Willard Santee

Post Falls SDA Church

God’s Amazing Gift

Today's sermon is entitled God's Amazing Gift.

Today we want to talk about the Holy Spirit, probably the greatest gift that God has given to us outside of his own son Jesus Christ who died on Calvary's cross.

Before we get into our study today, I'm gonna invite you to pray with me for just a moment.

Father, we wanna thank you for this wonderful and beautiful gift that you've given to your church, to your people, to the world, the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Bless those that listen to this on radio and also bless Father those who listen to CD.

Thank you for your presence with us today and I just pray that all of us might receive of your spirit this day in Jesus name, Amen.

Millie was from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

She was about to commit suicide and had just finished writing a note to that effect.

It was then that she began to pray and tell God that she really didn't want to die.

It was at that very moment that she remembered having seen Pastor Kin.

She had seen him on television once and for some reason she reflected back on that moment at that time and felt impressed to call him.

But she didn't know how to get in touch with him and didn't know of anyone that could help her, but strangers that may seem some numbers just came to her mind.

She looked at the numbers and thought, wouldn't it be wonderful if a miracle from God somehow had just come to me and this number that I have is actually Pastor Ken's number.

She picked up her phone and dialed the numbers that she had scribbled down.

Now that same day, Pastor Ken was driving on I-75 near Dayton, Ohio with his wife and children.

Perhaps you've heard this story, but it's worth repeating.

Pastor Ken and his little family turned off the highway for a rest and some refreshments.

While his wife Barbara and children went into a restaurant, Pastor Ken decided to stretch his legs.

And as he walked toward a little Dairy Queen, he heard a telephone begin to ring.

It was coming from a phone booth on a corner near a service station.

Now, you realize that you don't find many phone booths around much anymore because of the cell industry.

So this was a few years ago, but it's still a story that relates to you and me today.

As Pastor Ken heard this phone ringing, his first reaction was, why doesn't somebody answer the phone?

But noise from the busy intersection seemed to silence the sound.

As he looked around, he discovered that No 1 was paying any attention to it except himself.

And so he stepped inside the booth, picked up the phone and said, Hello.

And an operator responded, long distance for Ken Gobb.

As soon as Pastor Ken identified himself as the operator, the woman on the other end of the line said, that's him operator, that's Pastor Ken.

After accepting her call, Millie identified herself And said, I can't believe I'm talking to you.

Pastor Ken said, I don't have an office in California.

Don't you know, Pastor Ken said, you're the 1 that made the call.

To that Millie responded, I don't even know what area I'm calling.

I just dialed a number that I had scribbled down on this piece of paper.

Well, Millie, you just dialed a phone booth in Dayton Ohio and I just happened to be walking by when it rang so I answered it.

These are Pastor Ken's words concerning that experience And I quote, Knowing this encounter could have only been arranged by God, I began to counsel the woman.

As she told me of her despair and frustration, the presence of the Holy Spirit flooded the phone booth, giving me words of wisdom beyond my ability.

And in a matter of moments, she prayed the sinner's prayer and met the 1 who would lead her out of her situation into a new life." End quote.

What were the odds of that conversation ever taking place, beloved?

With all the millions of phones, the innumerable combinations of numbers, only an all-knowing God could have caused that woman to call that number on that day at that time and at that special phone booth.

It's no wonder Pastor Ken couldn't keep that secret very long to himself.

Leaving the phone booth with an overwhelming sense of the presence of God, he said to his wife as soon as he saw her, Barb, God knows where I am.

Well, beloved, God knows where you are too this morning.

In fact, He knows all about you and He knows all about me and He loves us with an everlasting love." In John 14, Jesus was telling His disciples that He would soon leave them.

But He didn't want them to worry about that because He had an amazing gift that He was going to give to them.

Of all the things that God could have given His disciples that day, He chose to give them His divine presence in the person of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, even though He was leaving, He would never forsake them.

I'd like for you to take your Bibles, if you would, just for a moment, and turn with me to the Gospel of John, and we'll take a look at chapter 14.

I'd like for you to follow along as I read, beginning with verse 16.

Notice what Jesus said to his disciples that day.

And I will pray the Father and He will give you another helper or comforter that He may abide with you, how long?

I will not leave you orphans or comfortless.

Verse 22, 1 of the disciples responded to Jesus and asked him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself or reveal yourself or make yourself real to us?

If you're going away, how can you do that?

Notice verse 23 Jesus answered and said to him if Anyone I like that you need to underline that if that hasn't been underlined in your Bible if anyone loves me He will keep or guard my word and my father will love him and we will what?

That means that God the Father, Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, will come and dwell with you and be in you.

But this promise, beloved, was not only given to the disciples, Notice again, to anyone, that means you and me, who will love God and guard His Word or hide it in our heart and not allow it to be lost, God says, I will come and dwell in you and I have a hunch that He means I'll come and speak to your mind.

He left this beloved to every 1 of us if we will Accept it.

I'm reading from the Amplified Version because it makes it rather clear and rather powerful.

It says, "...but the Comforter, or counselor, or helper, or intercessor, or advocate, or strengthener, or the 1 who stands by.

The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, or in my place, to represent me and act on my behalf, He will teach you all things.

In other words, will remind you of and bring to your remembrance everything that I have told you.

God will not only lead us into all truth, He will bring back truth to our mind when we need that truth.

May I suggest, it was the Holy Spirit that responded to Millie's prayer when she cried out in desperation, not wanting to die.

It was the Holy Spirit that brought to her remembrance the God of her childhood and encouraged her to pray.

It was the Holy Spirit that reminded her of Pastor Ken in the TV program that she had seen him on.

It was that same Holy Spirit that encouraged Pastor Ken to stretch his legs that day and walk toward a specific phone booth.

And it was God's amazing gift that spoke through Pastor Kin and changed the heart of a woman in Pennsylvania.

In our first study in this three-part series called, Why Pray?

I outlined 4 ways that we can know the voice of God when He speaks to us, and I think you might want to write them down.

4 ways we can know the voice of God when He speaks to us.

Number 1, probably the most common way that God speaks to us, it's through His Word.

First, we can read His Word and as we do we should accept it as the voice of God speaking directly to us.

In this way we will find inspiration and wisdom which is divine.

And that, by the way, is a little thought taken from Volume 7 of the Testimonies, page 205.

Notice also this statement from Desire of Ages, page 390.

Working Together

Before we get into today's message, I'm going to invite you to pray with me right now.

Father, please bless every heart who waits before you today.

Give each of us a nugget that we can take home saying, I'm glad I was there because I have a part of Jesus.

May He be the center of today's study and may He be the 1 that makes it plain in our individual hearts as to what we need at this time in earth's history.

Want to thank Elder Michael for reading our scripture this morning of Psalm 119.

Oh let me not wander from your commandments.

Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you." What a prayer.

I will delight myself in your statutes and I will not forget your word.

That's why the psalmist said, I've hidden it in my heart.

We're going to read another statement about that word in John today, so look for it as we get to it in just a little bit.

We're going to talk about that, hiding in our heart.

We have a tendency to forget God's Word when tradition takes hold of our lives.

Sometimes we intend to do what's right, we want to do what's right, we endeavor to do what's right, we even go about doing what's right, but sometimes tradition takes over and the doing simply becomes a ritual, a religious ritual.

Well, I remember what the author of Hebrews said, that we should not forsake ourselves, the assembling together as the custom of some is.

And especially as we see that day, that day approaching.

Because God wants us to assemble together to gain strength from 1 another spiritually so we can come back again and fortify our mind with the truths of God's Word.

In other words, as God's Word is preached to the people, it goes into our hearts, it changes our lives, it solidifies us, it makes us the men and women that God would have us to be in a world that's gone mad.

But we don't live in a society that demands milk today.

Today if we're going to stand out here in this whirlwind of a society in which we live, we're going to have to stand against the wind.

This is not a day to go back and hovel into our little mountain retreats and wait for the Lord to come.

This is a day when we need to fortify our mind with the truths of God's Word that we might be able to stand in the last great conflict which 1 day will come.

And for some of us it may come sooner than others.

Some of us are going through conflict even now as I speak, but I want you to listen, because beloved, the picture is bigger than most of us have thought, and we're in a greater crisis than many of us have ever dreamed.

And as my son said to me not long ago, he said, Dad, I fear that we have been lied to.

I'd like to share with you something very personal today.

It's something that breaks my heart, but yet it's reality, it is the truth.

And I almost think today that there is probably a hidden woe to those who share statistics that are not positive, that are not upbeat.

But what I have to share today are statistics that are reality that may bring us back as a people to seriously take a look at where we are.

I want you to take your Bible this morning and turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 3 before I share some statistics with you.

And I want to lay just a little nugget before you to think about, which sort of sets the stage for today's presentation.

Acts chapter 3, you might remember the story.

It was Peter on the day of Pentecost and he was preaching under the power of God's early reign, Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit had filled 120 individuals in an upper room and the Jews had come to Jerusalem for a very special weekend.

It was a high weekend and Peter waxed eloquent under the Holy Spirit and began to speak.

And over 3, 000 individuals accepted the Lord Jesus Christ that day from Judaism.

And then many of those individuals turned to Peter and said, what should we do?

How do we relate now that we crucified our own Messiah?

Verse 17, chapter 3, yet now brethren, Peter says, I know that you did it all in ignorance, as did also your rulers, you put your own Messiah to death.

But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

So even though you were guilty of what you did in spilling innocent blood, it fulfilled prophecy And in so doing you have a Savior that died for the world.

Isn't that nice how God can even bring order out of chaos?

But Now notice in verse 19, there's a key here.

Now that you have recognized your sin, repent of that sin and be converted, be changed over.

Let a new heart come into you, new thinking come into your mind that your sins may be what?

Blotted out, covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.

For you see, Jesus has died now, his blood has been spilled.

And we can claim the blood of Jesus Christ to blot out our sin.

But interestingly enough, for Seventh-day Adventist, it has an even greater significance, that verse.

Please oblige me, those of you that are not Seventh-day Adventist today or visiting with us of other faiths, we're delighted that you're here.

Just listen in on an Adventist sermon today, okay?

So thanks for coming and listening in on our study today.

Verse 19 to a Seventh-day Adventist would have this little twist to it.

Verse 19, "...repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out in the investigative judgment." See, Jesus cannot come back to this earth, I'm suggesting, until He has judged this earth and determined who's going to be saved and who's going to be lost.

Why would He come back here if he is not sure who he is going to take to heaven.

Therefore sometime before Jesus returns, he has to be involved in a judgment of who is going to be saved and who is going to be lost.

Because when he comes back, he brings his rewards with him, does he not?

And so as Seventh-day Adventists, we have a unique little insight here.

We would see this as sins being blotted out according to the old sacrificial system of how the Jewish economy worked.

The sins would be blotted out sometime on that great day of atonement.

Happened once a year when the high priest would take the blood of that special goat that symbolized Jesus Christ and would take the blood of that goat into the most holy place of the sanctuary and sprinkle it on the mercy seat of God.

Many of us have forgotten all about it because we're not into the Old Testament much.

But beloved, Jesus was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

And so for Seventh-day Adventist, we see this as an interesting blotting out of sins in the investigative judgment.

So before Jesus comes, He wants to blot our sins out.

But then notice what else it says, Peter speaking, Repent, number 1, be converted, number 2, that your sins may be blotted out, number 3, so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

Now beloved, if you understand Joel 2, you understand what the refreshing is.

The refreshing here it's talking about is latter rain.

ASI 2012: It's Time... To Be About Our Father's Business

ASI 2012 Seminar: Home & Family

Jean Boonstra

First Aid Parenting

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that we have this chance to be here at ASI, to spend some concentrated time with you, focusing on what you're doing in the world.

And we thank you just now that we can spend part of our Friday afternoon thinking about our jobs as parents, the awesome task that you've given us, and we pray that you will go with us.

This seminar is based on a little booklet that we prepared for It Is Written a few years ago based on some Mother's Day and Father's Day programs that we had created for It Is Written.

In this little booklet, the idea behind it was to take some short pieces of information just to help busy parents make their way through every day.

Now, do you ever feel like parenting is just about surviving from 1 emergency to the next?

It feels like when the kids are little, you go from spilled juice to someone's having a temper tantrum and someone else stole someone's toy, and you're constantly going from 1 of those emergencies to the next.

And when they get older, The emergencies seem to be, mom, I have to be here at this time and I have to be there at that time.

And 1 kid has to practice music because they have homework and the other kid has to be at basketball.

And it's sometimes we can feel like it's just going from 1 state of emergency to the next.

Now of course our kids are treasured gifts from God, they absolutely are.

And being a parent is an awesome privilege and awesome responsibility And we want to do what's best.

We want to do what's right for our children.

And it doesn't mean, though, that parenting is always easy.

It definitely comes with its challenges and with the blessings.

So in some ways, parenting has been the same for every generation, hasn't it?

They nurture, they care for their children, they provide the basics, food, clothing, shelter.

And there are things that every generation wants to pass on to the next generation.

Certainly, we want to pass on our values, our morals, our Christian faith, our belief system.

Maybe even we want to pass on some professional knowledge, a skill, a trade.

So those things have been the same for every generation of parents I think that's ever been.

But our generation, our kids now, we definitely have some new challenges.

These kids now that are growing up are the first that can sit and look at this in their hand no matter where they are and they can watch YouTube.

And mom and dad might not even know what they're looking at or listening to.

It's a completely new challenge because this type of technology wasn't around when we were kids.

We don't have a background of knowing how our parents handled it with us to make decisions for our kids.

So it's a whole new package of challenges.

It also has some blessings with it, but they're unique for us.

Well, today we're going to just talk about 10 areas of parenting, of course not exhaustive by any means, but 10 areas that we all struggle with that we want to get through as parents and we will have some emergency survival tips for each 1.

All right, first area, when should I see the doctor?

Now, I'm sure all of you, like me, have had the situation, especially when the kids are little, where they're not feeling well.

And you're holding them, and they have a runny nose, and they're cranky, and their cheeks are red, and maybe you have the thermometer in their mouth, and they're crying and fussy, and you think, okay, is this an ear infection?

Sometimes we start worrying even before the kids are born.

Not that that's right or good, but it's a fact.

So when the kids are little, we have little kids worries, don't we?

I know our oldest daughter, Natalie, was born 2 weeks early.

And her dad actually was across the country when that happened, but he made it back the same day.

She had been born already, but he made it back the same day.

But because she was 2 weeks early, she was scrawny.

And so instantly, of course, I started to worry.

You worry when they go to school, did we teach them enough?

And then of course as the kids get older, the worries change.

Now that I almost have a teenager, a couple more months and I have a teenager, I worry about a completely different package of things, but the worries are still there.

There is a verse that is 1 of my very favorites, and it's Jeremiah 29 11.

It's actually a photocopy of a picture, but I have this verse written on the back of it and I have it tucked in my Bible.

I know you're probably all familiar with it.

It's Jeremiah 29 11 says, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

So that was very much an encouragement to me, that verse, because it reminds me that God loves my children even more than I love them.

It's hard to even comprehend that, but He genuinely does.

You know, we worry about the little things.

So first aid survival tip Number 1 is that the best worry reducer is the Word of God.

And I know that you've experienced that too.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

God’s Amazing Gift

43m

Working Together

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First Aid Parenting

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Family INC.

1h 16m

How to be a Godly Parent

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Battles in the Brain, Part 3

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Battles in the Brain, Part 2

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Classical Prophecy - The Seven Churches of Revelation

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Evolution and the Sabbath

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Jesus’ Coming: Secret or Visible?

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Battles in the Brain, Part 1

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