Part 3 of Prophecy Revival Series given on Monday, April 18, 2011 at the Ebenezer Princes Town SDA Church in Trinidad

<p>Part 3 of Prophecy Revival Series given on Monday, April 18, 2011 at the Ebenezer Princes Town SDA Church in Trinidad</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

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Norman McNulty: Prophecy Revival Series

Norman McNulty

Jesus and the Third Angel

We have a wonderful place to look forward to, the New Jerusalem.

I just want to thank Pastor Clark and the elders and you as a church family for inviting me back again.

I was here in January and it's very good to be here at the Princess Town Seventh-day Adventist Church again.

And this time my wife is with me and as the pastor said we have a baby girl now.

Last time I was here it was about 10 days before she was born and so I was just about to go back to the United States, and I got back just in time for her birth.

So we are very thankful for her birth, and we're glad to be back here in Trinidad.

We live over in the west, Indigo Martin, right by Community Hospital, so it's good to be here.

Before we start, I would just like to offer up 1 more word of prayer and we will get into our message for this morning.

Father in heaven, we thank you for this day.

We thank you for the privilege of coming and worshiping you here in your house of worship.

And I just pray for a special blessing of the Holy Spirit as we get into your word for this morning.

How many of you believe that Jesus is coming soon?

And how many of you want to be ready to meet Him when He comes?

You know I'm really excited about this week of prophecy that we are having this week because we are going to be going through passages of Scripture from prophecy that identify the time that we are living in, the message for this time, how we can be ready and how we can share with others how to be ready for Jesus to come, amen?

And you know, as I thought about the message that we would start with for this week.

The title that came to my mind for this morning is Jesus and the Third Angel.

We have a message to give to this world, but let us make sure that as we share prophecy with others that we do not lose sight of Jesus.

Let us make sure that we lift up Jesus at the heart of our prophetic message.

And you know when I was looking at some relevant topics, I was reading from the testimonies.

How many of you have read the testimonies?

I praise the Lord for the testimonies that the Lord has given to us.

And in the very first section of Testimonies Volume 9, the very last of the testimonies written by Ellen White, is a section entitled For the Coming of the King.

And of course we know that is the coming of Jesus Christ, amen?

And in this opening was a verse that Ellen White picked to open this section and it's Hebrews chapter 10 verse 37 And here this verse says, for yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry.

Yes, He will come and He will not tarry or He will not delay at a certain point.

Right after Ellen White quotes that passage, we read this at the very opening of Volume 9 of the Testimonies, page 11.

The fast-fulfilling signs of the times declare that the coming of Christ is near at hand.

The days in which we live are solemn and important.

The spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth.

Plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God.

The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war are portentous.

They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude.

And how many of you paid attention to the news with the great terrible earthquake in Japan just 1 month ago?

That was a terrible earthquake and it's a reminder, yes, Jesus is coming again, amen?

And notice how she finishes the statement, The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating.

They are strengthening for the last great crisis.

Great changes are soon to take place in our world and the final movements will be rapid ones.

Do you realize that once a certain point in history takes place, it's not going to take another hundred years for Jesus to come?

Once certain things take place in the history of this world, and we are gonna look at those events as we study this week.

The final movements will then be rapid ones, and I would dare say that we are on the very edge of those final movements taking place.

And you know, that should not be scary, that should be exciting, amen?

Because that means that our best and dearest friend, Jesus, is coming soon.

So if Jesus is coming soon, do we not have a message for this time to give to the world.

In this very same section for the coming of the King in Testimonies Volume 9, we then have a section called Called to be Witnesses.

This is what Ellen White says, In a special sense, Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers.

To them, or to us, has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world.

On them is shining wonderful light from the word of God.

Do you know the privilege we have with the light that has shone upon us as a people here in God's word?

We have a wonderful message to share with the world.

They have been given a work of the most solemn import.

It is the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels' messages.

There is no other work of so great importance they are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention.

So our work for this time is to give to the world the first, second and third angels' messages which are the last warning to a perishing world.

God has given us these messages to warn the world.

And then she says, The most solemn truths ever entrusted to mortals have been given to us to proclaim to the world.

The proclamation of these truths is to be our work, the world is to be warned, and God's people are to be true to the trust committed to them.

You know, that is a solemn yet exciting trust that God has given to us.

The most solemn message ever given to any human being.

That means that the message we have, the 3 angels' messages, are more important than the message that Noah gave before the flood came.

They're more important than even John the Baptist as he prepared for the coming of Christ.

They're more important than the Protestant Reformers.

And look, all of those messages were crucial for that time.

But the reason why our message is the most important is because our message prepares the way for Jesus Christ to come the last time, amen?

And as I have studied for this message today, I find that that message is encapsulated in our scripture reading for this morning Hebrews chapter 10 verses 35 through 39.

And again our message for this morning is Jesus and the third angel.

Hebrews chapter 10 verses 35 through 39, I'm going to read this again.

Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward.

You realize that we must have confidence in the coming of Jesus Christ.

Now is not the time to cast away our confidence in the coming of Jesus Christ.

Now is not the time to cast away our confidence in the coming of Jesus in the clouds of heaven.

Because it has great recompense of reward.

And so Paul continues, the author of Hebrews in verse 36, for you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.

Verse 37, for yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

We must not cast away our confidence because Jesus is coming in yet a little while.

Verse 38 says, Now the just shall live by faith.

I want to take us through this passage and understand more completely what is Paul talking about when he says, look, after you've done the will of God, then Jesus will come.

He says after you have done the will of God, you will receive the promise, which is Jesus coming again.

Daniel’s Prophetic Focal Point

It's nice to see so many of you here tonight.

And I'm excited about starting our Prophecy Week tonight.

We got started yesterday morning, but we're going to get more into some of the actual prophecies starting tonight.

So I'm excited to see you here, and I trust that we will all be blessed as we get deeper into the study of God's Word.

I would just like to have a brief word of prayer and then we will get into the message for this evening.

Father in heaven, we thank you for the message for our time and I pray for a special blessing as we start our prophecy series this week.

Why do we study prophecy of 7th-day Adventists?

You know, when you study Bible prophecy, the 2 primary books that contain our prophetic messages are obviously Daniel and Revelation.

Now some of the other books also have prophecies as well, and as you saw from our message even yesterday, the book of Hebrews, for example, can give you some prophetic messages.

But specifically I want to 0 in tonight on the book of Daniel, and I want to read you a few quotes from Ellen White.

This is from the book Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers.

And I'm starting on page 112, just a few little quotes.

Here she says, Daniel and Revelation must be studied as well as the other prophecies of the Old and New Testaments.

So that's why we want to study these prophecies, right?

And then she says, same page, read the book of Daniel, call up point by point the history of the kingdoms they're represented.

And then she says, the light that Daniel received from God was given especially for these last days.

So the light in the book of Daniel is especially for our time, right?

So that's why we want to study this book, amen?

And then this is an especially powerful quote.

Here again, Ellen White says, when the books of Daniel and Revelation are better understood, believers will have an entirely different religious experience.

When the books of Daniel and Revelation are better understood, believers will have an entirely different religious experience." Did you hear that?

When the books of Daniel and Revelation are better understood, believers will have an entirely different religious experience.

And then she says, "...they will be given such glimpses of the open gates of heaven that heart and mind will be impressed with the character that all must develop in order to realize the blessedness which is to be the reward of the pure in heart.

Now notice this, she says when we study these books properly we will have a better understanding of what kind of character we will need to reach heaven.

This isn't just studying about beasts and horns.

Yes there are some beasts and horns in the books of Daniel and Revelation.

But those are simply identifying points in these prophetic books to get us to something more important, and that is to help us understand our prophetic identity as God's last day people and with our identity what our mission is as God's people.

Once we understand our prophetic identity, that drives our mission as Seventh-day Adventists.

So that's why we are going to be studying these books.

And then the last quote that I will read before we start looking at the book of Daniel, page 116 of Testimonies to Ministers, Those who eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God will bring from the books of Daniel and Revelation truth that is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Now notice this, they will start into action forces that cannot be repressed.

You know, when I read that quote, what that tells me is that when we bring from the books of Daniel and Revelation the truth that the Holy Spirit wants to be brought out for our time, we see that forces will be started into action that cannot be repressed.

So that gets me excited about studying these books, amen?

And that gets me excited about what's going to happen here this week in Princestown.

Because as we as a group of people come together every night this week except Thursday, we will come together night by night.

We will see the truths of Scripture from these prophetic books that by the grace of God I believe can help start into action forces that cannot be repressed leading up to the coming of Jesus Christ.

So that's what we are going to be doing this week.

Now tonight is the prophetic overview of the book of Daniel, specifically we are going to be looking at the prophetic focal point of the book of Daniel.

Now, just by way of interest for my sake, how many of you have studied the book of Daniel?

How many of you, for example, are familiar with the image in Daniel chapter 2?

Now, what we're going to look at tonight is a broad overview of this book, and here's how we're going to start.

The book of Daniel was obviously written by Daniel, who was a Hebrew captive taken to Babylon.

Now, Daniel's parents chose a very special name for him, because do you know what the name Daniel means?

So if the name Daniel means God is my judge, what do you think is the central focal point or the central topic of the book of Daniel?

Daniel is a book about judgment and the very name of Daniel, Daniel's name means God is my judge.

Now what I'm going to primarily look at tonight is the judgment scenes and how we get to the judgment in this book.

But the question is, does the book of Daniel give us any insight in how we should be living in the judgment hour?

And specifically, we as God's people, we are living in the judgment hour, are we not?

Now, we are the Laodicean Church, and we're gonna talk about the Laodicean Church on Friday night.

Do you know what the word Laodicea means?

Laodicea itself, the word means a judged people.

So get this, We are the Laodicean Church.

We are the judged people, or the church of the judgment hour, and the book of Daniel means God is my judge.

So we as God's Judgment Hour church certainly should be studying the book of Daniel.

And get this, a lot of times we look at the stories in the first 6 chapters and we grow up as children hearing, oh wow, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they didn't bow down to that image, and they were thrown into the fiery furnace.

And wow, Daniel, he was thrown into the lion's den.

And wow, Daniel, when he was first taken captive, he wouldn't eat the food from the king's table.

Well, do You know what those stories are really telling us?

Those stories are showing us how we should be living in the judgment hour.

The very first chapter, Daniel purposes in his heart, this is Daniel chapter 1, verse 8.

Daniel purposes in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat nor with the wine which he drank.

Now guess what happens after Daniel was faithful?

At the end of the chapter it says God gave Daniel the prophetic gift.

Which means if Daniel hadn't been faithful in chapter 1, we wouldn't have the rest of the book.

Then of course you have chapter 2, and we're going to get into that more specifically.

Then chapter 3 comes, and Nebuchadnezzar tries to get everyone to bow down to this image, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego say, we will not bow down.

And even if our God doesn't deliver us, we still won't bow down to your image.

Now, do you think there were some other Jewish captives that were there at that ceremony?

So other professed people of God were there and they were unfaithful, but these 3 boys were faithful.

And then By the time you get to chapter 6, the decree goes forth that you can only worship the king for 30 days and if you worship any other god, you will be put to death.

And Daniel, if you read chapter 6, it says, as he did before, he worshipped God the same way.

Daniel and his 3 friends, in these stories, they aren't asking the question in the judgment hour, so to speak, well, will I lose my salvation if I eat the king's food?

Or will I lose my salvation if I bow down to this image?

Or will I lose my salvation if I stop praying openly in my window and just pray in my closet for 30 days?

What they were asking was, will God's name be glorified by my actions?

And that's why the first angel's message, and we'll go through those, the 3 angels tomorrow night, that's why the first angel's message says, fear God, give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come.

What that means is to give glory to God, we are simply asking ourselves, in any particular situation in my life, I'm not asking, is this a salvational issue?

I'm asking, will God be glorified by my choice?

I love Jesus so much that I want my life to bring glory to His name, not, boy, what's the least amount that I can do to get by and still get into heaven?

I'll just do the minimum, and I'll barely pass, and maybe I'll make it.

The Big Picture of Revelation

Well, a pleasant good evening to you again.

And it's wonderful to see such a good group of you again tonight.

And I'm very excited about our message for this evening, where we are going to take a look at the big picture of Revelation.

So before we do that, I would just like to have a brief word of prayer and we will get right into our message.

Father in Heaven, we thank You for bringing us here this evening.

I pray that Jesus Christ would be lifted up and that we would be convicted of the message for our time and that we would make changes in our lives to fit according to the time in which we live in.

So be with me now, may Christ be lifted up, may I be lost sight of, and may you bless each 1 of us here this evening.

Alright, well last night we did an overview of the book of Daniel, and we saw that there are 4 prophetic visions in Daniel which describe the same kingdoms, and at the end of those 4 visions, at the end of the first 1 you have the second coming with the stone striking the image.

At the end of the fourth 1, you have Michael standing up, which is at the close of probation, just before Jesus comes.

But in the middle 2 visions you have the beginning of the judgment and the beginning of the cleansing of the sanctuary which we saw began in 1844 which shows us that in order to get to the Second Coming after the end of the 4 kingdoms, there must be a judgment and a cleansing of a sanctuary that will usher in the Second Coming of Jesus.

And when Christ has a cleansed sanctuary, He will come back a second time.

So in a nutshell, that's what we studied last night.

Now tonight we are going to study the book of Revelation and we are going to see some of the big picture themes in this book as well.

As I did last night, I'm going to read just a couple of quotes from the book Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, which describes the importance of the book of Revelation.

Ellen White says, the things revealed to Daniel were afterward complemented by the revelation made to John on the Isle of Patmos.

Revelation complements the book of Daniel.

So what we saw last night will be complemented by the book of Revelation, which gives more detail.

And now, 1 other quote, and then we'll get right into our message.

This is page 116 of Testimonies to Ministers.

The minds of many, so that they have been glad of any excuse for not making revelation their study.

But Christ, through His servant John, has here declared what shall be in the last days, and he says, Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.

So there is a special blessing for those who not only read this prophecy, who not only hear it, but who keep the words of this prophecy.

You see, as God's last day people, we are intended by God to have a special understanding of this book so that we will live our lives accordingly in preparation for Jesus to come.

And inspiration tells us there is a special blessing when we study and keep the words of this book.

So that's what we're going to look at tonight.

You know when you look at the book of Revelation just as you look at the name of the book of Daniel, the name itself is descriptive of what the book is about.

Now, when we look at our Bibles, we'll see, okay, I'm in the book of Revelation, and you'll see Revelation 1, 2, 3, and on, and that's what you think of.

But you know, Revelation 1, verse 1, specifically says the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.

Really, the title of this book should be The Revelation of Jesus Christ.

So if you come away from your study of the book of Revelation and you haven't seen Jesus, that might just suggest that you aren't studying the book correctly.

Again, this book is much more than about beasts and horns.

This book is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Now, how does the book of Revelation reveal Jesus Christ to us in these last days?

When we look at the book of Revelation we see that it has some similarities to the book of Daniel, but it also has a slightly different structure.

And it's interesting, if you come to Revelation chapter 1, verse 5, Revelation chapter 1, verse 5, starts to reveal more to us about Jesus Christ.

Series

Norman McNulty: Prophecy Revival Series

The Big Picture of Revelation

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Unlocking Prophecy

15- Good News About Hell

1h

Norman McNulty: Prophecy Revival Series

Satan’s End-Time Deception

50m

Daniel Prophecy Series

Daniel 5—The Fall of Babylon

58m

Taking the Kingdom by Force

48m

From Laodicea to the 144,000

45m

Plenary

Wake-Up Call

1h

Heart Burn

1h

Norman McNulty: Prophecy Revival Series

Daniel’s Prophetic Focal Point

43m

The Living One

47m

Dee Casper's Weekend

06 The Faith of Jesus

1h 6m

War of Thrones

The Rise of Mystery Babylon

1h 3m

SWYC 2006 Plenary Sessions

The Loud Cry

1h

Sound Doctrine