Unexpected Visitors, Pastor Jamey Houghton, December 27, 2025

Hello and welcome to church. We're so

glad that you were able to join us here

at the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

Church for our worship time. I hope that

your time is blessed. I hope the music

blesses your soul. I hope the message

touches your heart. And if if it does,

we would be honored if you would share

this content with somebody else so they

can be blessed as well. We're so glad

that you can be a part of our online

church here at McDonald Road and hope

that you are blessed in your worship

together with us today. God bless and

enjoy our worship service.

We have

some exciting stuff coming up here in

the new year at McDonald Road. Our uh

first sermon of the year coming up next

week. You are going to hear an awesome

testimony by our youth pastor, Pastor

Ryan. He's going to be sharing a little

bit of his his journey, a way for you to

get to know him, but also to be inspired

by his his testimony and how God has

worked in his life. And I know you're

not going to want to miss that. That'll

be next week. Then throughout January

and into a little bit of February, we're

going to be having a series on uh what

the Bible talks about as end times and

Bible prophecy. What does the Bible say

is going to be happening in the time

just before Jesus comes? And I don't

know about you, but I've noticed some

pretty crazy things happening in our

world. What does the Bible say about

these things? And there is no better

place to find answers than God's word.

And so that's what we're going to be

doing. We're going to be talk tackling

some tough topics. Um, Pastor Steve

Walberg from White Horse Ministry is

going to be join us joining us for one

of those uh sermons. And uh I know

you're going to enjoy that series. We're

going to cover some some very

interesting topics as they relate to uh

the end times as we know it in the Bible

in the times just before Jesus comes. So

that that will be coming up here pretty

soon um as we begin the new year. It is

wild to think that we're going into the

year 2026.

I can remember I was in college at the

year 2000. remember when everybody went

nuts because they thought all the

computers were going to blow up or

something and we got an extra week off

of uh Christmas break for that. So, that

was fine with me. But, uh that seems

like not that long ago. And here we are

staring down the barrel of 2026.

And I hope this is the last New Year's

that we have. I hope Jesus comes this

year.

There was a man named Wilhelm Conrad

Ronin. He was born in March 27, 1845 in

Lenup, Prussia, which is now part of

Germany.

For his schooling, he attended Utric

Technical School. You might recognize

the name Utrich. The general conference

was held there back in the '9s if I'm

not mistaken in the Netherlands.

He also went to Utrich University,

became a mechanical engineering student

at the Federal Polytechnic School in

Zurich, Switzerland, where he eventually

received his PhD from the University of

Zurich. Look at this guy's beard. That's

a pretty impressive beard, isn't it?

That's almost like Bob Bogus' beard

right here. Bob's got a great beard. I

can't grow a good beard like that. This

guy Wilhelm had a great beard. Look at

this. Um, very, very good student. He

studied and continued to learn

throughout his lifetime. So he ended up

with a PhD from the University of

Zurich, taught at the University of

Strasburg as well as the Academy of

Agriculture in Hoenheim. He returned to

Strasburg as a professor of physics and

became the chair of the physics

department at the University of Gon. He

did the same job as the chair of the

physics department at the University of

Vertsburg and the University of Munich.

But in 1895 in his laboratory at the

University of Vertzburg,

he discovered something that many of us

have used.

How many of you have ever broken a bone

and had to have your bone x-rayed? By

show of hands, how many of you have had

an X-ray before? Quite a few of you.

Have there really been that many of you

that have never broken a bone? How many

of you have never broken a bone before?

Raise your hand. Wow.

I'm shocked.

I think in our home in the last two and

a half years, we've had maybe five, four

or five broken bones.

Maybe we're making up for all of your

lack of broken bones. I don't know.

But in 1895 in his laboratory, he

discovered what today we call X-ray

technology.

And to test it out, he tested it out on

his wife's hand. This is his first X-ray

that he took. There's his wife's hand.

She's wearing a ring there on the ring

finger. And you can you can see on the

bottom it says physic institute their

univers.

And on the top it says handmitt ringan

or hand with ring. And this was the

first x-ray.

And it's reported that it kind of

freaked his wife out to see the bones in

her hands. She thought I've she she said

something along the lines of I've seen

my death.

Now, we use this all the time. In fact,

there are people that are X-ray techs

that just do X-rays all the time and

check out our broken bones. Where would

we be if we couldn't see where our bones

are broken?

Without all the studying and learning,

he would not have had the ability or

knowledge to create those first X-rays.

And for those of you who've had a broken

bone and have had an X-ray, you might

not have had the successful outcomes

that you did had he not had the

education necessary to come to those

conclusions.

He studied a lot. He dug deep into a

variety of scientific specialties. And

because of that, he kept on learning and

had a thirst for knowledge and was

exploring different things and realizing

different things and discovering new

things. new things that many of us, not

as many as I thought though, have

benefited from and having an X-ray so

that a physician can fix our broken

bones when we have an accident.

Studying matters. I think education even

matters at a at a variety of different

level. Knowledge matters. If you're an

electrician, you need to learn how

electricity works.

If you don't, some bad things can

happen.

I've known electricians. I have friends

that are electricians who have who

they've told me they've they've touched

things that maybe they forgot they

shouldn't touch and it's blown out

chunks of their of their skin. Anybody

had the pleasure of being shocked by

electricity at high voltage?

Yeah. It's not fun, is it? our very

first house that we bought when we first

got married over over on the other side

of Collegedale. Uh we were doing some

home renovations because we had some

lovely orange shag carpet in the back

bedrooms that my wife was not too keen

on. So we were replacing those and some

some of the wall electric units and I

went and checked all of the wall plugs

in one room except for one, the last

one. And I thought, well, the

electrician I'm sure did all of them in

this room. I don't need to check that

one.

And uh the breakers were all off for

those four. So I figured I'm sure it's

off for this one as well. And when I

when I stuck the needle-nose pliers and

the screwdriver into that one, my wife

said she heard me scream from the other

room. And I don't remember much of what

happened after that. I remember it hurt

really bad. And I remember the pain went

through this arm and across my chest and

out the other arm. And it was like a

white hot burning sensation that I'd

never had before. And Aaron came in and

she's like, "Are you okay?" I was like,

"Ow, the electricity hurt." People who

are electricians have to learn how to

handle electricity

so they don't die. Doesn't matter what

job you have, you have to learn how to

do it. If you're studying to be a

plumber or a nurse or a police officer,

a firefighter, or even to work at Taco

Bell, you've got to learn how to do your

job. Someone has to teach you how to do

your job. And there is value in learning

how to do different things.

Daniel and his three friends were

educated in Babylon. As soon as they got

there, they had to go to school. Likely,

they had to learn a variety of different

languages. They had to learn civics,

geography, because they were going to be

having jobs that dealt across a whole

huge kingdom.

And eventually they were known as wise

men. That's a pretty pretty

complimentary term, isn't it? wise men.

And around 500 years later, there were

still wise men in that part of the world

who were studying the world around them.

They were learners. They were readers.

And they were reading through the Hebrew

scriptures.

These were certain men who knew what

careful study was all about. They had

poured over the religious books of the

Jews. Maybe their dissertation was on

the birth of the Jewish Messiah.

And we read about their story in Matthew

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2. Turn with me in your Bibles

to Matthew chapter 2,

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

the first book in the Gospels, 2

chapter.

And in verse one, it says, "Now after

Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in

the days of Herod the king, behold, wise

men from the east came to Jerusalem,

saying, where is he who has been born

king of the Jews? For we have seen his

star in the east and have come to

worship him. There's a whole lot packed

into that little introduction there,

isn't there?

These wise men came from the east. It's

estimated that they came probably 4 to

500 miles.

Now, if they're following a star, what

time of what time of the 24hour cycle

are the stars out?

>> Nighttime, right? I thought about that

this week. I was thinking to myself, if

I had to take a trip without my car,

without GPS, and without using the

interstate to get down there, how long

would it take me and maybe a camel

to go from McDonald to Orlando, Florida

at nighttime?

Could I make it? The interstate's not an

option. Could I make it me and a camel

and a couple donkeys maybe

and make it from here all the way to

Orlando traveling only at night? Now, if

you go for a walk at night time, what do

you usually have with you? A flashlight,

right? Or a headlamp. That makes it a

whole lot easier.

Maybe they had a torch or something like

that for light. But traveling at night

is tricky.

And to follow this star throughout the

whole journey, I don't know, maybe it

took him several weeks to go that far.

maybe a month, 5 weeks, something like

that as they journeyed. But it would be

a very different road trip to go that

distance, wouldn't it? To be traveling

at night, have to sleep during the day.

But how exciting would that be after

they've read through the scriptures to

wake up at the end of the day and get

ready for their nighttime journey and be

looking like, "Oh, oh, there it is.

There's the star. There's the star we've

been following. It's back. Let's get our

stuff ready and keep on going." How

exciting was this journey for these wise

men as they followed this star that they

knew had a divine origin. In the book

Desire of Ages that follows the life of

Jesus on page 34, it says, "Among those

seekers were philosophers of the east

found watching the heavens for the

appropriate sign which might usher into

the widespread expectation of the coming

mighty prince,

one who should be a deliverer of the

nations." How did these non-Jews know

about the coming of the Messiah?

Well, no doubt they had read through

some of Balam's prophecies in the book

of Numbers. Numbers chapter 24:1 17. It

says, "I see him, but not now. I behold

him, but not near." A star, a what? A

star will come out of Jacob. A scepter,

what do what do kings use? A scepter. A

scepter will rise out of Israel. Edom or

the descendants of Esau will be

conquered. Seir, his enemy will be

conquered, but Israel will grow strong.

Now, in addition to this, so this is a

big heads up that there is a star.

In addition to this, very likely they

would have been reading through the

writings of another wise men who had

been there before them, some 500 or so

years ahead of them.

because they are ready at the right

time. Again, in Desire of Ages, page 59,

it says, "The Magi learned with joy that

his coming was near." How would they

have known that his coming was near if

they hadn't been reading through the

prophecies of Daniel.

They had been studying diligently the

prophecies about the coming Messiah.

And I can picture in my head now now

studying studying the stars

always blows my mind whenever I look up

at the at the sky. I'm just in awe and

wonder of what's up there. And I wish I

knew more about it. I wish that we could

go for a little visit and have have like

potluck up on some some star 50

bazillion miles away and have and then

be able to come back down. I wish we

could time travel like that and go, but

the distance up there blows my mind. But

there are people that know the stars

very well. In fact, all the way back

into we we think of like the 14 and

1500s that people were were not nearly

as intelligent as we are. And maybe in

some ways they weren't, but in some ways

they were more intelligent than us

because I doubt that very many of us

could navigate our way around the ocean

just by looking at the stars. You might

even have a hard time doing that with

with GPS navigation.

But yet, they would look at the stars

and be able to navigate and say, "We

need to go this direction or that

direction or whatnot." That's always

blown my mind. Sometimes when I come

home late at night, I'll pull into my

driveway. I'll close the door and I'll

look up and be like, "Wow." You ever

done that? You look up at the sky late

at night and it's really dark and wow,

all the stars. I can remember I was

driving with my cousin David through

Utah one time and it was late at night

and it was dark. One of the darkest

places that we'd seen. There was nothing

around there. And he said, "Hey, pull

off to the side here. I bet we can see a

ton of stars out here." We pulled off

the exit. It was winter time, like 20°.

We got outside, turned the lights on my

truck off, and we looked up and there

were more stars than I've ever seen in

my whole life. It was We both just sat

there with our jaws open looking and

just unreal, the stars.

These wise men had also been studying

the stars, looking at the

constellations, seeing where they came

up. They probably had maps of the stars

that they would look at. At some point,

they were looking and they were like,

"Hey, have you guys seen that star

before? It's on none of our maps that we

have of all the constellations. That's a

new star. And boy, is that star bright.

Wow, that's a really bright one. And can

you imagine them coming together and

talking about it and and maybe the

moment where they were like, "Hey, do

you guys remember the writings of that

guy Balum

in the book of Numbers in the Jewish

writings? Do you remember it said a star

would come out and we've been studying

Daniel's writings and we're right about

the same time. Do you think do you think

that maybe that's the star?

And as they looked at it more and reread

the scriptures, they must have been

convicted by the Holy Spirit that this

was the star that Balam had been talking

about. That was part of the announcement

of the Messiah that was coming soon. Can

you imagine the excitement of these wise

men thinking to themselves, "We're in

the middle of a prophecy being

fulfilled."

Maybe even because these are the only

ones that really mention the star.

Maybe this prophecy was talked about

just for them.

Maybe this star was just so they would

see it and come.

We don't see this this star significance

meaning a whole lot more to other people

in the Bible, do we? But it meant a lot

to these guys. And it showed up just for

these guys at the right time.

And so

we see

in verse three it said when Herod the

king heard this he was troubled and all

Jerusalem was troubled with him. These

guys roll into town and start asking

about this baby king that was just born.

Now word spreads to King Herod. King

Herod not the greatest human being.

In fact, he was a horrible, horrible

human being.

And it says that he was troubled. Who

was Herod? Herod was an Edomite.

Does that term remind you of any verse

that we just read? Numbers. Let's come

back up here to Numbers.

And the And in the in numbers, it says,

"I see him, but not now. I behold him

but not near. A star will come out of

Jacob. A scepter will rise out of

Israel. Edom or the descendants of Esau

will be conquered.

Herod is an Edomite. In fact, Ellen

White in her book Desire of Ages calls

him a wily Edomite. I always thought

that was an interesting way to describe

him. A wily Edomite.

What happens to people when Herod gets

troubled? Like it says in the Bible, in

40 BC, he was worried about his claim to

the throne. So he married the

granddaughter of an important man,

Hyankus II,

he then banished his wife and son for

the new, more influential wife. He later

had the new wife's uncle executed. He

lost trust in his new wife, had her

executed along with a few of his sons

that he didn't trust as well.

Late in life, he worried that no one

would mourn when he died. So he invited

a group of important men in the country

to Jericho where he had them arrested

with orders to kill them when he died so

there would be mourning at the time of

his death. This is the kind of person

that you're dealing with when you look

at King Herod.

When Herod is troubled,

people start dying. And that's why all

of Jerusalem is troubled as well.

Herod was an interesting character who

tended to mix Jewish beliefs with pagan

beliefs. He was ethnically Jewish

religiously kind of. He connected with

also pagan cults. In fact, he built

pagan temples during his time, but also

um wanted to be, you know, accommodating

to the Jews since they were there as

well. And so he kind of straddled the

fence beliefwise in uh in archaeology.

We see in in his in his um in his homes

that he had that he would als he he

would have the Jewish mikvahas, the

ritual baths for cleanliness, but he

also had the Roman cold water baths

called the frigidarium.

And he would kind of cater to the pagans

and cater to the Jews as well. He had no

committ. Um now the the frigidarium, the

Roman cold water baths, that's probably

one thing he got right in his life. I

love a cold water plunge. Anybody else

do cold plunges? hot and cold showers.

Those are awesome. Some of you are

looking at me like, you are nuts.

Oh, it feels so good. Those those cold

water plunges are amazing. And that's

one of the things that he would do. But

but as a person, he was kind of

straddling the fence. It was a mixture

of the Judais the Jewish religion and a

mixture of the pagan religion.

I would suggest to you today that there

are voices even in the Christian world

that mix in a little bit of truth here

with a little bit of error like that as

well and teach it as truth. And friends,

the only way that you will know what is

true is if you know what is in this

book.

If you're not studying the Bible, you

will not know the difference between a

truth and a lie. And in today's

Christian world, there are all kinds of

different messages being taught as

truth. It is our responsibility as 7th

Adventist Christians to know what's in

this book so that we can delineate

between what is true and what is false.

Verse four, it says, "When he had

gathered all the chief priests and

scribes and the people together, he

inquired of them where the Christ was to

be born, and they said to him, in

Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is

written by the prophet, but you

Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not

the least among the rulers of Judah. For

out of you shall come a ruler who will

shepherd my people Israel. Now, this

response from the chief priests and

scribes is kind of interesting because

they never mention once the story of

Zachcharias and what happened to him

just a few months ago, do they? They

never mention once

Simeon

and Anna

in the excuse me in the court

dedicating Jesus. They never me once

mention the story of the shepherds and

the angels coming and visiting them

once. Do you think they heard any of

those three stories? Absolutely.

And yet they reject all of those three

stories likely because they thought God

would not bypass us for some stinky

shepherds.

God would not bypass us for some

heathens from the east who by the way

were not idol worshippers. Likely

zorastrian of some sort, but not idol

worshippers.

And likely it was pride that kept them

from even acknowledging that these

things happened, these miraculous

things.

So they don't even mention it.

Verse 7 says, ' Then Herod, when he had

secretly called the wise men, determined

from them what time the star had

appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and

said, 'Go and search carefully for the

young child, and when you have found

him, bring word to me that I may come

and worship him also.

Now,

what percentage do you think of that is

true that he really wants to worship the

baby? Not a chance at all, is there?

He's laying a trap.

When they heard the king, they departed.

And behold, the star which they had seen

in the east went before them till it

came and stood over where the young

child was. As I was reading this again,

I paused for a second as I had never

thought about this. I wonder if anybody

else could see this star.

says, "As they came out of this meeting,

which likely the scribes and the high

priests would have come out as well, do

you think there's a chance that they

also saw this star and thought, "Huh?"

Or do you think maybe that only the wise

men could see the star? I don't I don't

think so.

I wonder if anybody else saw that star

and wondered about it. as they hear

these wise men come into town with

probably an entourage

and say they've seen a star and then

they notice a star. I wonder if anybody

else noticed this.

Nobody else seems to really care.

They care though. And in verse 9, it

says they were excited when they saw

that star and it led them right to where

Jesus was. Imagine that introduction as

they come and knock on the door and

introduce themselves to Mary and Joseph.

You're from where? Long ways from here.

You've been following a star. Yeah. Have

you noticed this the the verse in

Numbers? We noticed that. And the star

led us right here to you.

Can you imagine them seeing baby Jesus

for the first time? likely in very nice

robes, dressed well with the whole

entourage, bearing gifts. What was it

like when they saw baby Jesus for the

first time, realizing who he was? That

this was the fulfillment of the

prophecies that they'd been studying for

so long

that a heavenly star

guided them right to this little baby.

What was it like?

What did they do?

When they had come into the house, verse

11, they saw the young child with Mary,

his mother, and fell down and worshiped

him. When they had opened their

treasures, they presented gifts to him:

gold, frankincense, and myrr.

The first thing they do when they see

baby Jesus

is they acknowledge his divinity and his

fulfillment of the prophecies that

they've been reading. says, "They bow

down in submission

and worship."

Can you imagine what that was like for

Mary and Joseph to see this as well? I

mean, as as parents to this young baby,

this is there's been so much happening

in their lives. Shepherds, all these

different things, and here come these

VIPs from the east with their caravan

come right into their home and bow down

and worship this little baby of theirs.

I've been asked, Jamie, do you think

those wise men will be in heaven

someday?

I think they will.

These were students of scripture.

These these men dove deep into God's

word and God's word led them right to

the Messiah.

And if we also spend time in God's word,

it will lead us right to Jesus as well.

And it will give us meaning in life that

we never had before. It'll give us hope

in life that we never had before.

These wise men realized as they came in

there who this was and they worshiped in

submission to Jesus.

Lifting Jesus up first before

themselves.

God is part of their story

as much as anybody's in the story.

In verse 12, it says, "They were

divinely warned in a dream that they

should not return to Herod, and they

departed for their own country another

way." God is communicating with these

people in dreams just like he has been

with Mary and Joseph.

Bible says, "Seek first the kingdom of

God and his righteousness, and all these

things will be added to you." when we

search the scriptures. I remember I mean

maybe you've heard Amy Grant's uh song

that that goes into scripture and this

from the 1980s. Thy word is a lamp unto

my feet and a light unto my path.

Anybody remember Amy Grant singing that

song? Um and those when you put when you

put scripture to to music, I think it

sticks in your head a little bit more.

At least it does for me. I remember that

that scripture coming through and it's

it's 100% true. God's word is a lamp

unto our feet and a light unto our path.

In a dark world, God's word is the only

thing that lights up our path. And the

light from heaven led these these wise

men to the to the foot of the crib where

Jesus was at the time.

>> It's the same thing for us today.

If we follow God's leading and guiding

in our life, it will point us in the

same direction.

God provided for the things that they

would need

as they had to escape

from King Herod.

They had the provisions that they needed

to survive and to take care of their

family in Egypt with the gold, the

frankincense, and the myrr.

God provides in ways that we don't even

expect sometimes

and before we even need it sometimes.

One of the biggest things that that

really sticks out to me about this

story, and this is one of several

stories within the Gospels about the

birth of Jesus, it's an unusual

it's an unusual story of unlikely people

meeting Jesus.

But what I am so impressed with in this

story is

how dedicated to searching the

scriptures these wise men were

and looking for answers

and God enlightening their minds and

pointing them in the right direction. I

admire their commitment to packing up

their bags, loading up their camels,

and following that star to meet Jesus.

How many hours did these wise men sit

around the scrolls there in likely

Persia, modern day Iran, somewhere, and

pour over those scrolls saying, "What

does this mean? What does this mean for

us?

I mean, these these guys are right in

the thick

of a Bible prophecy that directly

involves them. I don't know if it gets

more exciting than that in a Christian

walk

and they see the star that was

prophesied.

They follow the star and they meet

Jesus. Friends, I want to challenge you

as we're about to start a new year.

I want to challenge you to be like the

wise men.

I want to challenge you to dig deeper

into God's word this year than you ever

have before. You might have looked at

sections of the Bible before and said,

"Ah, well, you know, that gets a little

bit complex for me. Um, I'm just going

to stick to this section that's a little

bit easier for me to understand." No,

no. I want to challenge you this year to

dig into something in the Bible that you

haven't looked at in a while. Maybe it's

been a section of the Bible where you've

been like, "Oh man, I'm a little

intimidated by looking at this and

connecting all the dots and figuring

this out."

If God put it in the Bible and preserved

it for you and me, he wants us to read

it and understand it. Because maybe he's

preparing you for something that you

don't even know about yet.

Maybe he's preparing you for something

you're going to go through before Jesus

comes.

And the courage you need to make it

through is right here waiting for you.

I want to encourage you to be like the

wise men this year and study deep into

God's word. See what he has in store for

you to see what he's going to reveal to

you and how he's going to prepare your

heart to meet him. If you need some

recommendations, I have a couple of

recommendations for reading for you this

year. These are a couple of my favorite

books that I have really enjoyed, that

have challenged me, that have helped me

understand the Bible a little bit more.

And um you can screenshot this. You can

go back and watch this online and

screenshot on your computer later on.

But these I would recommend reading some

of these books as a part of continuing

your deep dive into scripture and

learning more about God. Uh the top

right one, understanding Daniel and

Revelation by Pastor Mark Finley.

Fantastic book. If you've ever been a

little bit intimidated by Daniel and

Revelation, this is a very simple

breakdown of that that is easy to

understand. Fantastic book. If you're

looking to study the Bible with somebody

and they have questions about Daniel and

Revelation, this is a fantastic place to

start. Right next to it in the middle up

there is what the Bible says about.

Another great book by Pastor Mark Finley

that goes through basic the fundamental

beliefs of the 7th Day Adventist Church

and teachings in the Bible. Another

fantastic um resource. The next one

there, you've heard me mention this book

before, Seven Mysteries Solved by Howard

Path. This is probably the best and the

easiest to understand explanation of of

tough topics like the mark of the beast,

the antichrist in the Bible, tough

topics like hell, excellent explanations

on topics like death. Um, and this this

has been one of my go-to books for for

biblical understanding on certain topics

like like the antichrist, mark of the

beast, some of those end time revelation

pieces. Fantastic book. Um, I can't

recommend this book enough. And those

are all three at the ABC.

Another one that uh that is great

reading is just below that. It's called

Jesus Skeptic. And it's the story of a

journalist who kind of started off to

refute Christianity. And he went through

and looked at all the different ways

that Christians have been involved in

world history. It's a fascinating book

to see how how Christians have been

involved. Followers of Christ were the

ones that started all the hospitals in

the world. essentially followers of

Christ started most of the educational

facilities that that teach people um uh

it's it's a fascinating fascinating

story. He goes into history and and

essentially convinces himself that Jesus

is real and that Christianity is

something to be um something to be taken

seriously as as a possibility that Jesus

is real. Fascinating book. Uh the bottom

in the middle, the lost meaning of the

seventh day by Sigv Tonstead I think it

is. And um I'm about halfway through

this book right now. Fascinating book.

Very very interesting on on uh the

Sabbath. Um and then this book, if

you've never read this book, I want to

challenge you this year to read through

the book The Great Controversy. If it's

been over 5 years since you've read the

book Great Controversy, I think you

should get a fresh copy. I think I think

a fresh copy is better than a copy

you've read a hundred times because the

temptation is is when you open up your

book that you've read a 100 times, you

go right to the stuff you've already

underlined and then you miss out on

something else that you may have missed

out the first time you or the second or

third time you read it. I love getting a

fresh copy of a book so I can go through

and it's interesting that maybe it's

because it's a different part of a

different stage of my life where I'll

notice something else that I didn't

notice before and I'll look and it's not

underlined and be like, "How did I miss

this?" So I think it's great to start

with a fresh copy. But the book Great

Controversy is a fantastic book, a great

book for us to read and also to share

with different people that gives a

incredible view of who God is and what

God has planned for us here on this

earth. Fantastic book. And I think that

these if you if you dive into some of

these books and there's a lot of other

good books out there. If you dive into

these, these will all point you to

scripture and encourage you in your walk

this year. And you will be uh a wise man

or a wise woman as you as you dive into

the scriptures in a deeper way. And

these book these books are fantastic

ones to aid in that that all point to

scripture. There is value in digging

deep

into God's word.

Many years ago, there was uh a gentleman

who was given a copy of The Great

Controversy. This like 35 something

years ago.

And he was given this book by somebody

he knew. took it home, put it in the

shelf. Couple years later, he pulled it

out and he read through the whole book

and he's like, "Wow, this is an amazing

book." And he went and looked in the

Bible and compared everything he saw in

the Bible and he's like looking at

things like the seventh day Sabbath and

he said, "Man, this is what the Bible

teaches. I never knew this is what the

Bible teaches about the Sabbath." And he

kept reading through the rest of it, so

impressed with the book. Finished it.

Great book. And he put it back up on his

on his bookshelf. Several years later,

he reopened he he got opened the book

again and read through it a second time.

And as he was reading it a second time,

and this is by this time, I think it was

like it was like 20 or 30 years later,

um, from when he'd read it the first

time, he was reading through it again.

And he was reading through the part

about the Sabbath again, and he was

convicted on the Sabbath. He went back

to the Bible and was reading through

what it says in the fourth commandment

and and all the rest of the New and Old

Testament as well about the Sabbath. And

he was like, "You know what? I think God

wants me to worship on the seventh day

Sabbath.

>> I think it's important. And he said, 'I

wonder if anybody else out there

worships on the Sabbath. So he went on

Google and he looked around. He found a

place and I just happened to be

preaching in that church on that Sabbath

morning when he walked into the doors

and he found some other Sabbathke

keepers. Amen.

>> I introduced myself to him, shook his

hand, and uh he told me his story about

how he found out about the Sabbath, and

he had dug deep into God's word and had

been reading in God's word all the

different things that he hadn't seen

before. And the Holy Spirit was

convicting that that man's heart. And

before I left that church, I baptized he

and his wife because the Holy Spirit had

been working on their hearts as they had

been digging deep into God's word. And

he was convicting their hearts.

>> Amen.

Friends,

there are two benefits when we dig deep

into God's word. First, we're inspired

by God's word. God gives us hope in

something better, a better life and how

to live and a better life in heaven

someday. But the second benefit is is

that when we're inspired by God's word,

you can't help but share the hope and

the happiness that God has brought into

your life with somebody else.

There are people all over the place that

don't have hope in their life.

There are people all over the place that

are overwhelmed

with the sin and the cares of this world

and need Jesus. They need the same hope

and happiness that you have in your life

because of Jesus. And when we are

inspired in God's word, when we're

digging deep into God's word and he's

opening up new things to us, you can't

help but want to tell somebody about it.

So my challenge is twofold to you this

year as we're about to begin 20 26.

I want to challenge you to be a wise man

or a wise woman.

Do exactly what the wise men did 2,000

years ago.

Study God's word.

>> Have your nose in God's word every day.

Be listening for his whispering in your

ear as you're reading through his word

here. And then as you find inspiration,

as you find hope, as Jesus lifts your

soul up and and and gives you the joy

that he wants you to have,

tell somebody else about the joy he's

given you in your life. Tell somebody

else about the hope that you have in the

resurrection. Tell somebody about the

hope that you have in a life where

there's no more sin, no more sorrow, no

more death, no more tears.

Tell somebody else about the happiness

they can have in Jesus like you have in

Jesus.

>> Friends,

this world, I thought the world was

crazy 10 years ago.

It's even crazier now. You know, the

Bible talks about signs of Jesus coming

and you think you hear, you know, the

the easy ones, wars and rumors of wars,

right? You don't even have to dig deep

into a concordance to figure that one

out. I think in the last year I I think

there have been nine or 10 different

skirmishes or wars between different

countries. Somehow our country always is

in the middle of those things. Somehow

there's a war like every month.

Couple months ago we were talking in the

gospels and one of the signs that Jesus

said would be a sign before his coming

was that everyone would be offended.

Boy, isn't that one true now?

Everybody's offended by everything.

We see these things if we just pay

attention and watch them. But friends,

Jesus isn't here yet,

which means we've got some work to do.

And I want to know as much as this Bible

says about what to expect before Jesus

comes. So that's one of the reasons that

we're going to be looking next month at

some Bible prophecy as we prepare our

hearts to meet Jesus. It's not only just

us preparing our own hearts, but helping

prepare other people to meet Jesus as

well. That is our highest calling as a

Christian is to tell other people about

the hope that we have in him. So this

next year,

dig deep into God's word and always be

watching for the doors that God opens

>> for you to tell somebody about Jesus.

You know, I love that part in that last

verse. born to raise the sons of earth.

>> Amen.

>> You know, isn't it wild that a baby was

born

so that we could have life and that he

would conquer the grave. He was born and

experienced death as well to overcome

death. Today, especially as as we are

saddened by the passing of a dear sister

here, Joan Venzel,

I'm extra excited for the second coming

and the resurrection.

I know each one of us have people that

were missing this Christmas.

People that have passed on to their rest

and are waiting for Jesus to call them

back to life at the second coming.

And I'm so glad that he has the power to

do that and to overcome the grave.

I'm glad we have those promises to hang

on to.

I'm so glad that we have the prophecies

and the fulfillment of his first coming.

And it helps me know with certainty that

the prophecies about his second coming

are just as sure and that he is coming

in the clouds someday for you and me.

>> And to call those who have passed before

us back to life and all of us together

to our home in heaven.

>> And I'm so glad that today we're one

Sabbath closer

>> to that day. Let's pray. Father in

heaven,

thank you for making a way for each one

of us. God, thank you for your sacrifice

for us. Thank you for all the incredible

things that led up to that and are

leading up to your second coming as

well. Lord, this coming year, give us a

desire to dig deep into your word.

And through that time, God, encourage

us, bless us, give us things that make

us excited about sharing those things

with other people.

And Lord, as we get closer to your

second coming,

keep us faithful to you. Keep working on

our families.

Keep working on our close friends

who maybe have walked away from you. We

put them in your hands today as well.

And we're so glad, God, that you're

coming to take us home.

Keep us faithful until that day comes.

In Jesus name I pray.

>> Amen.

Thanks so much for joining us here at

the McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church

for worship. Each month we reach between

25 and 30,000 people with gospel content

online. We're looking to expand our

audiovisisual department this year and

looking to raise $30,000 in this

project. We would love for you to

partner with us on this and consider

making a donation to our audiovisisual

department as we look at expansion and

reaching more people with the gospel

across the internet this next year. You

can go to mrcsda.org

to make a donation directly to our

audiovisisual department. Thank you so

much for considering making this

donation and the privilege is ours to

partner with you in making this a bigger

and more effective ministry here at the

McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church. God

bless each one of you and thanks again

for joining us here at the McDonald Road

7th Adventist Church.