A Renewal of Spiritual Life

"Revival signifies a renewal of spiritual life, a quickening of the powers of the mind and heart, a resurrection from spiritual death." {RH, Feb. 25, 1902, par. 8}

How did this penned inspiration become my experience during the revival week? What did I learned from the sermons?

The Revival Series happened last February 21st to the 27th, still at Victoria, Tarlac. The week's theme was "To Know God" with speaker, Randy Skeete, an evangelist and revivalist from Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have been listening to audio verse and He is one of the speakers that I really desire to hear and see in person. Do you know why? 'Cause I have heard that he's memory is truly sharp and he memorized the Bible and SOP so I wanted to hear him myself. Now, I can testify to that. I was so amazed when I followed what he says from my Bible---verbatim! God is really answering prayers at the right time. Do you believe that? I strongly do and I believe that He does even if we thought that our prayer was already long due. Is there even such a long-due prayer? I don't think so. Well, I Praise God for He knew it was the right time for me to be reminded of being consistent in hiding scriptures in my mind and be renewed of my spiritual life.



Randy Skeete and his interpreter, Pastor Joel Macaraig

Hundreds of people, SDA and non-SDA, in attendance every night

Let me share the simple, practical, and Spirit-filled messages, excerpt from our Spirit-filled speaker where I learned swarming lessons from and truthfully quickened the powers of my mind and stirred my heart. 

GOD IS LOVE AND IS GOOD

One of the reasons why people don’t follow God is because they do not know God. But God wants us to know Him.

The Bible says in John 17:3, And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God....

God sent Jesus to show the world what kind of God He is. Many people have the wrong idea of God. They think God is cruel, harsh, causes war, natural calamities, and diseases. We blame God for everything that’s bad. Jesus came to this world to show the world that God the Father is a God of love, of pity, forgives, and loves each one individually.

Jesus said, I am just like my Father. The Bible says in John 10:30, I and my Father are one. This means that He and His Father have the same character. Jesus came to show us that the Father is just the way He is.

In John 5:1-9 is a story of a man who had been by the pool of Bethesda for 38 years. The story tells us how good Jesus is, thus how good God is. How? Jesus didn’t wait for the man to ask Him anything. Jesus offers to the man to heal him.

Jesus asked, Wilt thou be made whole? Do you want me to heal you? The man could have said yes; but instead, began to explain how he had been there for a long time. He said he had no one to put him into the pool.

God is so good that He doesn’t always wait for us to ask Him. He just offers it and He does it out of the goodness of His heart. Jesus offered to heal the man even though he did not ask.

There are things Jesus wants to do to us and He is doing it even though we do not ask. God is so good that He gives us blessings that we don’t even ask for.

The condition of the man is like ours. Many of us we have no human being to help us and we go from this life alone. There's no one whom we can turn as the man said to Jesus. But even if there is no human being to help us, there is a God who wants or offers to help us regardless of whatever difficulty and even if we have it for 38 yrs!

Jesus said in John 5:8, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk…The man rose, took up his bed, and walked. He was healed cause he did exactly what God said.

The lesson here is: Doing exactly what God tells us and we will see miracles in your lives. Summed up in two words --- Obey God and He will provide more blessings in our lives.

In Luke 19:1-6 is another man's story, named Zacchaeus. Jesus said to him, Make haste, come down, for to day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, came down, and received Him joyfully. Zacchaeus did exactly what Jesus said and salvation has come to his house.

God loves us with all our mistakes. There are many things God does for us without us asking Him. Zacchaeus did not invite Jesus but Jesus offered to come to his house. Zacchaeus said come and salvation took place. Jesus wants to come to our houses/homes, literally. We just need to say, Come. We won't see Him and we don’t need to see Him. If we invite Him, He will come. As he blessed Zacchaeus, He will bless us; As He changed the life of the man at the pool, Jesus will change our lives, too.

So what did we learn from the stories? God is love. He gives us blessings we do not ask for. He wanted to be part of families so that He can bless them. When there's no human being to help us, He will help us. God is not hard, cruel, and one that sends sickness and earthquakes, but a God who sent His Son to save us.

All He wants is for us to say, Lord, come into my life. Don’t worry about how He will do it, just tell Him to come into your life. Tell him seriously!

Would you say with me, Lord, come into my life?

GOD IS A GOD OF LOVE AND MERCY

God is good even to those who do not serve Him, but He blesses His people more. When God desires to send the rain, He allows it to fall upon believers and unbelievers. He allows the sun to shine to His children and His enemies. God does that because He understands that it is easier to win his enemies by being kind to them than by being harsh.

In John 8:1-11 is a story of a woman caught in the act of committing in adultery. The woman did a grievous sin. No doubt she was wrong, she was guilty; and as Moses said in the Bible, those who commit adultery should be stoned to death. She had sinned, gone wrong, broken God’s law, and she should die. The Bible says, The soul the sinneth it shall die.

Would Jesus pronounce a death sentence to the woman? He didn’t say yes or no. He just thought of writing on the ground. The Bible doesn’t say exactly what He wrote. Bible scholars believe that what Jesus wrote on the ground were the sins of the people who brought her to be killed. And maybe those sins also carry the death penalty. So they all went and Jesus and the woman were left.

The beautiful words of the story are found in verses 10 and 11. The woman was wrong, she was guilty, there were witnesses who saw her, and Jesus looked at her and said I will not condemn you. Which means He will spare her life, He will forgive her. Then He said, go and don’t do it again.

Jesus said that who He is is just the way the Father is. So when Jesus told the woman to go, I forgive you, I will not kill you, that was God the father speaking through Jesus. We serve a God who is willing to forgive every sin we commit even if that sin deserves death.

In John 3:17, the Bible says that when the Father sent His Son, He told the Him, don’t go condemning the people but go and offer them forgiveness and salvation. A condemned person has to die but a saved person has to live.

God hates the sin we are doing but He loves us and wants to save us. God looks down and sees us, knows our lives, but still He loves us and wants us to be delivered from our sinful lives. God doesn’t want to see us die because of sin. He wants to save us because He loves us. He didn’t send an angel to die but Jesus. 

God is a forgiving God. The greatest burden you and I can carry is the burden of sin. We know that we've done wrong, yet we continue to do it even though nobody knows; or even if it were possible for God not to know, the fact that we know we're doing wrong will cause problems for us. There are some of us who's doing whats wrong, we do it over and over again; it bothers us not because somebody knows, not because God knows but because we know we're wrong and it troubles our conscience.

Jesus says, Come to Me, speaking for the father. Let's tell Him what we're doing, that we're sorry; and He will remove that burden of sin from our lives, will forgive us, and give us the strength to stop sinning. He will give us peace of mind 'cause He is a God of love and He wants to save not destroy.

God is a God of life, not of death. He wants us not to feel forgiven but believe that we're forgiven. Then He tells us to Go and sin no more! Will you take heed to the call?

GOD LOVES HIS ENEMIES

This is best exemplified in the story of David and his son Absalom. Absalom wanted to take the throne from his father David so he got his own army and decided to attack his father. David didn’t want the city destroyed by war so he gathered his closest servants and left Jerusalem and went to hiding. David's army killed Absalom and someone got the news to David. When David heard that his son was killed, he cried. This is the son who tried to kill him but David loved Absalom so much that’s why he cried and said, I wish I had died in your place. His son was an enemy but he wanted to die for his enemy because his enemy was his son.

Romans 5:10 implies that sinners are enemies to God but God is not an enemy of sinners. David was not a danger to Absalom. Absalom was an enemy to David. Sinners are enemies to God. So the Bible says, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.

David said, I wish I could die for you. When Adam sinned and became an enemy of God, God said, 'through my son, I will die for you.' David said, I wish I could. God said, I will! We have the death of Jesus. He died for His enemies. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. In other words, He took our place.

In Luke 23:39, what the thief didn’t understand is that when Jesus saved himself, the world would have been destroyed. Only one can be saved; the other one has to die between Jesus and the sinful world. The Father could not save Jesus and save the world. If He saved His Son, the world will perish. If He saved the world, His Son has to perish. So by the death of Jesus, we never pay the price for our sin.

Luke 22:41,42, and 44 records that Jesus was suffering so much that He prayed to the Father, Please, if there’s some way to get Me out of this...Three times He prayed that prayer. As Jesus borne the weight of the world, blood came out of Him. What Jesus suffered is what we should suffer because we sin and Jesus is not a sinner. But Jesus took the suffering that should be for us.

Mark 15:34 tells of another painful experience of Christ. T'was that the Father turned away from Him. The Father actually cursed his Son according to Galatians 3:13. Here, the Father cursed Jesus when He was on the cross. The tree refers to the cross. A dead person hanging on a tree was the sinner cursed. Jesus was hanging on a tree. So He was cursed of God but Jesus took that curse so that God can bless us. He died on the cross so that we might have life..

The wages of sin is death. This is why Jesus died --- because He took our sins and by taking our sins, he was viewed as a sinner. Isaiah 53:12 says that He was numbered with the transgressors...There was a thief on the right and on the left and a sinner in the middle; not because He committed sin but because He took our sin. That’s why He was baptized because all sinners must be baptized. He was baptized not because He sinned but because He took our sin. Before baptism, a person has to repent of sin. So Jesus must have repented because He was carrying the sins of the world.

In fulfilling "all righteousness," Christ did not bring all righteousness to an end. He fulfilled all the requirements of God in repentance, faith, and baptism…{21MR 196.2}

Jesus did not receive baptism as a confession of guilt on His own account. He identified Himself with sinners, taking the steps that we are to take, and doing the work that we must do. {DA 111.2}

What are the steps we must take? We must confess our sins to God, be baptized, and live by faith. Jesus did all of that! He lived by faith, He confessed of sin and repented of sin—not that He committed sin but that He took it and He was baptized.

How did Jesus seriously took our sin? The answer is found in 1 Pet 2:24. He took our sins into Himself and because of that He suffered as a guilty sinner even though He had never personally committed sin.

A sinner is an enemy of God until that person confesses and repent; not that God is an enemy of the sinner. Christ did not die to make God love us. God loved us. So Jesus died for the enemies of God; that the enemies of God, through faith in Jesus, might become the friend or sons and daughters of God.

Jesus is coming back and He’s coming back for those who have accepted Him in this world and then He will destroy the world by fire---not just the physical world but all those who refused to accept Jesus and His sacrifice. They shall perish in the fire. But Jesus died so that we might accept His sacrifice and go home with Him and not perish in the fire. Jesus died for sinners and when that sinner accepts the sacrifice of Christ, he becomes a friend of God.

John 15:13 talks about the greatest expression of God’s love for us --- sending Jesus to die for us as His enemies.

He wants us to be in his kingdom when He comes! If we desire to enter His kingdom when He comes, we  must enter His kingdom now! How? By giving our life to Christ. How do we do that? Simple. We just simply say with all our heart, Father, I give my life to Jesus. Come into my life and guide me. Thank you for sending Jesus to die in my place. Send Him into my life to guide me day by day.

Some people drive expensive cars, live in expensive homes, and wear expensive clothes and jewelries. The most expensive thing in the universe is our salvation. What is the price of it? The death of Christ! Who’s Christ? The one who said, let there be light --- the Creator of heaven and earth.

The most expensive thing in the universe is the price of our salvation. All of what God wants us to do is open our hearts and receive Jesus. Will you receive Him now?

SALVATION IS GOD'S WORK ALONE

Recall the account of creation. The last thing God created were human beings. Why? Adam did not help God to make anything! Not even a leaf or a blade of grass. Adam did not make anything. So, he couldn’t claim the credit for having helped God to create. God could have made Adam on the first day and said, Now, you help Me create on the other day. But God did not do that. He made Adam last after He had made everything else so Adam could not say, I helped God to create. Creation is God's work alone! Salvation is a form of creation.The Bible says, If any man be in Christ he is a new creature…When God saved the man/woman, God is creating a new person.

Ephesians 2:1 means that before a person comes to Christ and accepts Him, that person is spiritually dead. What can a dead person do to make himself live? Nothing! The Bible says, you hath He quickened. To quicken means to make something alive. We have been quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Only God can give life to a dead person!

Referring to Genesis 2:7, let's use our imagination and picture God making Adam. When children go to the beach they build sandcastle on the sand. Here, God is making a sandman. God comes down to the earth, gets some sand that we call dirt, and shapes a man but the man is lifeless. It is just some sand with nice shape. Then God breathe to his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. This is what happens with salvation. A sinner is dead spiritually. God has to breathe the holy Spirit into the man for it to become alive. But there is a slight difference. That man must give God permission.

Have you gone to see a dentist before? Why did you go to the dentist? Because something is wrong with your tooth and you can't fix it yourself. Right? So you go to the dentist to fix it. When you came and sat down, what did the dentist tell you to do? Open your mouth. Did that fix your tooth? No! Could the dentist fix your tooth while your mouth is closed? No! Opening your mouth didn’t fix your tooth but it allowed the dentist to fix the tooth. When the dentist said open your mouth, what did you do? You opened your mouth. When the dentist said open your mouth, what is that? A COMMAND! When dentist said open your mouth and you did, what is that? OBEDIENCE! Hence, COMMAND+OBEDIENCE=TOOTH FIXED. Who fixed? The Dentist! Who obeyed? You!

In John 3:16, does a sinner have to believe? Yes! Who tells the sinner to believe? God! When a sinner believes, what is he doing? OBEYING!

Even though only God can save us, He will not save us if we do not obey. Sin is a cavity. Dentist Jesus is the only One who can fix it. So we go to Jesus and say, save me, fix the cavity of sin and Jesus says open your mouth. Dentist Jesus has 10 commands [10 commandments]. Should you obey the dentist? Yes, if you want the problem fixed. When we obey the 10 commandments, it lets Jesus know that we want the cavity of sin fixed. Opening our mouth doesn't fix the cavity but it tells the dentist that we seriously want that cavity fixed. Obeying God’s commands is like opening our mouth and allowing Dentist Jesus to fix the problem. Only Jesus can fix the problem, only we can open our mouth. Only Jesus can save us but only we can obey and by obeying we’re showing Jesus that we want to be saved.

God created Adam, Adam didn’t make himself. Salvation is creation spiritually. The person who doesn’t obey Jesus, cannot have the sin fixed. We suffer because of sin. We can't fix the problem ourselves but we can do it through Jesus.

Luke 18:9-14 narrates a story of a Pharisee and a publican. The Pharisee doesn’t realize his problem. The publican realized that he was a bad man, a terrible sinner, and he couldn’t fix his problem himself.

There are people who keep doing the same thing over and over and over again. They sin, they sin, they sin over and over and over again. They do not realize that only the power of Christ can save them.

The publican bowed his head and prayed, be merciful to me. He admitted he was wrong. He knew he can't save himself and he need a Savior. He puts his faith in Christ. Jesus said he was justified, which means he was made right with God. The instant he said that prayer, it came from his heart and God heard that prayer and justified the man. He went to the church as a terrible sinner but he went back to his house right with God.

Jesus tells us to believe in Him, confess our sins, ask God to forgive us, mean what we say, and we will live right with God. Only us can confess or say that prayer, only God can make us right. We can't save ourselves. Going to church six times a week or giving money to the poor doesn’t save us. If a man can save himself just by doing such things, then why Christ has to die? Christ has to die because no one can save himself/herself.

Our prayer should be, Father, with this spiritual problem that I have, this sin that is so difficult to overcome, I come to You asking for help. I believe You have the power to deliver me and Jesus has that power. Do we know what power He can give us? The same power by which He came from the dead is the same power He uses to deliver you and me from sin. That's great power! Jesus was in the grave, dead. Three days later, He woke up. What kind of power that causes a dead man to stand up? That is the same power God gives you and me so we can stand up and live right with God.

God tells us to believe in Jesus and ask Him to change our lives; and He can only change our lives when we give it to Him.

Do you want your life to be changed? Do you like to see a change in your life?

Most people go to hell because there is something they couldn’t let go or haven’t gotten over yet. But Jesus wanted to help. He invites us to give our lives to Him, confess and ask Him specifically to give us the power to have victory over sin.

Will you now invite Jesus in your life, confess to Him, and ask Him to give you power to gain victory over your sins?

JESUS IS THE SPIRITUAL DOCTOR

Some people think they are too bad, lived a terrible life, and too evil to go to Christ. They can't go to Christ in their condition. This kind of thinking is not correct.

In Luke 15:1, notice who were attracted to Jesus. All publicans and sinners! There was something about Jesus that attracted sinners.

Reading Matthew 9:10 and 11, the leaders of the church didn’t understand why Jesus spent time with publicans and sinners. They were unhappy with Jesus about that. In Luke 15:2, Jesus received sinners.

So when someone says, I am too bad to go to Christ, that person is hurting the heart of God because Jesus came to those who think they are so bad.

Noting Matthew 9:12, Jesus says that it is the sick person who needs a doctor. The sinner is spiritually sick and Jesus is the Spiritual Doctor. So Jesus is telling the church leaders, I came looking for those who are sick. And the greatest sickness is sin!

When we go to see a doctor, we go because something is wrong. The doctor asks us what's wrong and we tell him what's wrong. We are asked some questions and the doctor give us recommendation and medication. Jesus does the same thing spiritually. He calls all sick people to go to Him and He will give them some prescription for their sickness which is sin --- worse than diabetes, hypertension, etc.

Jesus says in Matther 9:13, I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Jesus came to this earth looking for drug addicts, prostitutes, thieves, murderers, and all those who do terrible things. When that person is running from Jesus 'cause he thinks he’s too bad to go to Jesus, Jesus runs toward him.

The first book of New Testament is Matthew, who is a publican. He’s a sinner, a thief, collects too much taxes, and corrupt; but Jesus changed his life. When Jesus saw Matthew, he was probably working in his office, and He called him and he followed. His life was changed so much that God used him to write the first book of New Testament.

Another big sinner was Zacchaeus---worse than Matthew. Matthew was a publican, Zacchaeus was the chief of the publican. Jesus called Zacchaeus when he was at the tree, told him to go down, and went to his house. When thief Zacchaeus met Jesus, Jesus changed his life and the change was quick. When Zacchaeus received Christ in his house, immediately something began to happen in his heart and the change was so great!

Zacchaues and Matthew were changed by Christ.

In Acts 9:1-6, we look at a murderer. Jesus changed him and he wrote 15 books in the New Testament. Saul persecuted the Christians, arrested them, and put them in prison that they might be killed. He is not the one killing them but making way for them to be killed. He was guilty; but Saul met Christ. He was on his way to arrange a killing and Jesus appeared on a bright light. He realized that he has come face to face with Christ. Jesus said, by persecuting the church You're persecuting Me. Then he said, What wilt thou have me to do? His name was changed to Paul.

Anytime a sinner go to Christ, his question must be: What wilt thou have me to do? and not what I have been doing.

Jesus answered Saul by sending him to someone else. Jesus said that there’s someone in the city that will tell him what to do. In other words, Jesus send Saul to the church. Then Jesus came in a vision to a church leader called Ananias and told him what to tell Saul.

So we have three big sinners; but when they met Jesus, He changed their lives.

In Luke 19:10, Jesus told Zacchaeus, The son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Jesus came to seek, to look in all the earth, wherever there are sinners.

If you think you’re a bad person, Jesus is looking for you. The police may be looking for you too but let Jesus catch you! Let Jesus find you, don’t run from Jesus. He came for people who are bad. Don’t wait until you stop smoking; go to Jesus with a cigarette in your mouth and He will deliver you from smoking. Go to Jesus with all the lies in your lips and He will put truth in your mouth.

Jesus came to look for those who are spiritually sick. Don’t run! You can make yourself good or pleasing but you can't make yourself spiritual—only Jesus can do that! So He says that He came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Come as you are. Jesus has promised to change you and I as He changed Matthew, Zacchaeus, and Saul. If we stop running, Jesus will catch us! So let's stop running!

Sometimes, when we look at our lives and look at the problems we have, we say there’s nothing Jesus can do, no one can help us, our circumstances are too bad. Jesus says, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. What we can't fix, He can fix!

Christ can change our lives—that is His work! We only need to say, Jesus take control of my life and make me a child of heaven. Is that what your heart desires to say?

GETTING CLOSE TO JESUS

Looking at Genesis 2:7-9, 19, 21, 22, we see three occasions where God and Adam were interacting face to face. In verse 8, God made Adam and put him in the garden---Adam and God together. In verse 19, God brought the animals to Adam to name them---Adam and God together. In verse 22, God brought Eve to Adam---Adam, Eve and God together.

The point is, there was a time on this earth when people can talk face to face with God! Would you like to see God?

Revelation 22:4 says that all those who will be saved can see God face to face; but now, we can't come face to face to God. Why? In Genesis 3:1-5, God said, If you eat, you'll die; the serpent said, If you eat, you will not die. God said, If you disobey, you will die; the serpent said, If you disobey you will live.

In Genesis 2:8, Adam and God are together. In Genesis 2:19, Adam and God are together and Adam doesn’t hide. In Genesis 2:22,23, Adam, Eve, and God are together and Adam and Eve do not hide. Why are Adam and Eve hiding from God? Because of sin! The reason why you and I cannot talk face to face with God is because of sin---a terrible thing that when a sinner looks on God, he is destroyed immediately, even a converted person. That’s why when Moses asked God to show himself, God said you can't see Me and live. No converted person can see God and live. We can only be able to see God when Jesus comes back and our sinful nature is destroyed.

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one cometh to the Father but by Me. Because of sin no man can go to God so He made a plan that those who go to Him will not be destroyed---that plan is to send Jesus. Why is that? Because Jesus Himself is equal to the Father. So looking at Jesus is as looking to the Father. He is God in human form. Only through Jesus can we come to the presence of God. Isaiah 59:1,2 says that because of sin no one can look at God. 1 Timothy 2:5 says that there is only one God and one Mediator---not Mary, not a saint, not pope, not mother Teresa. The only person who can stand between us and God is Jesus. So we need to get close to Jesus.

God can't send one drop of rain in the Philippines unless He does it because of Jesus. God makes the sun rise to the evil and good; He does that because of Jesus. When Adam and Eve sinned, God had to find a way to restore the fellowship with His creation. He found a way to save the world---Jesus has to die! It is because of the sacrifice of Jesus that every good thing in the world is done by God. In other words, when God blesses us, that blessing had to go to Jesus. Nothing God does for us that He does outside of Jesus. Thus, we need to get close to Jesus. How? There are ways to connect with Jesus. One is by baptism, according to Galatians 3:27. The second is by studying and obeying the Word, found in John 6:51, 63, Job 23:12, and Jeremah 15:16.

Because of Jesus we can talk to God. The reason why we can't talk to God is because of sin. Jesus died for sin. He didn’t only die, He rose. If Jesus died and remain dead, He can't save us. We need a Savior to submit Himself to death and then conquer death.

When we pray, forgive me for my sins, that prayer goes up to Jesus, Jesus accepts that prayer and He adds to it the merits of His sacrifice, then he offers it to His Father. That’s the only way the Father can hear our prayer. The Father can answer our prayer because it pleases Jesus.

Pray to the Father in Christ’s name. Everyone that Jesus accepts, the Father accepts because the Father and Jesus speak alike. No one comes to the Father but by Him. God the Father can accept us because of Jesus. So the important decision to make is to commit ourselves to Jesus because everyone He accepts, the Father accepts. One day, we can talk face to face with God. And we don’t need Christ as Mediator, sin would have been removed, sinful nature destroyed, and you and I will talk face to face with God! I am looking forward to that day! I want to see and talk to God face to face! What about you?

STUDYING AND OBEYING GOD'S WORD

The story starts in Acts 20:15, when apostle Paul spent three years in the city of Ephesus working with the church there. It is probably the longest time he spent in any of the New Testament churches. Now he is leaving them. They will never see him again. So before he leaves, he calls all the elders and gives them a few closing words of advise. In verses 25 and 26, Paul tells the elders, I want you to be witnesses to this thing..there is no ones blood on my hands. Why did he say that? In verse 27, Paul said, I have told you everything I could for that three years I was with you. So when he says there's no ones blood in my hands, he means that if after three years of preaching and one of them is lost, it is not his fault. Their blood is not in his hands because he told them all of what they needed to know. In verse 28, Paul tells the elders that their most important responsibility is to feed the church of God. The number one responsibility of the pastors and elders is to teach the Word of God. In Paul's last words, he tells them to feed the church of God. Notice that it’s the church of God. So the elders should be very careful how they deal with that church because it is the church of God. What to feed the church? The Word of God! In verse 29, Paul gives them a warning---the greatest foes are false teachers! Paul says, when I was here, the false teachers would not come because I can answer them. But when I leave, they will come and the way to protect the church is to teach the church the Word. Not only false teachers come in; In verse 30, Paul says that even within the church, people will preach doctrines that are not biblical.

Paul preached everyday for three years, night and day---a lot of preaching! He warned and warned them. And their protection against error is to know the word of God.

Antioxidants fights free radicals that destroy the body and should come from whole foods. So when taking vegetables and fruits, they supply the body with antioxidants that help to build it up. Spiritually, we need antioxidants. And the spiritual antioxidant is the Word of God! So Paul says, I commend you the word of His grace which is able to build you up. When we get sick our immune system does not function well. Spiritually, we have an immune system and the antioxidant of that system is the word of God. When the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, the enemy attacked the spirituality of Jesus. How did Jesus defend himself? He said, It is Written! But we don’t have a different immune system for colds, cancer, headache, etc. We just have one immune system---the Word of God.

How can we be a Christian if we don’t read the Bible? If only Pastors read it for us? We have an individual responsibility to read God’s Word for ourselves. In these last days, how many Seventh-Day Adventist Christians don’t read the Bible? How many Seventh-Day Adventist families do not have family worships? If we have no time for the Word of God, we have no time for God! It doesn’t matter if one is a member of choir, or head deacon/deaconess, or an elder. If a person is not studying God’s Word, how can she/he be a child of God? If a person has no time for God’s Word, it means a person has no time for God! Being kind is not enough, having a nice smile is not enough, we must be strengthened by the word of God. Why is that? Read Psalm 33:6, Hebrews 11:3, and Hebrews 1:3. The Bible says that the whole heaven is made by God’s Word; that God’s word produce creation; that the same word that created the heavens and the earth is the same word that maintains the heaven and the earth. We are part of the earth; everything on earth was created by the word of God, including mankind. What creates is what sustains. It is the Word of God that should sustain us.

In other words, when the disciple asked Jesus, When shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world? Jesus said to them, Take heed that no man deceive you. The only protection against deception is the Word of God! The devil does everything he can to keep us from studying God’s Word. We need to understand how the Seventh-Day Adventist church began. It was not began by Ellen White, not by James White. The Seventh-Day Adventist church was founded by Jesus Himself. But we will not understand that unless we study Revelation 10. We need to understand why the Seventh-Day Adventist church was began by Christ. We will not understand that unless we connect Revelation 10 with Daniel 8.

The most exciting thing is to study the Bible, regardless of age; not exciting music to keep young people in church, not drums, not dancing, not something else exciting. If the youth are taught how the church began, and why it was started by Jesus, they will soon realize that the most exciting thing is studying God’s word.

The Word of God is our defense, this is the strongest immune system we can have against sin. Study and obey it!

The Scriptures are the great agency in the transformation of character…. If studied and obeyed [2 things], the word of God works in the heart, subduing [or controlling] every unholy attribute…  {COL 100.1} 

For instance, I have the tendency to lie. As I take God’s word into my heart by study and obedience, the word of God has the power to control the lying urge that I have and will remove the sinful urge.

The prayer of Jesus says, Sanctify them to Thy truth, Thy Word is truth. The Word sanctifies a person whether he is 10 or 100 years of age. To sanctify a person is to cleanse a person from sinful habits.

Here is an experiment to try. If you will do this, guaranteed that your life will change. It's simple. Experts say that if you can do something for 3 weeks, it becomes a habit. Within 3 weeks, everyday, first thing in the morning, last thing at night, take a passage of scripture, read it 10 times seriously. As you read, listen to the Words—cause the Bible is the voice of God. You must hear the voice of God speaking to you through that verse. Then after reading 10 times, start thinking of what it says. Think out loud! Talk to God about the verse. Then pray.

Good news—even if you don’t understand the verse, just by trying your mind will improve. Explained another way...A desk is heavy. If you put your hand under the desk and try to lift the desk, it won't move because it's heavy. But what's happening to your muscle? It is changing even though the desk does not move an inch. If you keep doing that everyday, your muscle will grow because you apply your muscle against a force.

The Word of God maybe a heavy weight; apply the muscles of your mind. Try to understand, try to move a verse even if it does not move then muscles of your mind will grow.

Are you willing to try the experiment seriously? First thing in the morning, take a verse or two, read it 10 times, talk to God about it, run it back and forth in your mind, pray, go about your day. At night, take the same verse, read 10 times listening to the word each time as you say it then you start to think what it means, ask Father what are You trying to tell me?, pray, and go to bed.

Your last thought at night, your first thought in the morning, should be of Him in Whom is centered your hope of eternal life.  {OHC 116.2}

The best way to interact with God is through His Word. God is willing to teach us with His Spirit. God will bless our efforts if we are willing to do the experiment. He will change our lives and let us see the change in our lives. Let us live up the truth in our lives from day to day, practice what we have learned. God will save all of us without losing one!

Will you spend time with God through His Word, first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening?

Left to right: First three are co-missionaries, Danrev Tipdas (Area 3 AY Leader), Randy Skeete, Ptr. Adrian Faina (North-Tarlac District Pastor), Ptr. Joel Macaraig (Interpreter), Last three are co-missionaries

With co-missionaries 

With Randy Skeete and invited friends who came all the way from Manila

Were you blessed listening to the sermons? Yes, reading this is just like you have been in the actual revival meetings listening yourself. I have shared this with you in written form because my soul have been so enormously blessed and I hope that you have been blessed as well. I have been revived and I hope that you will also ponder upon the words that God's chosen speaker has shared and experience revival in your spiritual life. These simple and practical teachings quickened my mind and I hope that it also quicken yours and may you experience the gifts that Jesus is offering you. Not just that, the pen of inspiration says,

Reformation signifies a reorganization, a change in ideas and theories, habits and practices. Reformation will not bring forth the good fruit of righteousness unless it is connected with the revival of the Spirit. Revival and reformation are to do their appointed work, and in doing this work they must blend.
{RH, February 25, 1902 par. 8}

Revival is not enough. Reformation in our lives must also take place. May these changes be our experience that we might glorify God.