Brother Gary Sunday Morning 7/26/15

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 7/26/15

2Jn 1:8  Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

We just finished an excellent revival meeting.  It was wonderful to enjoy such a sweet spirit of the Presence of God.  It is good to have family and friends visit us and it is good to have a pastor come and edify us. 

I doubt that there was anyone that didn’t experience conviction.  The bible tells us to look to ourselves.  God will do a lot for us but we must take every precaution to not lose the good things that God has brought to every one of us.

It is wonderful to have conviction.  God’s attribute is that He loves all mankind.  His direction to the church is that we love all mankind.  There is not this one that is special and that one that is not so special. 

The sacrifice that we made was very well received and granted.  It is wonderful to labor together.  I was impressed with the cause and effects.  I saw children change during VBS.  Those that didn’t have interest in the things of God changed and had an interest.  I appreciated going to the youth revival in Athol; I was amazed to see the affects that the youth revival had on the young people.

Then we came to the revival meeting and I entered feeling taxed and responsible.  I have reached that place where whatever we need to do we need a lot of help to get done.  You saints gave of yourselves very willingly and we appreciate that. 

(The brother preached an awesome message as we entered the revival.  Brother Figeroa is an excellent preacher and evangelist.  We could sit under him and not get tired or stop learning.)

I saw something in the revival.  The gospel brought the things of God to preeminence.  There were those that started thinking of using their lives for God.  Good revival is such a marvelous thing.  We experienced good edification and the presence of God moving upon lives.

We only have about a month more until school starts.  We don’t know whether we will have an Indian summer or not.  We may get a killing frost Labor Day weekend and winter set in.  This we know.  We want to take a great effort to not lose what God has given us. 

We don’t want to crowd God out.  I want to keep God first.  Maybe I will change some of my plans.

We need to read, pray, and study the Word of God.  I have the garage, an office, the basement, the lazy-boy to read, pray, and study in.  We won’t do it if we don’t keep the fire of God stirred in our heart. 

The message is not “to not go hunting”.  The message is to know how to do it. 

The young people have a challenge to keep God first as they go to school.  They will not do it on their own.  They need our encouragement.  My challenge to those that are failing in health is to keep God first.  Don’t let your health become your topic or your doctor appointments be your topic.  Keep God first. 

That conviction that we felt, we have been blessed from you as a congregation with time and money for an extended vacation.  We have to keep God first and keep what God has so graciously given to us.

It thrilled us to hear the message on Revelations.  It was absolutely wonderful to hear it.  We have to keep it real.  Not only the chart and the lessons, the spirit of God that keeps it alive and real to ourselves.

Looking to ourselves and taking the responsibility to continue.  There were stirring messages.  We want to remember, “This message is for me.”  We must take the responsibility.  Don’t take the thought, “We have a certain name and are a part of this congregation.”  We are each responsible to God first and then to one another.

Pray.  Pray without ceasing.  Don’t let prayer become just habitual.  “God help me today, help mine and ours…”  It was inspiring to me to have Brother Figeroa come to me with his bible in hand and say, “I have been feasting on the good things of God in Many Glacier Hotel.

The sacrifice of this congregation was excellent, but let’s keep sacrificing.  Let’s keep well trained in our hospitality.  Show our love and labors to one another.  In a world that is so void of the love of God, keep yourself in the love of God.  Hold the vision.

I have been thinking and praying, “What can we do? Can we set a certain service aside to hold the vision? Invite Brother Neely, a young energetic brother, once a month?”  Hold the vision.

Keep God first.  Wait on God in all your decisions.  We live in a world, Karen and I have been trying to buy a car for a year or two, they let us know, “This car is awful hard to find and if you don’t buy that then you won’t find one for a long time.”

Wait on God in all your decisions.  Ask, “How will this affect me?  How will it affect the brothers and sisters in Christ?”  Seize the opportunity.

Lose not the things that were wrought.  John was probably sending this to a lady pastor and her congregation, “Look to yourselves that you don’t lose what God has given us.” 

It is wonderful to be spiritually revived.  We probably all have experienced, “All the foundations of the world are out of course.”  We have experienced our life getting out of course just a little bit.  It is not out of course because of sin.

The lady pastor that used to be here told us, “There is nothing wrong with knitting but at a golden age as she tried to master the art she found it was taking her thoughts.”  There are a lot of things that are not sinful but because of our personality we have a tendency to allow some things to get our life to whatever degree out of course

We can become so taken in our mind that whatever we are thinking of: pleasure, relationships, school… we must not let any of it get us out of course.  We cannot let our jobs get us out of course. 

This year God has given us a marvelous garden.  We don’t want to get out of course and only take care of the huge bean crop.  It can be very legitimate but we want to keep everything in its rightful place so that our life doesn’t get out of course. 

The conviction:  Isn’t conviction a wonderful thing?  We must labor together.  I loved the message of the death of the old man.  You may have personal traits that God is dealing with you on and you realize that “This has to go.”

We live in a world that would say, “The only important thing that is going on is the election of our next president.”  This one thing I know, don’t let our times push you out of course with God.  Stay focused on God.

The importance of worship:  We must worship. We know what it takes for us to be at our best for every service.  Prayer meeting is one of the most important.  Let’s come in and pray and seek God.

Take heed that we receive a full reward. 

3Jn 1:2  Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

God doesn’t want our soul like the desert and like the juniper tree, God wants our soul anointed.  God has answered your prayer for me this month of July.  I have enjoyed the mercies of God.

God wants us to prosper in our soul as well as in our body.  He wants to give us strength for the journey.  There is strength for the journey that is ahead, but we must know that source of strength.

Psa 121:1  A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

Psa 121:2  My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

He is our source of strength and we praise God for that.

A full reward of having an anointing for the occasion:  Some of you will work hard on your job this week.  Some of you are wondering what the next client will be like.  God has an anointing for us that we will not only have mercy but also grace for the occasion.

God wants us to have the full reward of not being graceless.  Paul said, “I do not frustrate the grace of God.”

A full reward of a vision:  Walk in the vision that God has given you.

The golden vials filled with sweet incense:  your prayers are being bottled up in golden vials.  It is wonderful to have that prayer, praise, and worship before God.

There is a full reward of the garments unspotted by the flesh.  It is a challenge; because it is bible we can take the challenge and keep our garments clean and totally spotless before God.

1Co 13:4  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

1Co 13:5  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

1Co 13:6  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

1Co 13:7  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

1Co 13:8  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

The true love of God suffers long.  We all understand people being on edge, being short, and curt.  There is something about God and there is something that humans don’t possess and that is being longsuffering.  They want something done just the way they wanted and they want it done before they even think of it.

Charity is kind.  Thank God for the kindness in the revival meeting.  We haven’t arrived.  There is more and greater depths to kindness.  There was real kindness shown to a young man that came into some of the services.

Love is kind.  It starts at home.  If I am not kind to my wife at home, I can bring her flowers and put on a show but if I am not kind at home then it is sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. 

Kindness does not mean that you are a push over.  I am not leaving all the training of my grandchildren to their parents.  I want to teach them about God.  Our times have brought us to where it is rare, and it isn’t good, but in most families the moms and dads are both working. 

You and I have to have the desire, “I want to teach this little one.”  The thought is, we love souls.  The issue is, “they have a soul and I have a burden.”  You say, “They might not take it right.”  Who are you serving?”  If they don’t take it right then we are clay.  Most people’s feelings are pretty tender.  Some have a good shell on. 

If you don’t teach your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, then who will?  Sister Gerhardt didn’t fear my mom or my dad, she loved my soul.  Sister Klemstein told me that I was so proud that I had a long ways to travel on that road to humility.  My mom didn’t get mad at her.  She was probably praying for someone to talk to her son. 

Charity envies not.  That is absolutely beautiful.

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

God wants us to have a full reward.  Lots of faith in a world where faith is always under attack.

Heb 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

We have so much to praise God for.  My praise always begins with God sending Jesus.  I am so glad that Jesus came.

Heb 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

Let us challenge each other toward love and good works: loving God, the lost, and each other.

What can I do to encourage the rest home laborers?  What can I do to encourage this Kelly family that was singing this morning?  I wish the Altmiller family reunion could hear them sing.

Encourage to love; encourage to good works.

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

How we need each other!  How we need to be our best!  You dear ones that live a distance from church, you are challenged.  We want to meet that challenge.  You that are struggling in your bodies, how can we help you have more church in your life?

Encourage each other.  Jesus is interceding.

Rom 8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

God wants you to make it.  He wants you to be victorious.  He wants you to stay saved. 

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

There have always been tough times ahead, but we cannot let that separate us.  In all these things we are more than a conqueror through Him that loved us.

Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sometimes death doesn’t come easy.  We know that.  I have visited people that were dying and seen the pain that they were in and the pain that their family was in.

Life can be hard.  Dealing with disappointment is hard.  Heartache is hard.  To be broken hearted, to have hoped and have that hope deferred is hard, but it need not separate you from God.

Nor angels: sometimes you feel that you are surrounded but not by heavenly angels.  Have you ever felt darkness move in?  It is tough.  Stay true to God.

Nor principalities:  I don’t know what this year will hold or what life will deal to you or to me.  You don’t know when you will lose a friend.  There are those that court you until they get you.  Then there is a shift.  They try to make life miserable.

My life story in work: show up; loved until it turned.  I was asked to quit one time before I was fired and then I was asked to come back to work with a raise.  It happened at an inopportune time.  That is life.  God has never failed

When it seems that you are all alone, you are not alone. 

Paul said, life, nor death, nor powers, nor principality, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.

“I am persuaded.” 

Church of God at Paradise, look to yourself, seize the opportunity, keep your body under subjection, be responsible to God, yourself, and each other.  Don’t lose what God has given you, receive a full reward.

Sister Brenda Wednesday Evening 7/22/15

Sister Brenda Wednesday Evening 7/22/15

Psa 65:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm and Song of David. Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.

Psa 65:2  O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.

Psa 65:3  Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.

Psa 65:4  Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

“Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee.”  I feel so glad and blessed in my heart that God chose to draw on my heart.  God loves us all equally and draws on every soul.  Sometimes we cannot see how God deals with a life, but I know that He does.

How did God choose you and cause you to approach unto Him? 

In my life God worked in definite ways to cause me to draw unto Him.  When I was little, I was in Babylon.  My dad would go to towns and preach in a rented building.  I remember getting saved one night.  I did not stay saved, but God dealt with my heart.

When we came west, dad went kind of crazy.  He would go to the bars and drink.  While he drank it was a very sad situation.  Our family ended up breaking up because of this.  We were raised with the standard to not go to movies and to wear dresses.  We had a strong standard.

I remember when I was with my sister, a young newlywed.  She took us to a movie.  I was so afraid that if God came, I would go to hell.  I knew that I should not be there.  God gave me such conviction at that time.  I never went to another theater again.  God was faithful.

Then God brought us to Lonepine from Idaho and Washington.  We had moved all over.  God brought the saints to my house.  Brother Gary met my dad who told them we were a religious family.  They came to find us. 

I remember being in a Pentecostal church and they tried to get me to get the gift of tongues.  I resisted, I was scared.  I knew that was not right.  God protected me.

Sister Vi – when I was just a little child, we lived not far from the Methodist church.  No one in our family thought about going to church.  It was not ever mentioned. 

I was between five and six when I and several of my siblings decided to go to church.  It was in our heart.  I know it was just God beginning to work with my soul.  We got up in the morning without any to encourage us, we wanted to go to Sunday school. 

One day when I was in class with the children, a little boy asked the teacher about hell.  She said, “There is no such thing as hell, people make a hell of their lives.”  At that time, as little as I was, God spoke to my heart that that was a lie.

We would go to church without being cleaned up and without brushing our hair.  They maybe felt too high class for us.  One of the teachers told us “If you cannot bring a dime with you each Sunday that you come, don’t bother to come.” 

There was no way that we could do that.  We were poor.  We weren’t hindered.  We just went on down the street to the Church of God.  They loved us there.  They took us right in. 

It was not long until the Spirit of God got a hold of my heart.  They preached on salvation and sanctification and I knew that it was right. 

God led me all the time when I was a child toward salvation.  It was when I got into my teenage years that conviction settled down on me.  It was there a lot.  I did not yield to the Spirit of God. 

I got married.  I moved to the south and all my in-laws were Baptist.  I was surrounded almost entirely by the Baptists.  There was never anything that came forth from the pulpit that made you feel the need to be saved.

All the time God dealt with my heart to make me to try to be saved.  I laid off different things but found that I could not live it on my own.

We came back here for a time then and went to the Church of God.  I went to the altar and God saved me.  There was not one thing that I wanted to hang onto.  I cut every tie.  I went on to sanctification and God helped me to know that the Church was it. 

God helped me to get saved when I was 22 years old.  He has kept me the whole time and I was able to raise my children to know the right way.  I praise Him for all He has done for me.

Sister Beryl –  I am thankful that God took me back after I backslid.  The scripture, “Blessed is the man whom thou chooses…

God had to be looking after me.  Danny and I were camped in the hills out of Trout Creek while he was working.  I took some food up to him one day and I went over the edge of the road and down about a mile.  A stump caught me.  I had to crawl out of my seat.  I walked up to where he was working.  He had to get a cat to pull me back to the road.

I went through a severe hard time and I didn’t know where to go for help.  That is when I came back home to God.  I don’t know why I ever left Him, but I appreciate God’s mercy that I came back to Him.

I am so thankful that I went to God when the hard times came.  It is only because of God’s mercy.  I wonder where people go when they are in difficulty and don’t have God.

Sister Linda – I was raised in the Church of God.  My dad was a church of God minister.  We came to Paradise to come to this church.  I was never saved as a child.  I was under conviction many times, but I never got saved.

I met Beverly.  We took a liking to each other but never spent much time together.  After we were both married and later in life, she became my tax client.  When she came to bring her taxes, or to pick them up we would always have a cup of coffee and visit.  We were friends a couple times of year.

I then heard of her son drowning.  I thought, “That is horrible.”  I was not going to go to the funeral, but it seemed that God got me by the back of the neck and said, “You’re going to go.”

I came to the funeral and saw Beverly visited with everyone and was thankful that everyone came.

Then one day as I was going down the road past her house, I saw that Beverly’s car was in the garage.  I stopped to visit.  You know how it is, when a saint has an unsaved friend, they go to work on you.  She went to work on me.  I began to go to church.  It took me eight months to get me saved.  But I did.

I remember one of the meetings when Sister Phyllis Griffin was here.  She held a meeting and she was so disgusted that I did not get saved while she was here.  I am so thankful that God dealt with me and was so faithful to draw on me when I got saved.

Sister Beverly – I feel like God chooses every one of us when we are conceived.  He creates us to serve the Lord.  I think one of the ways that He showed that He chose us is that we moved out here.  For one whose family has lived in a community for generations and generations and then for one to break off and move out here, it was only God.

My dad had been to the mountains and had a dream that he would bring his family here.  God had a hand in that.  He was choosing us to be in His kingdom. 

When God works on us it is Godly sorrow that He brings to us.  I appreciate that godly sorrow.  As a child I wanted to be a good girl and wanted to do right.  We saw such pain in our childhood.  A dad that was fanatical and we knew that he wasn’t right.

When I was first saved in truth it was at the camp meeting in the Lochsa.  We got to go to Camp meeting.  The saints were wonderful, it was the beginning of my life.  There was something good in my life.  We were 12 or 13.  I remember the meeting I got gloriously saved.  I remember we as young people went up to the woods and found a stump and prayed.

I remember Brother Turnbow preaching the Revelations message.  He used the chart.  It was then that I got a vision of the church.  I appreciate what Brother Figeroa said, “The Revelations message is getting lost and is not preached to us.”  I hope that is going to change.  I believe that it is necessary and important.

I appreciate how God gave me the ability and allowed me to be saved and approach unto Him.  I appreciate how God brought us out here to the Rocky Mountains.  Because of His love and how He caused me to approach to Him and helped me to see the church, when I did backslide, I knew that if I got back it would be his mercy and I knew where to go. 

I appreciate the truth and that God allowed me to know the truth at a young age.  I know that it protected me.  It was instilled in me when I was young so that I would know what to come back to.

Sister Alice – since being saved, I think of the wonderful privilege that we have to approach to Him.  It is a blessing much stronger than I deserve.  His word says, “Come boldly to the throne of grace.”  And says, “Cast all your cares on Him who cares for you.”

As a young child my grandmother loved me and I knew that she loved God.  She taught me how important it was to read and pray.  She would read with us and pray with us.

She lived the standard.  Never once did we see her immodest in any way.  But I thought that was just my grandmother.  I did give my heart to the Lord at a young age.

We went to a Baptist church after my grandmother died.  It was where one of my uncles pastored.  I felt that they were embarrassed of us.  We didn’t dress fancy and there were so many of us.  When my uncle would ask for those that loved God to come up, he would look at us as if to say, “Not you.”

We then went to a different Baptist church and it was easy to do right and dress right there.  When we came to this country, the Baptist were just an organization.  You could claim to be a Christian and live however you wanted.  I took that on and wore it like a sweater. 

When we met the true people of God, they would never give up on us.  We had a house burn down.  They brought us all these things.  They loved us children and they loved God.  They were not embarrassed of us or ashamed of us.  They loved us individually and as a group.

I was an eighth grader when I first met Sister Darla and Brother Myron.  I still wanted to serve God but live my own way.  Brother Myron taught me that it was as a cover that didn’t fit.

The more that I went to church the more I realized that I couldn’t claim to be a Christian and live my own way.  I didn’t like that.  In order for me to be saved, the old man had to die.

I was about 15, we had come to Paradise, and there was an altar call.  The thought was so real in my heart and mind.  God was dealing with me.  I didn’t want to go to the altar yet.  God spoke to me, “I have done my part.  I have worked with you.”  There are times that God says, “I am going to let you choose your own way.”

The thought that God had drawn on my heart enough times that He didn’t have to draw on my heart any more struck me.  I thought of going through life knowing that I had refused to serve God.  I decided I would rather choose God than live life and later not be able to get back to God.

It pays to serve God.  When I was in Hellgate high school, I tried to go the way of the world and it scared me.  Teenagers invited me to go to a party and they were doing drugs.  I felt that there was no security.  I needed the security.  I needed the love of the saints and the love of God.

I am thankful that God scared me.  I want to be true to God as long as I live.  We will have temptations, trials, and tests that would do their best to pull us out and offer us things that we want to stay away from all our life.  With the Lords grace and mercy I want to make it to heaven and serve God all the days of my life.

Sister Dorothy – As I thought today on God choosing me, I thought, “I believe my life was blessed from the day I was born.”  Brother Lawson came, it is something to hear the other saints talk of Brother Lawson. 

I was born in 1940.  He came to Eureka and my folks lived on a farm.  They were having special meetings and they knocked on our door.  They invited us to come. 

My dad never became a church goer, but my mother responded.  She started taking us kids.  I was sixth; there were older ones.  When Brother Lawson preached the Revelation my mother said, “It rang like a dinner bell in her heart.”  She knew that it was the truth.

God dealt with me from a young child.  He was my companion.  I had to bring in the cows for milking every night.  On those trips to get the cows over the hills, God talked to me.  I would make up songs.  As I sung, God dealt with my heart and blessed me.  Many times the tears would just run down my face. 

It is a blessing to know God as a child.  There were things that I was tempted in.  I was so convicted in never going to the show that when the school had a conservation program in the theater, I didn’t want to go. 

They were just talking about the soil and how to save the water and all I could think about is that I wanted to get out of there.  God was so faithful to cause me to never want the way of the world.  God was faithful to me. 

There was one time I was supposed to bring the cows in and there was a challenge with another animal that got in with mine.  I prayed and then thought, “I will let Dad do this.”  I turned around and went to get the others.  God spoke audibly to me, “Why Dorothy, I would have helped you.”

As God dealt with me in times of questions and splits.  I have always been church of God.  This week God worked with me on the cross.  “Take up the cross and follow Jesus.”

The cross is mercy, forgiveness, salvation, all the benefits and fruits of the Spirit.  That is what we get when we take up the cross.  We might have suffering in our day, but if we will take up that cross, we will be prepared for it.

Blessed is the man who is straight, level, right honest, to go forward, whom thou chooses and causes to remain and dwell, thou causes him to draw near and remain in thy courts.  He shall be satisfied to come forward and remain in thy temple. 

Brother John – I thank the Lord for His patience in talking to me and dealing with me for a long time.  It started in my teenage years and went on from there.  God was never harsh with me or critical.  Just snapshots over the years of: “That is not the right thing.”  It was the hand of God that caused me to move to California.  I was looking for something; I didn’t know what it was.

I went to church a few times over three years.  Brother Wingate was there preaching on Revelations.  There was singing.  There was nothing that went on after the first hymn.  He got in the pulpit and started preaching the Revelations.  He went through the seals and showed the Catholic church and the Lutheran and so on.  I could see why I hadn’t received anything in those churches all those years.

Sister Janet – the way that God caused me to approach Him is that He gave me an overwhelming desire to serve Him.  You often hear me praying that way for our unsaved children.  That God would give them an overwhelming desire to serve Him. 

When I was eleven I got saved and served God faithfully until the summer after my freshman year.  I backslid and went into deep, deep sin.  I got to the place where I no longer knew if there was a God.

In my first house fire, my son got burned over 60% of his body.  Flames were shooting around me and I could hear him crying.  I broke out a window and tried to get to him.  I slit my arm and blood was shooting out of me.  I started praying.  God said, “You don’t believe in me?” 

After my second house fire I told God, “I want to serve you, but not because of this bad thing that happened, I want to serve you just because I want to serve you.”  God stopped dealing with me for several years.

At the time I wanted to be delivered from cigarettes.  I tried different things and knew that only God could deliver me.  I worked at the Forest Service.  God continued to work with me.  I had a desire to wear dresses, I desired to quit cussing.  I desired to do right. 

God kept bringing songs to my heart.  I would wake up with my pillow wet.  God helped me to know that it was conviction.  I got snowed in for two weeks.  God worked to give me an overwhelming desire to want to serve him. 

I woke Sunday morning wanting to go to church.  I drove for two hours to get to church.  I was wearing my snow boots and I walked into revival.  I smoked on my way there and as I put out my cigarette, God spoke to me, “This might be the last cigarette you have to smoke.”

I went into service, I knew that I was devil possessed.  The enemy worked on me, “the saints will not accept you.  They don’t want you.”  I told God, “If you really want me, please send someone to talk to me.”  My sister in law at the time was standing there next to me.  She touched my arm and turned to me and that is all that it took. 

I appreciate how God dealt with me and gave me that overwhelming desire to serve Him.

Psa 65:4  Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

We want to stay satisfied and not allow the enemy to trick us into wanting the things of the world.  If there is anything working on you to cause you to grieve the Spirit of God then take a stand against it.  We want to stay satisfied. 

Brother Alex Figeroa Sunday Evening 7/19/15

Brother Alex Figeroa Sunday Evening 7/19/15

Tonight we want to finish the message of the seventh trumpet.  There is so much in it that I could actually preach the whole week.  I will try to conclude it by condensing some things.

This message is in two separate passages.  Tonight we will go to Revelations chapter 10. 

Jesus gave John a revelation.  It is the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Preaching from this book is preaching Christ from a different angle.  It is a history of the Church from the beginning to whenever He comes again. 

You find all the dates on the chart in history when something specific happened.  John saw seven scrolls that were sealed.  No one could open them but Jesus Christ.  “The Lamb of God has prevailed to open the seals.” 

He heard, “Come and see.”  John sees what happened in the first seal, second seal, third seal, and so on until he comes to the seventh seal.  We have already gone through all the seals in history.  We are in the seventh seal time.  The revelation has been completed.  All the seals have been opened and God has shown us the history of the Church. 

People will tell you that all these things will come to pass when Jesus comes again.  They bring up the antichrist, the rapture, and the 1000 years reign.  These things are not true.  There are thousands if not hundreds of thousands books that you can find online or at the store about the antichrist. 

Jesus doesn’t have to ride a horse.  There are no horses in heaven.  Jesus doesn’t have to even move from where He is at.  All he has to do is to speak.  He spoke the world into existence.  He spoke and there was light. 

Jesus sits on the top of His throne; He is in control.  He doesn’t have to have a white horse or any horse.  He doesn’t have to have any army.  Besides, wars today are not fought with horses.  We have missiles.  We have atomic bombs, etc. 

The world will not be destroyed by war.  Jesus made it; He will destroy it.  When the seventh seal was opened a time of silence came upon the people of God.  To break that silence God gave another message to John. 

God gave seven trumpeters to break that silence.  The trumpeters, the angels, are messengers.  This is the last message.  This is about to be over.  A thousand years is like one day.  I have heard that as a child.

We are coming to an end fast.  Think of how bad America is now.  This is not the same country that it was in 1962 when I came here.  I don’t see in America now what I saw when I was a boy.  Our values are being changed.  We have become undermined in every way possible. 

Even Christians are saying there is nothing wrong with same-sex marriages.  America needs to be saved.  Most of the missionaries came from England.  Now it is one of the most empty, cold countries that you have ever seen.  Some of the church buildings in Germany have been converted to hotels or night clubs. 

My wife’s family says, “You need to come to Germany and preach.”  All over Europe the young people are not interested.  Evil has taken over.  It is coming to America.  You talk to people today and they say, “We don’t have to be so harsh.  Quit judging people.” 

We don’t have to judge, we are just saying what God has already said.  We are proclaiming the judgment of God.

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

When the seventh trumpet sounded, several things took place.  “In the days of the voice of the seventh angel…”  There was a time about the sixth seal that the people of God at that time thought, and were honest in believing, that the sounding of the seventh angel would be the end of the world. 

Many said, “There are some things here that we do not understand.  The reason that they did not understand it is because they did not need to understand it.  When the moment comes that you need to understand something to fight something then He will help you to understand.  If God had given you understanding of everything that you were going through, you might never have gotten saved. 

Some would say, “Does getting saved mean you will face problems?”  Life is life.  You will have to face sickness, problems, and economic issues whether you are saved or not.  The difference is that the unsaved don’t have God or peace.  We have peace and hope.  We can pray to God and we receive comfort, consolation, and strength.  He renews our strength because we are waiting on Him.

There are battles that we will have just because we are saved.  He says if you take the cross you will have problems.  Not everyone will accept you.  You will have persecutions for my sake.

He was honest with Paul.  Paul was a terrorist.  He persecuted the church and he was honest in doing it, thinking that he was doing right.  He thought that they were religious fanatics that were trying to tear down the church. 

Paul said, “I persecuted the church of God.”  Why are we the church of God and not the church of Christ?  Christ is the head of the church. Why not call ourselves the church of Christ? 

If you do then you are leaving the Father out and the Holy Ghost out.  If we call ourselves the church of the Father or the church of the Holy Ghost, then you are leaving out Christ.  We call ourselves the church of God because that is the triune God.  We are the church of God.

Paul got saved.  He was converted.  Totally and completely.  Less than four days later, he was in Damascus the capitol of Syria.  It is the oldest city of the world.  Paul was responsible for the death of one of the first martyrs. 

When Paul was converted on the road to Damascus he became blind because of so much light.  When he met the Lord.  There was so much light.  Jesus is the light, there is so much righteousness.

Scales came off his eyes when Ananias came to visit him.  He was baptized.  In those four days of waiting, God was honest with him, “You will suffer for my sake; a lot of persecutions and tribulations await you.”  He told Ananias to pray for Paul because he would go through great tribulations.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ then you will be persecuted too.  Don’t take it personally when people reject you.  They are not rejecting you but the Jesus Christ that is in you. 

You will go through tribulations whether you get saved or not.  The saved will go through some extra tribulations because we are following Jesus Christ who is not popular.

We are coming to an election.  When any candidate expresses too much that they are a Christian then he will not be elected.  We are being persecuted, not with a stick, it is with rejection, labels being put on you.

When the seventh trumpet sounded the mystery of God would be finished.  Some understood that as meaning that that would be the end of the world.  The fact that it says, “In the days…” shows me that it is not the end of the world.  It does not say, “In the day.”  It is in the period of time that the seventh angle with the seventh trumpet is sounding.

It is still sounding in 2015.  There is still the sound going through all the world.  I believe that God has a people.  They are in many countries.  Just because I haven’t heard of them doesn’t mean that they are not God’s church. 

If they are walking according to what God has shown them, living separate from organized religion, and call themselves the church of God, then they are God’s church. 

Some people have logos added to the words, “church of God.”  That is not God’s church.  If there is a pyramid with someone at the top telling preachers what is going to happen this year, then that is not God’s church. 

In the church of God that we are proclaiming, we are not proclaiming that we are the only ones that are saved.  There are people that are saved that are not in the whole truth.  They are held captive by a denomination. 

There are over 26 kinds of Baptist each with a different type of headquarters.  There are 100’s of Pentecostal churches that all speak in tongues.  They say that that is a sign that they have received the Holy Ghost but they are fighting among themselves like dogs.  Something is wrong.  You can speak in any tongue you want to.  The less tongue you use, the better it is. 

In 1730’s John and Charles Wesley started preaching holiness.  It stopped a war between England and France.  They wanted to preserve the fire that was in them so they made a mistake; they acknowledged later that it was a mistake.  They wrote a book of methods.  That is why they are called the Methodist.

Fifty years down the road something happened.  There was a division.  The Methodists went one way and the Westlian Methodist went another way.  From those groups of the Methodists came out the Pilgrim Holiness to fight the worldliness they saw creeping in, and the Nazarene church came out because of worldliness and the things that were happening. 

There are thousands of churches today.  Because of these things that happened, people say that it doesn’t matter what you are called.  In inheritance the name is important.  When someone calls your name then you respond. 

If your wife says, “I am Mrs. Rodriguez” how would you men like it?  You wouldn’t.  You like your name to be in it.  How would God feel if we call ourselves by a name that is not His?  It matters.

People were under the wrong teachings in the fourth seal, fifth seal, sixth seal… they started coming out.  People say, “There are so many churches, how do we know what church is preaching the truth?”  Know the truth for yourself by studying the bible so that when you hear the truth you will know which church is preaching the truth.

The bad news is that according to the New Testament and according to History every fifty years there has been an apostasy.  The first book recorded in the New Testament is first Thessalonians.  Paul is telling the church at that time that an apostasy is coming. 

At that time, 57 years after Christ, people were coming in saying, “Christ is wholly divine, or they would say He is 50% human and 50% divine, or they would say that He is all human.”  Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.  He was completely divine and He was completely human.  There was no 50% about it. 

He got tired.  The ark was made of gold and wood.  Divinity, and humanity.  That is why He can be touched.  He was tempted in all points like we.  Yet without sin.

The Jesus that we will meet in heaven is not the same one that died on the cross.  He was resurrected.  He came out of the tomb.  When he met the disciples, when He met Thomas, He said, “Thrust your hand in my side and feel the holes in my hands.”  His body was already glorified.  He could go through walls.  He did not need doors.  Yet He ate. 

When Thomas had a hard time believing, “Unless I put my hand in His side or see the hole in my hand.”  This is the glorified all divine Jesus Christ yet he said, “Put your hand here.”  Before He came down the earth, he did not have any marks.  Because He loved you, you put those marks there. 

He became a man and He was touched to the point and He dealt with sin.  The holy, all perfect God dealt with sin.  We talk about the perfect Christ and what happened and what will happen in the end.  Some of you may be present when Jesus comes.  Some of us may not be alive.  We are going to be gone. 

He could come tonight.  Everything has already happened.  The antichrist is here already.  John told us that.  Be careful, you can be sitting beside one tonight.  They say in their mouth that they believe but in their heart they are saying, “I don’t believe it.”  Any person, authority, or anything else that rejects that you can live holy is the antichrist.

They say, “Jesus could live holy because he was the son of God.  Whose son are you?  Are you the son of God? 

Jesus was the first born among many brethren.  He is my brother.  He can be yours too.  You have been hearing preachers and tele-evangelists that want your money saying all this weird stuff, “Send me some money; I will send you some soap and when your family comes they will put it on their body when they get a shower and they will be saved.”  In Miami they have a child’s swimming pool that they say, “If you pass through the water you will be a new man, you will be healed of your diseases.” 

When you tell people that they have to quit their sinning, they are hearing something new.  I don’t ask any if they are Christians today.  Many people say that they are Christians.  Jesus is a name.  Christ is not a name, it is a title.  It means the anointed one.  The word, ‘Christians,’ means ‘little anointed ones.’

We are saying that we are the little anointed ones when we say that we are Christians.  If you say that He is in you, then how come you have not quit sin?  It is not complicated, but religion has brought such a smoke screen over our nation and over many nations that people have become confused. 

There is a church; that church is alive, and we are a part of that church tonight.  I am glad that my parents came out of false religion.

The seventh trumpet would sound for a period of time.  Aren’t you glad that the seventh angel is still sounding?  There are two reactions to this message of the seventh trumpet.  One is a positive reaction.

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Heaven, heavenly places:  If you hear this message and obey then you will surrender your kingdom and enter His kingdom.  It is not a literal kingdom.  Anything that your influence touches is your kingdom.  It needs to be surrendered to God.  If you hear this message you may have to surrender the kingdom of your church. 

What is more important?  Obeying God or hanging around with your friends.  I don’t like the word ‘hang.’  Bats hang and opossums.  I am not a bat or an opossum.  I am not hanging.  Some people hang themselves by the neck too.  We don’t want that one.

There are people in the church that have done a favor for them, they were there when they were sick, and the pastor was a nice guy.  Jesus said, “He that does not forsake houses, lands, even their life for me, is not worthy of me.” 

He is first.  He must be first over any pastor or congregation.  Your fidelity must be to Him.  Not to a pastor or a religion.

There are two things that keep us together in unity.  One thing is the truth and the other is love.  Love and truth is enough.  That is why we don’t have to have a headquarter system.  You cannot force a man and woman to be together unless there is truthfulness and love.  If that is there then it will last.  It will even work with those that are not saved. 

There is a positive reaction, the kingdoms of the earth became God’s.  He has a right to take things from you but He does not.  You must yield your kingdom to Him.  Everything belongs to God.  Even your children belong to God.  They are not yours.  You are only doing the job of raising them for His glory.  He can take them away from you.

When you bring them to Him, things change.  Remember Hannah?  Hers is a beautiful message.  Her self-esteem was gone.  She came to the temple and started praying.  Her lips were moving but there was no voice.  The priest thought that she was drunk. 

She told God that if He would give the child then she would give him back.  She footed the bill, supplied the clothes and provided the food.  Because she submitted to God, the Lord gave her more children. 

“If you forsake lands, I will give you mothers and fathers, a hundred fold.”  It is a principal of God.  You plant a corn seed and you get many corn seeds at harvest.  That is the idea of ‘hundred fold’.  It gives way more back then you planted. 

When you give to God your kingdom, your children, your philosophy, your selfishness, you say, “Lord have your way with me.  I am going to surrender my stubbornness, my selfishness…”  God will give you back more than you gave Him. 

I have seen this principal working in my own life.  I give to God and He gives a hundred fold back.  We had a sister that said, “I give to God in spoons, he gives back in shovels.” 

There was a war in history that the English were fighting against the French in open water.  When the French captain said, “I surrender.”  The English captain said, “Then give me your sword.” 

We say, “I surrender all,” but we keep our sword.  When it gets right where you are at, when it gets close then it is hard.  When you have to surrender your comfort and your nest you ask, “Do I have to do this in order for God to bless me?”  If you give God your nest, He will give you a condominium back. 

The positive reaction is that they surrendered their kingdoms.  God wants you to surrender your kingdom. 

God says, “Son do you want me?” 
“Yes.” 
“Then give me all the keys to your possessions.” 
The story goes that the man got them out and gave them to God and said, “These are all my keys.” 
God said, “Very well, what about the tiny one that is not on the ring?” 
The man said, “That one is not important.  It is just a little one.  I gave you the important ones.” 
God said, “I need all the keys or none.  I will give you back the ring unless you give me the little one.”

God is not unjust.  Is it up to the clay to say, “Why have you made me this way?”  Are you going to argue with your creator?  You don’t want to fall into the hands of the living God. 

God can deliver you from anything.  If you fall into the hands of the living God, who is going to deliver you?  The most powerful force in the world is God.  If you fall into His hand because you have stirred up His anger then there is no deliverance.

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Once you surrender you are added forever and ever.  Everything has been surrendered.  He is not coming to the earth to live here forever and ever.  Get that out of our mind.  There is something that is better than this earth. 

Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

People are angry today.  They are angry with God.  They call you homophobics.  They say you are crazy, fanatics, behind the times, the dinosaur.  They say, “We are in the 21^st century.  Do you still believe that the bible is true?”  They say that the miracles that happened didn’t happen the way that they are written.  One preacher reasoned that it was not difficult for the Children of Israel to cross the red sea as at that time it was only eight inches of water.  There was an older lady there that rejoiced that God was able to drown the whole Egyptian army in only eight inches of water.

Satellites have picked up the path of the prints of the million people that traveled from Egypt to Canaan, wandering for forty years. 

Hold onto the truth.  The reward is coming.  Don’t lose your crown.  We have come through many problems and situations; tears have been wept.  We have come too far to turn back.  Please finish.

It is not who gets there first; it is to finish.  If you cannot run then walk.  If you cannot walk then limp.  If you have to get on all fours then finish.  Get it done.  By the grace of God I mean to finish.  We don’t know what is ahead, but we need to finish. 

God says, “Are you angry at me?  Alright I will be angry at you.”  God is angry today.  The bible teaches clear that when God is angry, the wrath of God abides in those that refuse to believe.  Any person that is out of the order of God.  Yes God loves all mankind, but don’t forget that God is a consuming fire. 

We are coming fast to the end.  Let us finish.  Let us go to the end.  Let us finish the message of the seven trumpets.

Brother Figeroa Sunday Morning 7/19/15

Brother Figeroa Sunday Morning 7/19/15

Rev 10:1  And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:

Rev 10:2  And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,

Rev 10:3  And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.

Rev 10:4  And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

Rev 10:5  And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,

Rev 10:6  And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

It is difficult to jump into the book of the Revelations and deal with it.  It is especially difficult for those that have not been exposed to the book of Revelations. 

There are two reasons to preach about this:  the first reason is because through the years we have been losing the message of Revelation.  It is important.  It is the last book in the Bible.  The Bible says, “Woe to the man that adds to this book.” 

It is more than just symbols.  Because we are losing the message, we don’t preach about revelations as much as we should since it is so relevant. 

It is hard to jump into the middle of all this story.  It is a historical picture of the Church.  This message is the message that can bring people out of Babylon and bring the Church into focus.  When John sees Jesus at the beginning of the book, he did not recognize Christ.

Then John actually understood that he was facing his beloved master the one that he laid his head on his breast.  He was in an island where they mined salt that would make people blind.  He was there because of the gospel.  Despite the circumstances that we find ourselves in, God can still come down and strengthen and bless you.

In your darkest hour, you find out who God is.  I don’t want to go through problems and trials.  But I have found that you don’t grow in blessings.  It is in trials and situations that you feel you cannot handle that you grow.  You come out a better father, better mother, a better person for God.

God revealed to John what was going to happen to His church.  In some of this chart, we see what looks light and shiny.  Then we see clouds:  darkness and troubles.  Then the picture changes again and there is more light and understanding.

In the time of darkness the book is closed, the Revelation of God is closed.  Then it begins to open and the more it opens the more light you have.  The Revelation has been opened today.  We don’t have new revelations.  This is it. 

You have to crack the nut to get the meat out so that you can enjoy it.  In spite of everything that has happened, I am so glad that God is who He is.  The message stays true.  People may not stay true, but the message does.  By the grace of God I mean to stay true: preaching, and practicing the message. 

If the Word of God is not what it is then we are nothing more than following the philosophy and belief of someone.  Thank God that He will back up this message Himself.

I would like to preach this morning about the revelation of the seventh trumpet.  We see on the chart there are seven angels.  Each one has a trumpet in their mouth that they are blowing.  The trumpet is a symbol of something that is being proclaimed.  The angels are just messengers, not angelic beings.

The word ‘angel’ that is used in Revelations is not the same word as it is in the other books.  The prophesy is almost over.  We are like Noah in the ark; we are in the waiting period.  At any time the door will be closed.  This is the last chance that the world has to hear this message. 

There are perilous times ahead for the church that I believe we can face if we hear the message of the seventh seal.  There was a book in the fifth chapter of the Revelations that was closed.  It was a scroll, not like the books we have today.  Each scroll had a seal. 

Every time a seal was opened, John was able to see something.  He was crying because no one could open the seals.  No one on heaven, no one on earth was worthy to open the books.  John was crying because no one could open it.  God said, “Stop it.  There is one, the Lion of Judah, who is worthy to open the books. 

When John is told that Jesus is going to open the seals, he hears a voice say, “Come and see.”  Not just come, but come and see something.  The second reason that this message is important is found in Revelations 1:3.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

There is a blessing.  Do you want to be blessed?  That is a reason to get into the book.  It is a good reason to preach on this.  I want to be blessed.  This is the only book that carries this promise.  All the books of the bible are the best book, but there is a promise here that you are going to be blessed if you read it, if you hear it, and if you keep it.

We need this message for a practical purpose.  This is not about you.  It is not about me and my issues, situations, and problems.  It has to do with the church, an army. 

This book is saying what it says to you.  It is the revelations of Jesus Christ.  You are going to see Jesus in a different way, a way that you don’t see Him in the gospel.  You don’t see him here healing or dealing with the sinful world.  His face shone as the sun. 

Even John needed to be shaken up because he saw some things.  When he saw the harlot he was amazed, he felt an attraction to what he was seeing.  Jesus said, “I will tell you about that woman, she is no good.  She is a bad mystery.  She is a harlot, the mother of harlots.  She has a beastly image.” 

Today we are facing this beast in many different ways.  Some face it in the school system, some in their job, and some in the government.  It is doing such a work that we don’t even recognize it.  Representing something as liberty that is nothing but slavery.  We allow it by being quiet and not speaking our mind.  Because of the political correctness police, we are afraid to say anything. 

Everyone is afraid.  I was just talking to my barber who told me that they were afraid to speak because of the two women there.  “We are afraid to say anything that may sound like we are putting women down.” 

We are afraid of a law that does not exist.  It has been sold to us that you cannot read the bible in school or pray in school.  Yes you can.  They can use the system to speak of Halloween, and sex preferences.  But if you say anything about Jesus then they get on you right away. 

Our granddaughter got in trouble in her philosophy class.  Because she spoke out about God.  They took it all the way to the top.  They finally had to back down.  The smoke screen of the law they say exists and does not. 

More things are accepted in churches.  They have taken the altar out and in the front they are allowed to dance.  They are doing it and saying, a repetition of “Jesus I love you,” and repeating and repeating. 

This eighth beast is working.  This is not my message.

In the third seal we have no angel sounding because the church went underground.  When the seventh seal is opened then the seven trumpets came out.  There God reveals that there is a message that needs to take us back to how the church was in its glory in the beginning.

I want to preach on the seventh seal.  The results of the seventh trumpet.  The reason why the trumpets are necessary is because of the result of chapter eight when the Lord shows John our time and a few years before, the modern time of the church. 

When the seventh seal was opened there was silence in heaven.  This is not the literal heaven, in heaven there is no silence, the angels are praising God there 24/7.  This is the Church.

Rev 8:1  And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

Praising God forever will not be boring in heaven.  There is no working there.  There is no carpentry.  Jesus went to prepare a place for us by going to the cross.  He did this to prepare a place for you.  The heaven was already prepared. 

He did this so that where He is. It is “Where I am.”  It is not, “Where I will be.”  “I am in the father’s will.”  “I am in my father and my father is in me.”  I will prepare a place for you through my blood and resurrection so that where I am there will you be also.

What will we do with the millions of years in heaven?  It is so wonderful, awesome, great, amazing, majestic, magnificent, incomprehensible.  Heaven is wonderful, so deep, so wide so immeasurable, indescribable, all these things.  Heaven is so indescribable that we read more about hell in the Word of God than we read about heaven because it cannot be described. 

I got satisfaction and reassurance from God.  Because, “Son I cannot describe heaven.  But you will be in eternity with me.  There will be no clocks or calendars in heaven.  There is no time in heaven.  Jesus came into time.  Every day after millions and millions of years will be as the first day.” 

Children get touched by the first impression in Disney World.  They see something that they have never seen before.  The first time I came to Montana, I would cry tears by seeing the wonderful things of God.  They are majestic.  When I saw the redwoods in California, I thought, “What a mighty God we serve.”  I begin to get used to this.  It is not new anymore. 

In heaven it will always be as the first impact.  Do you remember the first time you saw her?  The one that is sitting next to you?  The first time that your eyes met?  For you sisters, the first time that you saw him?  Something clicked and you don’t know what it was. 

Something clicked and you say, “This is not the normal guy.”  You didn’t see all the imperfections that you know are there now.  The first contact, the eyes.  That thing wears off after a while.  Sister Karen, you don’t say, “Wow.”  When Brother Kelly comes in sweaty from the garden.

In heaven it is as the first time that you saw it all the time.  It never gets old.  It is hard to describe it.

The enemy is trying to keep us from being the Church of God.  He is trying to destroy our identity, everything that we stand for.  It is happening slowly, but it is happening before our very eyes.  It is being eaten up, eaten up.

The message for today, the seventh trumpet and seventh angel.  What does He have to say to us?  There was a silence in heaven for seven years.  There was a silence in praise, in the preaching of the judgments of God. 

There are seven vials where God is pouring out His wrath.  God is pouring out His judgment: His opinion about things. What God thinks of certain things is His judgment.  It is not chastisement, it is “This is the truth, if you do not obey then there are consequences.” 

You will be judged by what is written.  Since you are going to be judged, you need to get your nose into the book and figure out what it says.

The reason for the trumpet is to break the silence.  If you play the violin I might go to sleep.  I could take a siesta right in front of you.  The trumpet has a strong sound.  If you go to the army there is not a violin saying, “It’s time to wake up.”  There is a trumpet.

The trumpet is a sound of warning.  It is warning the people.  There were two silver trumpets in the Old Testament that were sounded to draw people together.  The sounding of the true word of God will bring us to the same position.  Even though our cultures, thoughts, and personal opinions may be different, ee can be in one cause and back each other instead off stabbing each other.

They began to sound the trumpet.

Rev 8:1  And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

Rev 8:2  And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.

They were given the trumpets to break the silence.  There are things that we need to stand against. We cannot allow the manipulation of preachers to hinder us.  There are times that I have to stand in a place of solitude. 

We have to break the silence even in Sunday school.  You have to get into the nitty gritty.  If you don’t then others will teach them and they will learn about it in their own way. 

The school is not better qualified to teach the children about sex than their mother and their father.  They have an agenda to preach.  We have to get over this taboo stuff and teach them the right way and the wrong way and make it so clear that they will understand it and not be ashamed of it. 

The blowing of the trumpet is sounding forth the Word of God.  There is a way to blow the trumpet without saying, “I am a Christian and from now on I don’t want you telling jokes.” 

I remember a man that wanted to see souls saved.  He was a barber.  “Tomorrow,” he told God, “The moment someone comes I will witness to them.”  When the first man came he pulled out the razer and started sharpening it and asked the man, “Are you ready to meet God?”  That was unwise. 

We have to blow the trumpet, at our family reunions, everywhere.

We sometimes specialize in don’ts.  There are so many do’s.  They need to know what is happening that is wonderful.  If you start talking about the wonderful service that you had, then they get fidgety.  They want to hear about you being dead and dry and not having a good time.

Rev 8:5  And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

We are the earth.  If the fire of God is in you, then how come you are sleeping and don’t have an expression in your face at any time?

The fire came into the earth.  The people had quit expression the praises to God as they should have. There are some molds that need to be broken.  He will not move His presence into the little mold that you have created.  God is not in a box.  We cannot put Him in the box.  We cannot say, “This is the right way to sing a song.”  You sing the song as the Spirit moves you to do.

Halleluiah is the word that contains every element of praise that there is.  Hosanna means praise God for what He is going to do.  You may say, “It is not my personality, or in me to get excited.”  That depends.  For some things you get very excited, very vocal.  Yet you come to the service and it doesn’t come out.  “God knows what I have deep inside me.”  It is so deep that it doesn’t come out.

Now there were voices, thunderings.  Now there was noise.  Some worship demands noise and sound.  Not every service has to be noisy.  The Spirit of God does not know personalities or cultures.  It will move into any nationality. 

The Anglo Saxon communities are more quiet?  Except at ball games, parties, tailgating….

Silence had come so they got into a rut.  To the point that when you came to a worship service everything was quiet.  When someone prayed you practically knew what they were going to say. 

Blow the trumpet.  “Thank God that I am saved and sanctified.”  Jesus was tempted and He was the Son of God.  Just because you are sanctified does not mean that you will not have trials or be tempted.

Samuel was praying to God.  God spoke in the thunder.  The same thing happened in the Revelations.  John was going to write what the thunders said.  God said don’t write that, seal it until the day of the seventh trumpet.  Now we understand what we could not understand 60 years ago.

There was an earthquake.  We have been praying for a revival.  According to what we are reading to you, an earthquake should come.  In an earthquake things move.  Some things come up.  Somethings come down.  Sometimes we are influenced by people and they need to come down from the pedestal that they are on. 

The church cannot afford to be in a rut.  No matter your age, you need to be moved.  Let the church be the church.  This is His house.  This is God’s house.  We cannot behave here as we behave in our homes.  There is something special here.  It is a sacred place.  In Korea people do not bring their shoes with them when they come into the church. 

An earthquake came. 

Rev 8:6  And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

Rev 8:7  The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

In order to blow the trumpet, we have to prepare ourselves.  We have to know how to blow the trumpet.  We have to prepare ourselves.  When you go to work, prepare yourself to blow the trumpet. Be anointed from God to deal with the children, with the young people. 

We have to prepare ourselves in such a way that they can acknowledge, “Something is here; it has to be God.”  “Why are these tears coming out?  I am not pushing them out.  There has to be something stirring in my soul.” 

God is trying to get across to you that He is real.  It is not a philosophy.  He is God.  God can do what we cannot in the soul.  God has your number.  He had mine one day.  Give heed to the seventh trumpet message. 

I will get to the message tonight.  This sound needs to be heard.  To carry one it takes four.  If you get healed from your literal issues and attitudes, we won’t have to carry you anymore.  You can carry others.  You can be a pillar.  Not just in revival service, it is because you have the anointing of God in you.

God is trying to tell you something.  He wants a reaction from you.  Even just to tell Him, “I heard you.”