreme or irrational fear or aversion to something that comes from a Greek word phobeo which is a verb to fear or to be afraid and that's a word we find a lot in the Bible we're gonna look at that this morning but but think about phobia and you can go through a list you can look this up on the internet and Google phobias and just find an unending list of all sorts of things that people have an extreme or irrational fear or aversion to.

Like for example oculophobia is the fear of darkness.

Amoxophobia is the fear of riding in a car.

Well, basically what somebody does is they take the word phobia, and they just add to the front of it a Greek or Latin word that describes the fear.

Huh, I didn't realize that was something.

If your wife has anthrophobia, don't give her roses for Valentine's Day.

Arachnophobia, probably most of us know that 1, that's a fear of spiders.

That would be a challenging 1 to deal with.

Bibliophobia, You probably could figure that 1 out.

It's not a fear of the Bible, it's a fear of books.

Here's 1 probably many of us can sympathize with, dentophobia.

A fear of dentists, that's right, or going to the dentist.

We have a number of bird watchers in our church.

Here's my favorite 1 though, and you're going to have to listen very carefully and see if you can figure out what this phobia is of.

I may mispronounce it a little bit, so hang in there with me.

Just imagine if you had that phobia and you had to write out to someone what your phobia was, that would be a terrifying experience.

You know, we can read through a list of phobias like this and we can chuckle at some of these fears, some of these phobias, but you know when it's our own fear, it's no laughing matter.

And what we might see as an irrational fear in someone else, they may feel as very rational.

What may be a debilitating fear to someone else and we view as ridiculous, may be very real and meaningful and significant to them.

The Bible has a lot to say about fear, phobia.

The very first time fear shows up in the Bible, and the very last time fear shows up in the Bible, it's theophobia.

Go with me to the very first time fear shows up in the Bible, it's in Genesis.

Now when I say Genesis chapter 3, you instantly know the story, don't you?

Genesis chapters 1 and 2, of course, are the account of God making this world, creating everything that exists here on this planet and creating mankind, Adam and Eve.

And then in Genesis chapter 3 is the story of the fall of how Adam and Eve chose to disregard God's instruction.

And they chose, well, they chose to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that God had told them not to partake of.

And after they did this, after they disobeyed God, down in Genesis 3, verse 10, God has come to visit them.

God is walking in the garden in the cool of the evening, and Adam and his wife hide themselves from the presence of the Lord, and in verse 9 God asks them, where are you?

And here is the response that comes from Adam, the first time that we find fear in the Bible.

Adam said in verse 10 of Genesis 3, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked so I hid myself." Question for you, was Adam afraid of being naked or was he afraid of God?

Well someone said yes, it was really both, but his fear was realized in the presence of God.

He was afraid of God seeing him in his condition.

He was afraid of perhaps what God might do, how God might respond.

We also detect in here of some shame that is present in Adam and Eve.

In fact, that's noted a little bit earlier that they were shamed when they noted they were naked, but the very first time fear shows up in the Bible, it's theophobia, a fear of God.

Now let's go to the back of the Bible, Revelation, and let's look at the last place in the Bible that fear shows up.

Revelation chapter 19, where fear is mentioned.

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Fresh Manna by Sean Reed

Faithful and True

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