The Dance

The title of my message this morning is called the Dance. I ran across

a poem this week that made me think about what it means to be a

Christian. You know, there are times we had to think about what it

means to follow Christ, not just go through the rounds or follow a routine,

but think about authentic Christianity and how it should feel inside. The poem

is by David Muddy. It's called Obedience from the Heart. What if obedience

was different than I thought, Not something that has borrowed, not something that

is bought, not following a set of rules, but listening to God's heart,

not something you can learn in schools, but by setting him apart.

What if obedience is something filled with beauty, much more about His love,

much different than my duty, more about connection or connection learning I am known,

more about his direction, living what he's shown. What if obedience is

a wonder to behold, hearing what he's saying, hearing as his will unfolds,

turned into his blessings, accepting the grace he has given, Willing to

confess sins, surrender becomes our decision. What if obedience is a concept that

should be sought, not something that is taught, rather something that is caught

more loving from the heart, not a reflection of the mind. It's now

time to make a start for an embracing Christ. You find that's a great

poem. I mean when people write stuff like that, I want to be

more obedient. I want to let that poem come into me. I'd like

to start this message today by saying clearly, the Bible teaches us very clearly

that we are justified by faith in Jesus. Did you hear me say that.

Let's start with the baseline of righteousness by faith. We're not accounted righteous

because we try hard, or because we're good people, or because we get

much done for God in the church. That is not our ticket to Heaven,

our rights standing with God in ourselves alone from Jesus. The Bible says,

we're all guilty, and we stand in condemnation of the law. Romans

three very clear. But somehow in the mystery of God's eternal character. And

this is why the Book of Romans is called the Gospel of God. It's

the Gospel that is God's character worked out to save us somehow in the mystery

of who God is, the mystery of the Gospel, God found a way

to forgive us and to still keep his law online as the moral stand of

the universe. He didn't set aside one precept of the Decalogue to forgive us.

He dealt with every sin from Adam to the end so he could be

just and justify us. Many Christians today believe that they when they accepted Christ,

they were saved, and that's a good thing to say. I was

in the Sabuscoo class that Elder John Domhead and the youth and young adults are

interacting about having been saved, being saved, and will be saved. It's

used all three ways in the Bible. But some people just focus on the

word saved is something in the past, and they forget that it's happening now,

and they think that somehow, because they've been saved, it really doesn't

matter what they do as a Christian. I want to say right now,

that's nonsense. They feel that somehow being saved is not translated into being an

obedient Christian. They think that they are believers, but they deny Jesus by

what they do and speak less. People start sweating when you focus on that.

You know, we live in the age of feel good religion, for

everybody wants to hear what they want to hear, rather than what God wants

them to hear. Paul has this to say in two Timothy two six to

eight. It's actually two Timothy two eleven to thirteen. They ain't as sure.

If we have died with him, we shall also live with him.

If we endure, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him,

he also will deny us, who if we are faithless, he remains

faithful, for he cannot deny himself. We die with Christ when we accept

Jesus Christ by faith. That's what we're justified by faith, and we enter

into the waters of baptism to prove it. We're not ashamed of Jesus,

and thus we are united with Christ, not condemned for the judgment day.

We rise from the waters of baptism to a new creature, new creation,

to live for Jesus in full acceptance, not because we're naturally good people,

but because we're His people. Because Jesus rose for our justification, for our

acquittal, for our forgiveness, and we cling to Jesus as the basis and

the only basis of our acceptance with God. That is righteousness by faith.

That is the apostolic gospel. Someone teaches you another gospel than that, it's

a false gospel. In Jesus' friend, you cannot be condemned today or in

the judgment day. You have a right now righteousness that's good enough for every

day of your life into the future. So Christ is the focus of righteous

by faith out of Jesus. Though let's turn on the other side. You

don't have a chance today or in the judgment day. You're toast without Jesus.

So Jesus is the key to the new life. Christ is eternal life.

To know God is to know Jesus. That's what he says in John

seventeen three. Being saved is not nearly as important as simply being with Jesus,

who saves. So if we endure in our lives to know Jesus,

if that's the focus of our righteousness by faith, relationship, walk with Christ,

and we have Jesus all the way, we will reign and live with

him. So give me Jesus, Give me Jesus. You're gonna take this

whole world, But give me Jesus. Paul says, if we deny him,

here's the amazing thing Jesus will deny us. Wow. Ouch, that

is where it hurts. That is where we have to a self evaluation.

That's where we have to make sure we have authentic Christianity and not contrive Christianity.

That is where we have to pause and take our spiritual pulse and temperature

and ask the question, how can we deny Jesus after we have been saved?

Titus one sixteen Paul tells us how we can as Christians deny Jesus.

It's not complicated, really tragically, so it's not complicated at all. It's

very simple Titus one sixteen. They profess to know God, but they deny

him. And you have a Bible too, What does it say they deny

him by the by their deeds, what they do? Does? Does living

right matter? Based on this verse? What do you think they deny him

by their deeds? They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good deed.

Now, I don't want to be in that camp, are you with

me? I want to be in the right camp where the Lord says,

well done, thou good and faithful servant. So it's possible to deny Jesus.

How by how we live we can confess Jesus's Lord or deny him as

nothing in their lives by our deeds. Paul isn't here talking about the struggling

Christian who tries to obey. Have you ever been a struggling Christian trying to

obey? Raise your hands, Hi, I'm in that camp. Okay,

Paul's not talking about that. He's not talking about the person who slips every

now and then has to confess up because he's struggling with the character issues.

He's not talking about that. Sister White tells us that it is not the

occasional misdead or error that determines Christian character, but the habitual trend of the

l So how does a Christian come to the place and his or her life

where they can deny the Lord by their deeds? It's not uncommon, believe

or not. People do it when they come to believe that somehow the Gospel

of forgiveness is an excuse to let them live any way they want to.

I've seen this. I've seen this from religious types. I've seen pastors preach

this nonsense, and they do it here and there. But it's worthless religion

because the true Gospel results in a true life given to God. So when

we're humble, we realize we're fallible, that we sin and we can fail,

and we walk with Christ. Our deeds will show the fruit of the

Gospel. When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they were riding

high on the fact that God had brought them to the Holy Mountain of God

by wrecking the strongest nation on earth to get them out of Egypt. It

didn't take long for them to figure out that they had big heads because they

were now something. They were not slaves anymore. They were something. God

will say. They had stiff necks, kind of raising them high. While

Moses was up in the mountain getting a copy of the Ten Commandments, God

just spoke his law. He's getting a copy on a blue sapphire from the

blue sapphire Throne of God. As he's up on the mountain getting a copy

of the Law of God, they were down there doing something else. They

thought Moses had died, and so they were right there figuring out that they

were going to do something to make up for Moses's departure. Now, the

last thing God did on the mountain was to give Moses an exact Sabbath instruction.

Most people don't realize this. When God was giving the law and instructing

Moses on certain plans, he goes through a sequence which mirrors creation till he

comes to the Sabbath, representing the seventh Day. His last instruction before he

gives the Tables of Law is the Sabbath. Why because the Sabbath is the

key relationally to keeping the whole law of God. God. Now, if

you doubt me on that, read Isaiah fifty six. According to Isaiah,

is the sign of universal righteousness. So the Sabbath is not an option.

In fact, in Isaiah fifty six eight, it's not in my manuscript.

I'm just sharing this with you, Isaiah fifty six eight. God says that

the gentile who cannot have any children will have eternal life if he keeps the

Sabbath the unbeliever, and then he says, I will gather yet others to

him, meaning from the gentiles. And Jesus quotes this verse in John ten

sixteen. I have other sheep and other folds. I must go and gather

them. There'll be one shepherd, one fold. The Sabbath. It was

the sign according to Isaiah and affirmed by James in Acts chapter fifteen. It

was the sign of the gathering of the Gospel in the Apostolic era. So

the Sabbath is immensely important for a relationship with God. And so he gives

him the Sabbath, and then he gives him the tables of the Testimony taken

from the blue sapphire stone Throne of God. Now, don't think for a

minute that God's moral law came from anyone but Jesus. Somebody said, well,

you know the ten Commandments. It was given for this, and that

it came from Christ, through Christ to the people. Christ was the word

of God at Sinai speaking, and hearts were changed by Jesus Exous thirty one

sixteen. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the what does it say the

Sabbath? Now? And then it goes on to say this observing the Sabbath

throughout their generations as what what does it call it? A per perpetual covenor?

Now the seventh day? In Hebrew, the word seven is the word

chavah, and it comes from the word oath. Did you know that?

So the seventh day is the oath day when God made a covenant with a

bimelech, an oath was sworn. They had seven eu lambs for the oath,

and it says there they swore an oath. They made a covenant.

So the covenant day is the oath day, which is the seventh day.

So does God's covenant day matter in our relationship with Jesus utterly? Now some

people say, well, there you go, pastor Mike, Sabbath was only

made for Israel if you look at it there. No, it doesn't say

that. It says you shall, Israel shall keep it. If all the

nations of the earth everyone was disobedient, God had one nation on light that

would remember his covenant that went back to creation, the relationship for the whole

human race, and he gave it to Israel, but didn't mean it was

just for Israel. They fail to recognize because they take a text out of

context that this verse is right above the verse right above it that clearly states

the Sabbath goes back to creation. To creation, Jesus said in Matthew two

twenty seven, twenty eighth the Sabbath was made for man and not man for

the Sabbath. Therefore, the son of man, you know what it says

in the Bible is Lord of the Sabbath. Now, many people don't read

the Fourth Commandment to understand what Jesus is saying. It says in the middle

of the Fourth Commandment, the Sabbath is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

Have you ever read that? That's in the Fourth Commandment. Jesus says,

I'm the Lord, Lord, your God of the Sabbath. And those

words are very well chosen. The word lord is Jehovah, the covenant God

of Sinai. I'm the Yahweh, Lord of the Sabbath. Who is Eliheen

Christ claims to be the Lord of Sabbath. And the Greek the word man

has a definite article in front of it, indicating that Jesus is talking about

mankind, the entire human race. So it's not just for Israel. Israel

was saved to save the world. They were to be a missionary people to

take God's covenant knowledge to planet Earth. The Sabbath is God's gift to the

whole human race. And he goes all the way back to Eden with Adam

and Eve friends. Jesus is the Lord God of the Sabbath, and the

Fourth Commandment by his own confession. Does anybody know what the number four represents

in the Bible. See if we have some good Bible students here four all

right, four corners of the earth. It's the number for the world.

So what commandment is the fourth Commandment, the World Commandment, the number for

the world, the Sabbath. That's why Jesus, the Sabbath was made for

man. It was made for the world. And so the devil would love

to take away that which God has given to the world, the Fourth Commandment,

the World command verse seventeen. It is a sign forever between me and

the people of Israel. Now at the end of time there will be a

marked sign that is for the worshipers the beast. But here this is God's

sign. And what function does it have? We know in previous verse verse

thirteen. Its function is that we might know who Yahweh Elohem is, who

the Lord God is, that we can have a relationship with God Know's character.

Is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel. In six

days, the Lord made heaven earth, and on the seventh day he rested

and was refreshed. How do we know we weren't We didn't evolve from my

primortal muck. How do we know we aren't amiebiz that became men according to

this verse? How do we know the Sabbath? Sabbath is the sign of

our identity, of our high calling, our relationship to God. The Hebrew

word fresh as a verb for the word nephish, which means a breathing being

or a living soul. The Sabbath is full of the Spirit, the Holy

Spirit, the breath of God, the life of God, because God Almighty

breathed into the Sabbath himself in the person of the Holy Spirit. And then

in verse eighteen, and he gave to Moses. I would love to have

been there when that happened. He gave to Moses. Moses didn't get it.

God gave it. You see, salvation is not something to be achieved,

it's something to be received. It's someone to be received. And so

God gave to Moses when he had made an end of speaking with him upon

mount sign of the two Tables of the Testimony Tables of Stone written by the

Finger of God. Dear heart, Jesus is very clear in the Testament that

the Finger of God is the Holy Spirit. Christ cast out demons. He

said by the finger of God. In parallel passage and one of the Sonoptic

Gospels say everything's the same except for the finger of God. Says he cast

out demons by the Holy Spirit. So God's finger that wrote the law on

the tables is the Holy Spirit of God. The finger of God is the

Spirit. Moses rod was a supernatural representation of the finger of God. In

fact, it was called the rod of God by God. That intext indicates

in an Exodus four that he received it from God. Sister White says he

exchanged the shepherd's crook for the ruler's staff, the Vos scepter of Egypt,

which was the sceptor that was used for authority. It had the power to

open up the wells and the pyramid. It was made to look like a

sapphire rod, and it would pull the lid off so they could get to

the well of water. Moses had the true Voss scepter, and he was

able to strike the rock and water came out. A lot of theology there,

Christ was offered up in the turn spirit. You have to be as

hard as the rock to open the rock. Moses rod was a supernatural representation

of the finger of God. The magicians of Egypt said, so this is

the finger of God. The Holy Spirit was with Moses. That's what it

means, an error. When God let his people out of Egypt to Mount

Sinai and to this ragtag bunch of stiff necked children of Abraham, God gave

the moral constitution of the universe to the Jewish people, a transcript of his

own character. Louisiana has just passed a law that the Ten Commandments started to

be displayed in every school in the state. Even following that. Now,

look, here's why people are doing this. People have figured out you can't

take this country into the future with the kind of chaos and crazy things that

are going on in it. You can't have children disrespecting their parents and killing

people in the streets and all of that without changing that. And so,

whether you like it or not, there are people of conscience who want the

Ten Commandments in their schools so their children can learn something other than the statue

of Satan that we saw a couple of years ago that was put near a

school system. And for religious liberty, you know, if you can stick

a statue of Satan in a public square and it's defensible for religious liberty.

Why can't you just put the Ten Commandments in schools so kids can choose at

least satan. I mean the God's word over satan. I'm not against that,

I'm for it, but I'm not for forcing religion. That's the difference.

And look at Ex's thirty two to one. When the people saw that

Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to

Aaron and said to him, the notice what it's saying here, up make

us gods who shall go before us? As for this Moses, the man

who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what

has become of him. In the Hebrew text, it says literally, up,

make us elohem. That's the language of Genesis one to one bray sheet

bah rah elohem in the beginning God. So what are they saying here?

They're saying, make the creator God for us. It's another way of saying,

make for us our own religion. So God will do what we want

him to do as we make him, and not the other way around.

We will invent our religion that will get us to the promised Land. Start

working on it. Erin friend, God is not in the business of doing

what we want him to do when we impose our religion on him. You

know how hard that is for God to do that. We say, Lord,

by the way, you need to do this, this, and this,

because I think it's best. That's what Peter did, and God say,

get me behind me, Satan, you're a hindrance. God has not

put it on us to make our religion, but rather to let His religion

remake us. Notice their claiming verse one that Moses is the one who brought

them out of Egypt, and then they say, where is this Moses?

They forgot that the God said, behold, how I brought you out on

eagles wings and brought you to myself. Moses didn't bring them out of Egypt.

God brought them out of Egypt. And somehow they forget what God did

for them, that they were a holy people brought on eagles wings to God

at Mount Sinai. That's how it is with us. We do the same

thing in our lives. We can experience the miracles of God in our life.

We can see evidences of God's power, but failed to remember that God

was the miracle that gave us life. The ultimate miracle is our relationship with

God in Christ. Soon as they began to think about what kind of religion

they wanted to make, they realized that they had all that They all had

gold and jewelry on their bodies. Now that's the storyline followed in Exous thirty

two. When they came out of Egypt. The Egyptians threw what at them?

What do you throw at them? Through the jewelry and poor people became

rich, gold, silver, everything else. The people had nothing suddenly were

decked out with jewelry. And that was a problem here. The people forgot

God remembered that they had wealth on themselves. I'm important, Look at me,

I'm pretty. They even had these Egyptian mirrors where they would focus in

on them, and they took the Egyptian brass mirrors, and God took them

away and they used them to build the altar and the outer court for sacrifice.

That means they gave him to Jesus. But this is before all that

Exos three twos two and Aaron stead of them, take off the rings of

gold, which you're in the ears of your wives, your sons, and

your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people took off

the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them to Erin,

and he received that. Now, by the way, what do you

do with your ear? Let's not miss this point. That's how you hear,

right, So there's something wrong with their hearing here. How they listened

to God is off base. So all the people took off the rings of

gold which were in their ears and brought them to Erin, and he received

the gold at their hand. And what do you make out of it?

What did it say? He fashed with the graving tool and made a molten

calf, and they said, these are your gods, oh Israel, who

brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Now look at the language

here. The Hebrew word these is plural, and it means more than the

golden calf. Here. The golden calf's just one thing, right, He's

saying they're gods. Here, these are your gods. That's what they said,

And it means that something more than the golden calf was in play is

God. The golden calf was made up of all the jewelry they'd put on

themselves. And these people had come to worship that, they had come to

miss the mark. And thus the golden calfs symbolized these gods. And they

made a golden calf. And now gold is the color of what what's the

gold color of? Let's think about this the sun? Right? What animal

is the color of the sun that we often think of, lion? What

food is the color of the sun? Honey? The son and honey is

in Psalms nineteen represent the law of God. When the lion roars the same

thing as the sun shining, it symbolizes God's word. But sun is also

the color of representing Sunday. All right, gold is to call the sun

the APIs fool of Egypt. Have a picture of it here on the screen.

Hopefully was considered to be an incarnation of the god Batah. How you

say it tab ta and you're looking at it, and this is a golden

representation of You see the solar disk between its horns in the middle of his

horns. There was a solar disk that betray them to remind them of the

power of the sun. Now Tah was thought to be the god of creation

the sun. Now raw is technically the sun god. You see, the

sun is very important here. God had just reaffirmed to the people. The

holy Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week. Now what day is

the day of the Sun. It's the first day of the week, Sunday.

And no sooner do they make an image of the beast that points to

the Sun Ta a false god of creation and idol of him. Then they

also create a false Sabbath to go along with that idol right there at Mount

sina And I'll prove it to you, it's exactly what happen in the Mark

of the Beast at the end of time. Those issues that we see at

Mount SINAI reproduced on a global scale at the time of the end. Sunday

is a false day of worship. According to Revelation thirteen. It will be

set up by the lamb like beast Christian America and affirmed is the mark of

the Beast. Still in the future. It hasn't happened yet, so people

will worship the image of the Beast and the dance that is six sixty six.

Six is the number of a man, because man was made on the

sixth day. Three is the number for God. And don't miss it.

The Dragon, the Beast and the false prophet together are a false God,

and so we have six sixty six is when man number six making themselves out

to be God repeated three times. They create their own religion rather than the

Creator making them into His children through Jesus Christ and the Bible, and the

Sabbath is the bulwark against infidelity. The Sabbath is the sign of the everlasting

covenant that God is the one who made us. God is the one who

saves us, and no one else, no philosopher, king, theologian can

take the place of the Word of God in your life Exus thirty two five.

When Aaron saw this, it says he built an altar before it,

and Aaron made proclamations, said, tomorrow shall be a What what does it

say in the Bible? There a feast of the Lord. Now this word

is the word hog or hodge. We get the word hodge like in Islam,

and it literally means a feast, that is like a Sabbath feast in

Leviticus twenty three. So now they're going to have a wonderful celebration in a

special day to this image of a beast verse six. And they rose up

early on themorrow and offered burnt offerings, brought peace offerings, and the people

set down to eat and drink and rose up to what is this say say

to play. The word play can be translated to dance in the Greek Old

Testament, or to play around, to laugh and play in the Hebrew.

It's an immoral word here, it's to laugh in the wrong way. The

way it's used is immorally. It means an imral kind of play, because

you're letting loose and get into the groove of the devil's dance in worship.

As soon as they do that, God tells Moses on the mountain that he

has seen what the people are doing down there, and that they are a

stiff necked people. Now, I don't know about you. I don't want

to be a stiff necked people the person at the time of the end.

I want to be obedient, but I don't want to be virtue signaling in

my obedience. You with me because I'm a sinner struggling like anybody else here,

But I want to get it right now. Look. As soon as

they do this, God tells Moses on the mountain that he has seen what

the people are doing. He has eyes, and there are stiff necked people

as a children's story brought out, and he says, Moses, step away

and let my wrath destroy them, and I will make you a great nation.

That's kind of neat, isn't it? No? It isn't Is it

good that God would destroy? How many of you feel good about that statement?

I feel awful about it. But look what happens. God's drawing out

of Moses something that's in God. Moses said, Oh Lord, God,

don't do that. Please don't go there, and don't do that. God

didn't want to anyway. Moses was speaking as a type of Christ who stood

in the gap between God's justice and his mercy, and God found a way

to save the people. Moses said, what will the Egyptians think of your

character if you do this? What kind of God will he think you are?

If you destroy your peny little people because they're acting like rats. He

said, remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and remember the stiff necked people

also, and forgive them somehow for your name's sake. That's the gospel.

Then Moses went down the mountain with the two tables, the law in his

hand made of supernatural sapphire stone that will be in the new SDA Bible Commentary.

I've been told by Elder Richard Davidson that's a good thing. Exes thirty

two sixteen. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing

was the writing of God graven upon the tables. The people made Aaron make

the calf. But God made the law that could remake the people if they

followed it with a good heart of love and a relationship with God. When

Joshua heard the sound of the people, he thought it was the sound of

war in the camp. It was a loud and tumultuous sound, kind of

like a modern rock concert. That's right, I said, a modern rock

concert or some out of control Christian version of the same thing. It's not

much difference if it does the same thing, or a disco at a bar

with all the lights flashing, no difference. It wasn't Holy Spirit music down

there, because the Holy Spirit wasn't in the party. That was a din

of noise like a war Yellone G. White tells us that the Synagogue of

Satan that's representing the Book Revelation represents nominal adventism that failed to advance. It

was mill write adventism. It felt to advance in the knowledge of the Sanctuary

that led us to the knowledge of the Sabbath and the sanctuary and end time

prophecy that they had failed to follow through. But she also applies it to

out of control worship, where it is nothing but a den of noise,

and she says the angels will not go there, they will not participate in

that. She says it is a synagogue of Satan. Look, we're living

in age where what happened down three can happen in our time too. When

nebukin Hazer wanted them to bow down to the Golden Image, which represents the

sun image sixty by six cubids, they got the band out and they played

the music to make it easy to do it. The mind was replaced by

emotions in the group dynamic, and only three people stood up and didn't go

along with it because of the word of God that will happen at the end.

The gentle Holy Spirit was breathed in the holy Sabbath day, and he

wrote, the law of God is the finger of God. So the people

lost God in the dance. This was not a spirit filled worship service.

And verse nineteen Moses took the two tables of the law, and he smashed

them at the foot of the mountain. He then took that image they made,

and he grounded in a powder and he burnt it with fire, and

he scattered upon the water. And then he made the people drink it.

They wanted to get drunk, and the dance, he made them drink the

idol they danced around. Now, I'm going to share something here which I

want you to hear very carefully, because I love you. I'm aware,

as your pastor that some of you have been attending the bars and the dance

holes of the world. I know it, and you do too. Not

everybody, but those who are listening. You know. I wasn't born yesterday,

but I'm speaking to it. And I don't care. If a preacher

says it's okay to go those places, it's not okay to go there.

Hear me out. God wants you to be saved, and he wants right

religion this place. If you want to lose your soul, then you go

to those places. You tell people it's all right to hang out there.

You lower the bar and you're in line for deception your life. You start

to dance, you play around with the alcohol. I'm sorry. There's nothing

in scripture that says social jimmaking is acceptable. And don't frown at me when

I say this, because this is from the Bible. Whoever he says,

whoever's deceived by alcohol, is deceived. According to Solomon, And the forbidden

fruit was in Eden for Noah it was alcohol, and one it was a

garden, the other was a vineyard. Friends, we need to be broken

and fall on the rock who is Jesus. We need write religion in our

lives, our children's lives, and we need not to lie about it so

we get it right. I have been in Holmes where I've seen alcohol,

and of some people here. God loves you, but he wants that out

of your house. If I were to go and I were to tell you

the journey of my family with alcohol, it would horrify you. My father

lost his way with Christ through alcohol. He died in early death because of

liver damage in part because of alcohol. My brother committed suicide because of alcohol

that led to opioids. And don't tell me that social drinking is okay.

It is not. Moses finished smashing the image. He could have broken the

jars of alcohol. I remember up in Detroit, Michigan. Joe Scarbowski,

who was an engineering technician that Ford, his wife Mary, brother Christopher.

You know, Joe's gone around the world holding evangelistic meetings with you. I

remember when he baptized Joe. The night it was the night before I went

to his house. He said, he gave me a copy of a revised

standard version a computer Bible. He knew because I liked the Revised Standard in

a Royal Crown bag, which was an alcohol bag. And then he said,

I'm gonna show you something. He took me downstairs. He showed me

ten thousand dollars worth of alcohol. Of course, No, when you become

a Christian, maybe you could sell that and you could get it for your

retirement. Right. He looked at that, says, Mike, we're not

gonna sell it, Pastor Mike, We're not gonna do anything else that.

We're gonna break it and throw it away tonight. So we had a party

that night before their baptism. We took all the alcohol off the shelves and

he started pouring it down the drain. Pouring it down the drain. It

was the happiest feeling I've had in that home. Up to that time.

They never brought it back. They raised godly children. He became a lay

evangelist, highly sought out in the Michigan Conference. This is a good thing,

said. Now. Moses got engaged with Aaron over this. He wasn't

happy with his brother Aaron. He says, what have you done by leading

these people into sin? Religious leaders can do that. Aaron said, don't

hold it against me. These people are bent on an evil and sinning anyway.

I mean, God raises up a leader in the church, be it

our conference president, our world church leader, a local pastor, an elder.

God doesn't raise up that man or woman so he or she can take

a vote to see what kind of religion the majority of the church want to

have. I want you to hear that he doesn't do that. That's why

we have twenty eight fundamental beliefs in this church based on the Bible. He

raises up that man or woman to follow the Bible and the ten Commandments and

to stand in the gap in humility for the sake of truth in people's souls.

Moses was not a dictator because Moses called the people to repent and to

the word of God. He didn't make make them come. He called them

to come. Moses loved them enough to speak the truth they didn't want to

hear or they weren't ready to hear when God threatened to destroy them all,

and that's what that was his response, Just let me, you know,

do the evaporation thing here, kind of like a nuke. Moses pleaded with

God, take my name out of the Book of life. If you can't

save them from this sin, if you can't find another way, let me

take their place, destroy me forever. If that's what it takes to save

them forever, and test me to the church, Volume three, page two

eighty one. I have it on the screen. Sister White makes this profound

statement that helped to birth the Reaching Hearts in National SDA Church over twenty four

years ago, as men and women of conscience stood up for truth. And

here's what she says. If God abhors one sin above another of which his

people are guilty, it is doing what nothing in case of an emergency indifference

and neutrality and a religious crises is regarded by God as what as a grievous

crime and equal to the very worst type of hostility against God. Doctor Butler,

Doctor John Butler who held our group together. That was Kathy had Donna

as well. That was the statement that God used to create Reaching Hearts International

Church. Moses stood in the gap to confront Aaron and save the people from

the sin of the dance Exes Thirty two, twenty five, and twenty six.

And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose, for Aaron had

let them break loose. That means they lost control to their shame among their

enemies. Then Moses stood at the gate of the camp. That means he

stood in the gap, and he said, who is on the Lord's side?

Come to me? And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to

him. Friend. Today, the question is the same and the challenge is

the same for us in our personal life. Before Jesus comes back to how

many you believe Christ is returning? Can you affirm that or do just sit

there and doesn't mean anything to you? It means something Christ is coming.

He's coming for people. He can welp me come into eternity. So the

question is quick clear and the challenge is clear for us today. Who is

on the Lord side? Can I ask you that question here today? Can

you raise your hand and stand with me that you're on the Lord side.

Do it. Stand if you're on the Lord side, stand and tell the

Lord I'm on the Lord's side. See see how getting even out of our

chairs, we got to think about it. We should never think about a

call like that, because it should be our decision based on the holy spirit

of life. And you can have a seat now. That was to also

get your blood moving, because you've been sitting there a little bit, okay.

And then Moses said, this come to me. Moses gave those people

the love of God that God gave to him, and he held it in

his hand, the rod of God that represented the finger of God, the

Holy spirit. Moses didn't compromise Aaron did. So Moses represented fidelity to the

word of God. That day, a lot of people died. You read

the story. They died because they chose to dance around a calf instead of

take their stand for God. I hope we're not in the group that dances

around the calf. God sent a plague on the people to teach them that

he isn't fooling around, and he says, obey this. Turn to first

Christians ten five to thirteen. We'll focus on this as we finish our worship

our thoughts verse five. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not

pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. See. The danger is

that we can think that if we go with the majority, we're safe.

But was the majority safe with God there at moult Sinai no Verse six.

Now our warnings for us not to desire evil as they did. It's easy

you go home. It comes at us on the internet, it comes at

us on the television. Right, we're to shun it. Ver seven.

Do not be i dollaters as some of them were. As it is written,

the people set down to eat and drink. See there's the alcohol.

Am I reading that right? They set down to eat and what drink?

And then they did what they rose up to dance. Now Paul saying we

don't need to do that in the church Verse eight. We must not indulge

in immorality as some of them did. See eating and dancing kind of leads

to that. And he says, when twenty three thousand fell in a single

day, now take that number twenty three thousand down by one zero, what

do you come to twenty three hundred? The longest time prophecy in the Bible.

God wants a people the time of the end that are faithful to him

Verse nine. We must not put the Lord to the test as some of

them did and were destroyed by serpents. Verse ten, nor grumble as some

of them did, and we're destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happen

to them as a warning. But they were written down for whose instruction?

What does he say here our instruction upon whom the end of the ages have

come. These things were written for the final generation, for God's people to

the end of time. We are to take those lessons and put them to

heart Verse twelve. Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands to keyed

lest he fall. Now, there was a time in our journey here years

ago where some mistakes were made in these areas, where some of our kids

ended up in Christian rock settings they should never have gone to. You know

what, we need to get that right. We need a generation of godly

children who get the right kind of music, who can write it, live

it, share it, who will be faithful. Seventh, They adventist Christians

who live by the word of God. What's wrong with setting an idea like

that for this we must and should we be compromising like Aaron or doing the

right thing as Moses did to help it happen. Moses loved those people,

he was willing to give his life eternally to save the people, and that

God used him to get it done. And then look at verse thirteen.

Then the promise for all the people Paul is making to the Church of Corinth

who are in danger of doing the same things that you'll Onnen visual in the

dance that morl city of Corinth had the same problem going on. Now,

this is one of the greatest Bible promises that you should write down on a

note card and memorize so you avoid the devil's dance in your life. Here

it is, this is the great promises. Is overtaking you that is not

common, de man. And then what does Paul say, say with me.

God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted to be on

your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape that

you may be able to endure it. God is in the overcoming business.

He's not in the giving in business. He's in the business of changing our

lives. So we can stand before the Lord without spot or wrinkle, not

with the righteousness based on law, but the righteousness based on relationship with Jesus

by his merits. And thus we are saved. Friend, if you feel

like your temptations are too harsh in life and your struggle too severe, God

will see you through. God will see you through. If you cling to

Jesus in this promise, you're going to be saved. The focus is on

the power of God, not your your powerlessness. It's in perfect weakness.

Jesus told Paul that we have strength, and the church that had a little

power, representing the Early Advent movement, the Church of Philadelphia, is the

one in which he says nothing negative about it. So when we come to

the Lord and we don't trust in our own spiritual dna, our own vigor,

our own knowledge, your own wisdom, we trust his word. Trust

his word. We're going to be saved. Not maybe we'll be saved,

and this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a

witness to all nations, and then the end will come right before it.

It says, whoever endures to the end will be saved. Take the promises

of God with you, Do not be deceived and live for Jesus. Before

I prayer closing prayer. It could be that you're in a place in your

life where you need some help and you need help to overcome. And I'm

going to come down, not up, because I would put myself right there

with that need. But if you're a person needs help to overcome and you

want to be a part of a prayer of overcoming, just come up.

This is not a call for baptism. It's a call for recommitment. Just

come up if you're that person, and stand with me and come closer to

the good, to a garden of prayer that's not the one we just had.

And it could be that you have made a decision for baptism, but

you need to make a public statement of that. You come up too.

If that's you, you come on up here and just feel free to come

right on up. If that's you. The Bible says, when we publicly

confessed Jesus, we're in the safe camp. I want to do that.

Yeah, there's no hurry here. Just come closer, form a circle.

Lord knows that you. The recommitments that are ocurring right now. The Holy

Spirit moves on us, we don't move on us. And so to recommit

your life to Christ and those who would like have made a decision for baptism

to come up as well. It's a good place to be. Yeah,

how many of you want to see Jesus come? Raise your hand? Okay,

I'm in that group. Let's pray. Dear Father God. We're not

super anything around here, but we're your people. We want to be found

standing on the sea of glass with Jesus. Lord. We need repentance in

our lives so that every corner of our life belongs to Jesus and Father.

That's why we're all here, because we are sinners in need of grace.

But we're grateful that you remake us. We don't make you. Father.

We want to see Jesus come for our children and for those we love.

And so the Lord bless our leadership in this conference, Bless our world leadership.

Bless us so that we'll be in the soul winning business, not in

the dancing around the calf business, and help those that need to be saved

to be saved. Lord, may everyone here today leave in peace because the

God of Peace has accepted them. If they have come to you in this

way in Jesus' name. Amen,