ASI Southwest 2024: We Have This Hope

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ASI Southwest

Plenary

Eric Walsh

Music in a Time of Spiritualism

So we're going to get into this 1 on music.

So this is a bonus you guys are going to get because we never discussed this 1.

It does kind of go in line with the last seminar.

So it's a part of the same series I did on spiritualism.

I won't get to the ones I have on Hollywood and television and social media and stuff.

But these are the 2 that Lord said would be good to go over here.

So our scripture reading is taken from Ecclesiastes 7 and verse 5.

It says, it is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools.

Better to hear the rebuke of the wise and for a man to hear the song of fools.

So our message for this seminar is entitled, The Dragon's Song.

Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to Go deep into your word on the issue of music and worship.

So Lord, you know now I really need an extra outpouring of your Holy Ghost.

Open our hearts to your word and to your truth.

But Lord, we need to hear a word from the throne room of grace.

So we're going to go to 1 Samuel chapter 16.

1 Samuel chapter 16 as our setup story for this 1.

1 Samuel 16, Saul has already begun his path of disobedience and he is having struggles.

Some argue these are mental health struggles.

We'll talk more about mental health tonight.

He was having mental health struggles, but the Bible here shows you that there is a fine line between mental health issues and significant spiritual issues like possession.

The Bible says in 1 Samuel 16, 14, but the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.

We'll talk about what that means in a second.

And Saul's servants said unto him, behold now, an evil spirit from God troubles thee." They saw how Saul was behaving and they said, Saul you are being messed with by an evil spirit, Your behavior is that bad.

Let our Lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man and look at how they went to treat this demonic challenge that Saul was having.

Command thy servants which are before thee to seek out a man who is a cunning player on a harp, and it shall come to pass when the evil spirit from God is upon thee that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.

They understood the power music had in a world and a situation where the devil was in control and they wanted to treat his challenge, his difficulty, his illness even, with the right music.

I hope you're getting the setup for this story.

Verse 17, and Saul said to his servants, provide me now a man that can play what?

Sometimes in churches, maybe I should save this for later in the message, but sometimes we send folk up who can't play well.

That is 1 of the things that is critical for worship, right?

Verse 18, then answered 1 of the servants and said, behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite that is cunning and playing and a mighty, valiant man and a man of war and prudent in matters and a comely person and the Lord is with him.

I know a guy who can play, he's brave, he won't be afraid of your crazy demonically influenced antics.

He will stand before you, he's not terrible to look at, He'll do great in the court.

Listen, Saul, the Lord may not be with you anymore, but we're gonna get someone who can do music who God is with.

I mean, I hope you're seeing how the Scripture in these simple verses is laying down criteria for music ministry.

He played well, and I'm not trying to be mean, but everybody isn't, just like everybody shouldn't go in front and preach, everybody shouldn't go in front and sing or play if they're not talented, if they're not committed to it, if there's not, you know, something there.

I'm not saying that means that no 1 can ever, you know, only a handful of people, but clearly the Bible says he played well.

But the second 1 is this person has to be courageous.

The last thing it says is, and the Lord is with him.

In many of our churches, we'll come back to this later on, we hire musicians to come into play who literally sometimes, I've seen it with my own 2 eyes, still have the stamp on their hand from the nightclub they played in the night before.

Wherefore, Saul sent messengers unto Jesse and said, send me David thy son, which is with the sheep.

Go get the shepherd kid and bring him here.

That meant he had a lot of time to practice with his slingshot, to practice with his harp.

He wrote psalms and songs, he mastered the harp, he mastered the slingshot.

Verse 20, and Jesse took an ass laden with bread and a bottle of wine and a kid and sent them by David his son unto Saul.

And David came to Saul and stood before him, and he loved him greatly and became his armor bearer.

And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he hath found favor in my sight." Saul falls in love with David, doesn't last long, and he makes him his armor-bearer.

And it came to pass when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul that David took a harp and played with his hand and Saul was refreshed and was well and the evil spirit departed from him.

When Saul was being molested by this evil spirit, David played his harp.

And the evil spirit, at the playing of the harp, the evil spirit left Saul." Isn't that powerful?

If you can play an evil spirit out of someone, Can you play an evil spirit into someone?

Here the Bible in this story, which is literally a bridge story, this isn't really a focus story, this isn't David and Goliath, this isn't even Saul throwing the arrows and stuff at David.

This isn't David and Jonathan leaving each other in a field and weeping as they separate.

This isn't David hiding in the caves or reaching Ziglag.

And yet, in the Bible, it is pregnant with meaning around the issue of music and worship.

If your music is not conducted right, you will not be able to play the evil impressions of our society away from or out of the folk in your immediate vicinity, in your church.

But worse, if the wrong music is played, the spirit can go in the other direction, And an evil spirit can enter the person.

1 of the challenges for people is this idea that, so I'm gonna use the SDA Bible commentary here, I love the Bible commentary, we went and found the old ones from the 50s to the 70s.

If you want a piece of advice, figure out a way to get it.

We bought 1 on eBay, we have it on PDF, we love this thing, and our family worships this is what we use.

It says in verse 14 of chapter 16, Saul had rejected the Spirit of God, committed the unpardonable sin.

And there was nothing more God could do for him.

And it was not that the Spirit of Jehovah withdrew from Saul arbitrarily, but rather that Saul rebelled against his guidance and deliberately withdrew himself from the influence of the Spirit.

This must be understood in harmony with Psalms 139 7 and with the fundamental principle of free choice.

If God through his Holy Spirit forced himself upon Saul contrary to his desires, God would be making of the king a mere machine.

So when Saul rejected God, God is a gentleman.

He will remove himself from the situation.

The End in Sight

It's good to be with you in warm and sunny Texas.

It snowed in our home state of Connecticut, so This is like flying to summer right now is what this is.

So we appreciate it and we're glad to be back at ASI Southwest.

I was telling her just how great and organized everything is.

And so we're gonna enjoy ourselves with you over the next few days.

We're gonna really be looking at a lot of things.

I wanna go straight to our scripture reading.

Our scripture reading is found in Matthew chapter 24, starting at verse 33.

Matthew chapter 24, starting at verse 33.

The Bible says, so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.

A message tonight is entitled, The End in Sight.

Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to study your Word.

And I ask in a special way now, Lord, that you just make me a nail on the wall, and upon that nail I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ.

I'm going to go to Matthew 24 for most of the sermon.

It actually starts after chapter 23 where Jesus leaves the temple and He says, I leave your house unto you desolate.

And in that is a shift theologically before He even goes to the cross, before the veil is ever rent on, as Jesus is about to die on the cross, and the veil is rent, before all of that happens, Jesus makes the proclamation that the Spirit of God has left that place.

The disciples were shocked by this because they were poised for Jesus to become the king, to sit on David's throne.

They tried to force him at time to be king and so when he makes this proclamation in their fragile, still minimally if at all converted minds, they're thinking how can the king make such a pronouncement against the temple?

When they finally get Jesus alone, in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 3, the Bible says, as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately saying, tell us, when shall these things be?

Their entire understanding of theology, and I want you to get this because it mirrors today, their entire understanding of end time events for them, the whole apple cart had just been turned over.

They can't understand it, so when they get them alone, they say, wait a minute, tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world?

They jump ahead and say, wait a minute, we don't get it.

And I want to submit to you, this is the question many are asking now.

I just finished, I don't watch much television, but there are some good historical documentaries.

I just watched 1 on the impact of the atomic bomb and the Cold War.

So much of the prophecies we understand, you can see as it played out and how it led us to where we are now.

But it basically ends with almost all of these experts saying we are actually in a more dangerous place today from the standpoint of a possible nuclear Armageddon than we were even in the 1980s.

That in fact we should be more afraid today because there are more nuclear weapons in more unstable hands than they were then.

In other words, the question the disciples ask, when shall the end of the world come?

That question is perplexing your neighbors.

That beautiful box man ministries you just saw, those guys coming up to your house, they are wondering when is the end of the world going to happen.

It says about 4 in 10 US adults believe humanity is living in the end times.

40 percent of people in the United States believe that humanity is living in the end times.

40% of people in the United States believe that humanity is living in the end times.

So when you go to break out some of the data, it says US Protestants in evangelical and historically black traditions are especially likely to believe humanity is living in the end times.

So you say, well, it's mostly a Christian phenomenon.

There's a little piece of data I want to show you from 1 of the article, from in the article, and it's this, because this helps us understand our mission.

Evangelicals are divided on questions about the circumstances of Jesus' return.

That they're all supposed to be 1 understanding, but they don't understand the same.

44% taking a pre-millennial stance and 45% saying that it is impossible to know the circumstances that will precede Jesus' return.

They think it's impossible to understand what's going to happen before Jesus returns.

Fewer Catholics, 15%, and Protestants in the historically black, 27%, and mainline traditions believe Jesus' return will be preceded by a global deterioration.

So many in the more conservative, if you say, Catholic and more conservative branches, or more traditional is a better word, branches of Christianity and the black churches, they actually don't believe the world is going to deteriorate first.

I hope you guys are getting the ramifications of this.

They don't believe the world is gonna get worse, even though that is literally what the Bible says, as we're going to look at.

Instead, members of historically black churches, 51%, Catholics, 44%, and mainline Protestants, 41%, are more likely to say it is impossible to know what will happen before Jesus' return.

Because if you think it's impossible to know what is going to happen before Jesus returns, that means you will believe almost anything.

Number 2, you're gonna be left with very serious questions as the world begins to change and as it deteriorates as it is doing, you're going to wonder why is it deteriorating when it should be getting better.

A great example of this, and I don't have time to get deep into it tonight, is the idea around the building of a third temple in Israel.

They think somehow that, you know, there's a prosperity coming, a thousand-year reign, Christ is going to sit on the throne and rule the world with an iron fist.

The very lie that caused the disciples to not understand what Jesus says at the end of Matthew 23 when he says, I leave your house unto you desolate, is literally the lie they believe today.

And the whole world now says, we don't have time.

So that was the theologic look at do you think the world is going to end?

But I want to submit to you that maybe that has been eclipsed by the fact that politically folk believe The world is coming to an end either because of nuclear holocaust or because of an environmental catastrophe, global warming, etc.

They believe that there are other forces at work.

I mean, they've got Asteroids, pandemics, they've got all kinds of reasons.

There are people building bunkers and hiding and preparing for an end that they have no idea how it's coming.

So Matthew 24 and verse 3 says, and as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples asked Him these questions, privately asked Him, when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the world?

They privately asked Him these questions.

Jesus, when is all of this going to happen?

And it is a question that is going to permeate our society today, a question we must be able to answer.

We must know not only that the end is in sight, but we must be able to give people the hope of why the end is not really the end.

So watch this, let's go deeper into Matthew chapter 24, verse 4 says this, and Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man do what?

The Greek word there for deceive is the word planeo.

It's the same word used in the parable of the 99 and the 1 sheep.

The 1 sheep that went away was planeo, it was led astray.

I want you to notice, it isn't that the sheep is, that 1 sheep is destroyed, it isn't that the 1 sheep is, you know, in rebellion, it's just that He's led away.

Jesus says, "'For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many.'" 1 of the key things, as the disciples are being instructed on the end time, 1 of the key things Jesus brings up is that the time of the end, 1 of the hallmark signs of the end, maybe the key sign of the end of the world, is that it will be an age of deception.

It will literally be an age of deception.

When Jesus, when he's asked to tell when the end of the world will come, Jesus does not begin to go into a diatribe on all the different things that are going to happen for the world to end.

Peace in the Coming Storm

All right, happy almost Sabbath, I think.

We're going to get right into God's Word for tonight.

We're going to take our scripture reading tonight from 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7, 1 of my favorite Bible verses.

It says, for God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Our message for tonight is entitled, Peace in the Coming Storm.

Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to study your word.

And I ask now Lord, once again, that you just make me a nail on the wall.

Upon that nail, Lord, I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ.

Instead, Lord, let us hear a word from the throne room of grace.

If you have your Bible, you can go with me to 1 Kings chapter 19.

First Kings chapter 19, And we're going to start and talk a bit about the prophet Elijah and how his life relates to us in these end times.

1 Kings 19 and verse 1 says, and Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and with all how he had slain the prophets with a sword.

Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of 1 of them by tomorrow about this time.

We're gonna go back a little bit and see what what led to this.

When you study the Bible, context is always very important.

But we jump into the story when Elijah had accomplished some pretty great things actually.

And he runs right into problems with Queen Jezebel, Ahab's wife.

And the way I say it is that when you read this story, you realize Jezebel is quite gangster, as it were.

She is ready to seek revenge for what Elijah has done to her prophets and her threat and she was a woman of her word.

If she said you were gonna be dead, guess what?

This story doesn't make sense unless that's true and so she threatens the great prophet Elijah that he would be dead by this time tomorrow you have 24 hours on your life Elijah verse 3 gives us the the response of the mighty and brave prophet.

The Bible says, and when he saw that he arose and he went for his life.

When Elijah got the threat, this brother put on his track shoes and he started to run.

The Bible says, and he went for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah.

He left the very country of Israel, crossed the border and went to Judah.

And here's how you know the man was afraid.

He left his servant near, near the border.

Now, if anybody's ever been chased, you know there's a simple rule in being chased.

Whether in Connecticut we have beautiful black bears, California have terrible grizzly bears.

But the rule, if the bear's getting after you, you don't have to be the fastest person in the crowd.

And so Elijah leaves his servant there knowing she knows where he was and she's going to come after him.

And the Bible says in verse 4, but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree and he requested for himself that he might die and said, it is enough now, oh Lord, take away my life for I am not better than my fathers.

Let me submit to you as you get to this part of the story that we quickly reach the crux of what is going on here.

The Bible says, not only was he afraid, he ran for a full day.

Because she gave him a day to live, he ran a whole another day.

He's like, well, she's not going to kill me today because they're going to have to catch me, right?

Because juniper trees, snakes don't like them.

So he can rest under the juniper tree and know that he's not a snake would not curl up with him.

But once he gets to this place of retreat under the juniper tree, Elijah talks to God and requests that he might die.

There are only 2 prophets, 2 people really in the whole Bible, 2 prophets for sure, who request death.

1 of them is here in Elijah, the other 1 is Jonah, somebody said it.

I mean, Jonah's a very different story than this 1.

This brother was mad because a tree grew.

And he says, now, O Lord, take away my life, for I'm not better than my father's.

Let me give you some, I like to lay it out.

It's good to look at the kind of historicity of the scripture.

And here you see the northern kingdom of Israel in blue.

It was the larger part of the 2 kingdoms.

Then down low, you have the kingdom of Judah.

And so he fled from where Jezebel was queen up in the blue part down into the yellow part.

And this is to give you an idea of where Elijah fits in the entire stream of the prophets.

And you can see he's basically the first of the mighty prophets that would come after him.

So Elijah is really the forefather of the other prophets, if you look at it.

He comes in before all of the other ones and tries to, his whole purpose is to try to warn Israel so that what happens in 722 doesn't happen, which is the destruction of the nation of Israel by the Assyrians, I should say the scattering of the nation of Israel.

And they never really ever fully recover, even though some of them do come back later on in the story of Nehemiah and Ezra later on.

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Plenary

Why a 21st Century Church Needs a 19th Century Messenger

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