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South Bay SDA Church

Jeremy Arnall

First Things First

Perhaps, you have heard the story of the preacher who was in Atlanta many years ago, and the reason I know it was many years ago is because he was flipping through the yellow pages.

He was looking for a place to dine, an eating establishment, and he came across the Church of God Grill.

Maybe you've heard this story, the Church of God Grill.

The peculiar name raised his curiosity, And so he thought, I'll give him a call and I'll find out more about the Church of God Grill.

The preacher asked how that restaurant had been given such a name.

After he heard the words, hello, Church of God Grill.

Well, the owner said, we had a little mission down here.

We started selling chicken dinners after church on Sunday to help pay the bills, you understand.

People liked the chicken And we did such a good business that eventually we cut back on the church service and after a while we just closed down the church altogether, but we kept serving chicken dinners.

We kept the name we started with, the Church of God Grill.

How often do we set out to accomplish something noble, something good, and we end up accomplishing something entirely different.

It starts small at first, you know, how you just sort of veer to the left, and before you know it, you're miles away from where you had set to go.

Why is it that, as 1 author put it, that in the midst of a generation screaming for answers, Christians are stuttering?

As we begin our journey together here at South Bay, I wanted to look at not the first rung of the ladder but at the ladder itself.

The the who, the what, and the why, but most importantly the who.

The title of the message this morning is, First Things First.

Lord, please, would you hide me behind you.

We all have come to sit at your feet, to hear your voice, to hear through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the words from your holy word that have been preserved through the ages, to hear them made alive and real in our hearts.

So just as you wrote the law in stone with your finger, would you please write it in our hearts with your spirit that collectively we might see Jesus.

I want to dig right in this morning, you know, there's a notion out there that...

Sorry, I already hit the wrong button, but it'll come up I suppose.

There's a notion out there that I've at least heard, I'm assuming some of you have, that it's, it's God's got the time established when He's coming and that's just going to be the way it is.

Now I know that God knows the end from the beginning, amen?

We believe that, but we don't believe in predestination.

I know this is a little heavy to start off with, but you understand.

We don't believe that God, His foreknowledge, therefore, destines us to a certain thing.

We believe that we are agents of free choice.

So first things first, and let's just get this out of the way.

Here, and I'm clicking, there we go, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.

The hastening, we have that within our reach to hasten the coming of Jesus.

That we can be a part of accelerating the coming of Jesus.

In fact, there is a clear sequence to this whole process.

Notice where it says in, I don't know if these transitions are just really slow or, well, I have to give you a nod.

You just graciously…that would have been a long journey, wouldn't it?

So we're going to go to verse…there we are, Mark.

And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.

So, if there's a first, there's obviously a second, right?

So first, the Gospel has to be preached to all the nations, and then we look at Matthew 24 and it says, and this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, And then the end will come.

Now, you have to wonder, with all the technology that we have today, with the World Wide Web, with Adventist World Radio, we really are left without excuse.

Why is the message not in the hearts of every single soul in this world?

I think we're approaching near 8 billion or something.

Their sound has gone out to all the earth and their words to the end of the world.

And sure enough, the message got out, 70 AD, Jerusalem collapses, and round 1 is complete.

Again, I think that the answer lies, I shouldn't say I think, I believe that the answer lies in the text that we just read a moment ago.

I want to dissect this a little more clearly, and I've highlighted portions of the text where I want you to notice specifically the parallel.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness.

In fact, when the gospel was proclaimed, it was originally looked forward to.

It was given in the Garden of Eden, right?

I mean, after the sin had taken place, and the prophecy was given.

And so, the gospel for all of those years was simply looking forward to the Lamb of God.

And then Jesus comes, and the gospel becomes the story of Jesus.

And of course, Jesus dies on Calvary's cross, the gospel is now the story of Jesus' life and His death.

And then Jesus goes up in Acts chapter 1, and now the gospel is the story of Jesus and His death and his ministry on our behalf in the courts above.

You follow, the gospel is continually unfolding before us as the story of redemption unfolds.

In fact, The gospel was already told in the story of the sanctuary, which included more than the outer court.

Today we hear many a sermon about the gospel as if it only pertained to the outer court.

But the gospel is the celebration, the good news of what Jesus has done, the blood that was spilled, and the blood that is being applied.

This is the gospel that's to serve as a witness.

And here's the deal, if Jesus is in heaven cleansing the sanctuary of sin, then the best way to share as a witness of the gospel, the good news, is to allow the righteous blood of Jesus to do its cleansing work in my life.

So that I become a living witness, a living testimony of what the cleansing of a sanctuary looks like in a practical and tangible way.

Heralding the nearness of His second coming where the consummation of all our hopes and dreams will be realized is part of the message as well.

You may give lip service, but you can't really get excited unless the gospel has done its work inside of you.

Otherwise, frankly, the news of Jesus coming in the clouds of glory is a bit nerve-wracking at best.

So if the work has done, if it's done its appointed work on the inside, then you are well-primed to give voice to the good news of His soon coming.

Revelation 14, 6 and 7, you're familiar with this first angel's message.

It says, and I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God and what?

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First Things First

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