Herbert Douglass Weekend 2006

Herbert Douglass

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Six Risks in the Plan of Salvation

I've been instructed a number of times from people here and people who knew me elsewhere.

Telling me what I ought to do this weekend.

And last weekend especially, this young, well, his wife and he are in residency work up in Sacramento.

And he said, make sure that you tell them the guts of Adventism.

And in other words, no generic Christianity.

And I thought that was pretty good advice.

So what I'm going to do tonight is give you an overview of what I think is the most important thinking pattern that Adventists can get into.

And the deeper you go, the sweeter it gets.

And after about 10, 000 years, you'll still be learning more about what I'm talking tonight.

I'm still in kindergarten so you have to help me along but the longer we live in on the other side everything I say tonight will be just simply questions that you're going to ask Paul and ask Noah and ask the good Lord to go even deeper.

Because I'm talking about a subject tonight that makes all the difference in the world as to why Adventists think differently.

We do theology differently, and I'm going to talk about that tomorrow more specifically.

You know, I'm going to share something before my wife tells somebody, but I've never been in this situation before, ever.

This morning I got up, went out to my daughter's swimming pool, and sat down to work over my notes for this weekend.

And I opened my release, and the sermon book, it wasn't there.

And they went through all the normal helpers, you know, how to get my book down here before tomorrow morning.

You know, I've been living off some simple words in Proverbs 3.5.

Rest in the Lord with all your heart and rely not upon your own understanding or misunderstandings or whatever you've messed up.

And that's been working pretty good for years.

Because we all can talk about so many interesting subjects.

You'd be, You'd be, I think, satisfied with a lot of subjects we can talk about.

But there's only 1 subject that separates Adventism from all other Christian groups, And that is the great controversy.

No other church or philosophy has a grasp even of what I'm talking about when I say the great controversy theme.

Not about the fifth book in the conflict set.

Not about the fact that good and evil is going at each other, you know, ever since the beginning.

No, and I'm not talking about God being against evil.

Adventists look at it altogether differently and that's why we must do theology differently and we'll talk about that tomorrow more specifically.

Because That's the only way we're going to stay together until we quit tomorrow afternoon.

And as we go tonight, I'm not going to have time tonight to answer questions, but tomorrow afternoon, please have them ready because that's why I'm here.

I don't want to leave anybody with a doubt as to what I meant, because that's what all preachers and teachers do.

You run along so fast and you don't quite say what you ought to say or wanted to say, and so you need some questions somewhere to find out if you're making any headway, you know.

I want people to know at least what I'm trying to say.

When I say 6 risks in the plan of salvation, these are not exactly risks on the part of God.

But from the human standpoint, they were colossal risks.

And that's the only way we can think, anyhow, as a human being.

God, how in the world did you get yourself into this jam?

If you knew it all in advance, why did you put up with this?

Well, humanly speaking, that's the question we ought to ask.

And he's ready, he's anxious, because the whole point of the Great Controversy is to get people asking why he did what he did, And not to be caught up in listening to Satan's reason as to why God did what he did.

And the issue in the great controversy is God doing his best to settle the questions that Satan has aroused throughout the universe.

Everyone in this room has had questions about God sometime in his life.

Oh, for instance, this tragedy over there in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania this week.

In his note to his wife, that young adult that mowed down these 6 or 7 young people, He said to his wife, I have been angry at God ever since he took away our little child.

Well, that may be a reason why he did what he did, but it shows his attitude toward God was not so great.

And when people shout Allah, Allah alaykum, Allah akbar, That's their opinion of God.

God is on my side as I kill these infidels.

And the more infidels I can kill, the better off we're all gonna be.

I have a great future with 70 virgins in heaven.

I'm suggesting that if we had a few hours together and we had a little, you know, just a symposium of everyone in this room talking about what God is like to you.

I am sure there would be at least 10 different definitions as to how you look at God.

And so that's why I thought a long time ago that if I wanted to make any sense out of my life and if I wanted to do any good to anybody else I better talk about God and what he means to me and why I think that way about him and how it fits into making this whole universe, never mind this world, the whole universe secure sometime in the future from anybody not being sure if they can trust God.

And I'm telling you, the church that I love has a number of problems in answering how to look at this God that I'm talking about tonight.

Every single division in the Adventist Church and every single division in Christianity generally is over what people think about God.

I know we can argue about this and that in this scripture and that chapter.

Overall it's how you're thinking about God.

That was the theme of that book that the doctor told you about, God at Risk.

And the subtitle of that book, the kicker, is the cost of freedom in the Great Controversy.

That's what drove me on to writing those pages.

In fact, often I would write with my t-shirt on.

Just kept reminding me what the book was all about, and I'm going to get in the sink here somewhere.

Now you see this picture, I guess that's as bright as it's going to be with those lights on like that.

And if you folk are starting to fall asleep after 90 minutes, he is going to tell me that that's it for tonight.

And so I'll finish it up tomorrow afternoon.

Because you have to have the whole picture if it's going to make complete sense.

Because the evidence picture does not stop just halfway over anything.

Freedom From Fear 2006

Randy Skeete

Freedom From Fear

The Summation

Those who were baptized, I almost said baptismal candidates, that status is passed.

All those who were baptized, please come right here in the middle.

I don't know how this will work with the camera, but I want to come down, so perhaps I should alert the experts on the machines.

Any other preachers here, please come and join us.

What we're about to do is to pray that God would put his Holy Spirit in those who were baptized.

The Bible says in Acts chapter 2 verse 37 after Peter had preached, Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Repent and be baptized every 1 of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

In Matthew 3, 16 and 17, and Jesus when he was baptized went up straight away out of the water.

And Lord the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove unlighting upon him.

And Lord the hell a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased at the baptism of Christ, the Holy Ghost came down in the form of a dove.

And so we want to pray that God would put his spirit in your hearts.

Because Romans 8 9 says, if any man hath not the spirit of Christ, He is none of his.

You may go down under water as many times as you like.

If the spirit of God is not in your heart, you do not belong to God because Romans 8 says, the spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons or the children of God.

So we are going to pray and ask God to stand by his word and place his spirit in your hearts.

If you do fine, if you don't find God's word is not based on how you feel.

It is based on the character of god and god is trustworthy.

The god who said, let there be light and there was light is a god who will say let the spirit be in my children and his spirit will be in you and the Spirit of Christ in a man or a woman leads that man or woman to live how?

So we will kneel, my dear brothers and sisters, find a comfortable roomy place.

Wherever possible, I will ask you to kneel with us.

We want you praying in your hearts as we pray.

Loving Father in heaven, we come to you in the name of Jesus.

We come at the conclusion of a series that has touched lives for the kingdom.

Father, we come now to put our trust in your word, our faith in your utterances.

However small our faith may be, it is all that we have and we bring it to you asking you in the name of Jesus, help thou our unbelief.

But you've said through the mouth of Peter, Repent, be baptized, every 1 of you in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Lord, now I along with every heart in this place call upon you and we ask you in the name of your son who died for us and rose that he might give to us that victorious life in his name place your spirit in the hearts of those who were baptized today that your spirit in them will be a down payment of the glory to come an earnest of the fullness that you have for us grant them that spirit without measure I pray that it may direct all that they say all that they do all that they think It may guide their steps and preserve them until the coming of their Lord.

We offer this prayer from our hearts in Jesus' name and for his name with thanksgiving.

You must believe that he has placed your spirit, his spirit in your hearts and the spirit is preserved by constant study of the word of God.

Thank you for my dear preachers for helping out God bless you too.

It is now 5 after 8 and It doesn't take long God long to bless his people So I will not preach as long as I normally do.

I just won't do that because I don't feel convicted to do it.

But I want to mention a few things to you briefly, then I'll make a final appeal for those who have not yet made that decision to give their all to Christ or to obey his command that we be baptized.

Loving Father in heaven in the name of Jesus and I don't use that name to trap you dear God I use it because it is the only way we can come to you.

In the name of Christ, the righteous 1, the holy 1, the just, the sinless 1, who overcame all sin, the grave, hell, death, and Satan, in that name, the Creator Himself, I ask you now 1 more time, grant me the words to speak.

Let me seek to glorify you alone and not myself.

And so I lay my glory in the dust, what glory I think I have.

Bless my brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters, Lord, that this final presentation will remain in their hearts now and in the days to come.

I offer this prayer earnestly with every fiber of my being in Jesus name let all God's people say amen and amen I want to tell you quickly but carefully There are 2 beliefs that will ruin people on the face of the earth and that have ruined many people's eternal destinies.

And the devil uses these 2 beliefs to drag people away from the freedom that comes in knowing the truth.

The 2 beliefs are 1, that the Sabbath is Sunday and 2, that when you die you go straight to heaven or hell.

Both are wrong and I speak with great respect for those who attend church on Sunday.

Both are wrong and they are not biblical.

The Bible says from Genesis 2 verse 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Now God made it, God blessed it, God sanctified it.

No man can take the blessing from the seventh day and put it on the first.

I have discovered in my life that the deepest things in a person's soul are not usually the word of God but customs, habits, and traditions.

Let me issue a warning to you and to myself.

If the deepest thing in you is not the truth of God, In a moment of severe crisis, you will fall back on tradition and custom, not on truth.

That custom and tradition mean more to people than plain and simple truth.

Because they have grown up with the custom.

They have grown up with the tradition and they prefer to die than leave off the tradition and accept truth.

This happens because tradition has gone far deeper than truth.

What I'm saying to you is tonight in the interest of your soul salvation make truth the deepest thing in your life if someone were able to dig down in your soul when they arrive at the very lowest level and can go no further, they should come in contact with God's Word.

Not a tradition, a custom, or some habit that has no basis in truth.

You see, crisis is the way God exposes who we are.

The daily irritations we face are designed to build character.

But a major crisis reveals to us the degree to which our character has grown or not grown.

I have known of people who've left God because a loved 1 died.

Now before the loved 1 passed away they loved God and I don't speak without feeling I've lost a loved 1.

I'm speaking clearly with sympathy but clearly.

After the loss why did you do that to me?

The loss exposed the true nature of this so-called love for God.

Crises are what God uses to expose not for the purpose of embarrassment but for our own benefit that we may see you know I am NOT all that I think I am cracked up to be and that goes for you and for me.

When some disciples, James and John, went to a Samaritan village to make preparations for Christ, the Samaritans would not receive them.

And they came back to Christ and said, Lord, will thou that we call down fire from heaven even as Elijah did and consume them and burn them up?

This was premeditated murder if God had allowed it to go forward, Christ.

Jesus turned and rebuked them and said, ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.

You know it's easy to come to church on Sabbath.

God is Able

My heart is so happy to see you and I really mean that.

So let us try to get to it as quickly as we can without rushing God or the spirit.

I want to acknowledge those who are visiting with us for the first time.

Blessings on you and you to my left any to my right.

And those of you who have not missed 1 night, may I see your hands?

Those of you who just missed 1 night, may I see your hands?

You missed 2 nights, may I see your hands?

Whatever your record of attendance is, thank you for showing God that his word is important to you and I tell you again without any hesitation that God will bless us today as we put our minds on holy things our subject for today God is able God is able ABLE not ABEL God God is able.

Thank you, Father, for your love that seems endless.

Thank you for your longsuffering, your patience, and the word that says you're not willing that any should perish.

Father I ask you now in the name of Jesus please take full control of my mind, my tongue.

Give me the words to speak I pray that will bring glory to your name and light to those who've come.

Bless your sons and daughters I pray with the revelation of your glory, of your love, of your goodness and your desire to save them everyone.

Hear this humble prayer I offer it from my heart in Jesus name.

This is in my view 1 of the most important passages in all of Scripture.

Come on in those of you who are coming God bless you Genesis 12 we're reading from the King James Version reading from verse 1 of Genesis 12 the Bible says now the Lord has said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee.

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shall be a blessing.

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Now examine the promise of God to Abraham in verse 2 and I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing Now in order for Abraham to be a great nation Abraham needed something and I use the word something respectfully of which he currently or presently had no hope based on Genesis 1130.

Even before we read the call of God to Abram, even before we become acquainted with what the call entailed and the promises therein we are informed almost for dramatic tension by Moses in Genesis 11 30 but Sarah I was what barren she had no child After we learn that Abraham's wife could not have children, Moses seems to be setting us up.

Then he writes in chapter 12 verse 2, and I will make of thee a great nation.

It is interesting that in the line of God's holy people the 3 important women I say important because they were the wives of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.

This make the others unimportant but they occupy a special place because God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

He's also the God of Noah but the Bible identifies him as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Therefore, Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel are important women.

Now God is not a funny God but God is able.

And infertility has no effect upon the power of god.

So, god perhaps desiring and by design to show the kind of power he has with no human contribution.

Abraham, without Abraham knowing it, he marries a woman that can't have children and then he hears God say, you will be the father of many nations.

And God also tells him about Sarai, king's nation shall be of her in Genesis 17.

Here comes Isaac chapter 25 verse 20 and 21.

Isaac praised the God for Rebekah his wife because she was married.

He's tricked and he's given another woman whom he does not really love that much.

Then 2 by her handmaid, then 2 more by her, none by Rachel.

Until God in mercy opens Rachel's womb but I'm saying that fertility and reproductive problems do not constitute a problem for God because God is limitlessly able now so God said you'd be the father of many nations.

Let's go look at more details of this promise.

This is after Lot has chosen the plains of Sodom and he pitched his tent towards Sodom.

Now we have a description of how wicked the men of Sodom were.

The Lord said unto Abram after that lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to whom thy seed God says I will give you the land and I'll give it to your seed and I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth So that if a man can number the dust of the earth, so shall thy seed be numbered.

Verse 17, Arise, says God, walk through the land, in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee.

Repetition is a divine technique for teaching.

And he said unto him I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees to do what?

Fred Bischoff

The Truth Shall Make You Free

We have an opportunity this morning again to study God's Word, and it's a privilege that we do that.

Today I'd like to study with you John chapter 8.

We'll be looking at the theme particularly that's in the heart of this chapter, the truth shall make you free.

Again to review what we looked at 2 weeks ago, the guidelines that we need for our Bible study are the following.

Number 1, we need desperately the Holy Spirit.

We need to ask for the Holy Spirit in our Bible study.

We need to listen to the Spirit as we study.

Number 2, we need to see that Jesus is the center of all Scripture.

If we're studying a passage in Scripture and we don't see how it unfolds to us, Jesus Christ, We have not understood the Bible correctly.

This is vitally important as we look through Scripture because there are themes woven through the Bible, like threads of gold.

And we need to be able to trace these things through there.

Number 4, we need to understand the words we're looking at.

If we do not know what a word means, we need to look it up.

This is how we were when we were growing up.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

Six Risks in the Plan of Salvation

1h 30m

The Summation

1h

God is Able

1h 18m

The Truth Shall Make You Free

44m

How To Love When You Don’t

27m

Adding and Subtracting

1h

Crossing the Waters

1h

Jesus was no Angel

57m

The Fall of the Twin Towers

1h

How to get Your Prayers Answered

58m

Who is the Devil?

57m

Do You Want to be Well? The Challenge of FAITH in Clinical Practice

49m

Sound Doctrine