Tony Cuffori "Great Counter Act" 2-24-24

The speaker expresses excitement and gratitude for being at the location. They begin by discussing the concept of counteracting and its definition. They then highlight the current state of the world, including violence, shootings, hatred, and uncertainty. They emphasize the need for hope and introduce Jesus as the source of that hope. The speaker mentions the Great Commission, encouraging continuous action and making disciples of all nations. They stress the importance of being a light in a dark world and breaking down discrimination. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Thank you very much. Well good morning everybody. I have to say, I have been so excited to come here for such a long time. I've never been here before, first time here, and I walk into this place and I'm like, are you kidding me? You guys know you're spoiled. This is absolutely awesome. I've heard the story of how you got the facility, and praise the Lord, the facility is spectacular. But look at the people here. You guys have just been so loving, so kind, so warm, and I want to thank you so much for your love. I really do. But let's do this. What do we always do before we dig into scripture? We pray, right? Heavenly Father, Lord, we want to thank you once again. This is your Sabbath. We want you to be honored. We want you to be glorified. But we know, Lord, that you have created this Sabbath for the benefit of us. And I just pray, Lord, that you would go so deep into all of our hearts, that the Holy Spirit would speak to us directly in such a love, kind way, that you would bring true healing in all of our lives. So Lord, again, please hide me behind the cross, as I do not want to hinder your work. And I just ask, Lord, that you would speak through me, that you would be honored, and that we could all just praise your name. We love you. We want to thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right. So we're going to get right into things. So somebody help me out. If you look at the bulletin, what is today's message called? Feel free. With your evangelistic voice, what is it? The Great Counteract. All right. So I want to ask the question, now, who here, by show of hands, has heard of the Great Controversy? But how many of you have heard of the Great Counteract, by show of hands? You will hear about it today, obviously. Now we know, as far as the Great Controversy goes, that we're in the middle of this huge spiritual war right now, where the very first war that started ever started in heaven and will be finished right here on earth, and you and I are caught up in that battle. That's known as the Great Controversy between good and evil. But the Great Counteract is something completely different that God is longing for his people, you and I, to be a part of today, so I'm really excited to kind of unfold this. But before we dig into the Great Counteract, let's define what counteract means, just so we have that in the back of our minds. So here's just the definition on Webster's for counteract. It says, to act against something in order to reduce its force or to neutralize it. In other words, it produces an opposite effect. So here's an example. I'm Italian and French, so I'm guilty, I apologize, I use my hands a lot when I speak, but I want to make sure that we have this illustration. If someone or something or a movement is going in one direction, to counteract that would to be to stop it and to what? Bring it to go into the opposite direction. So that's what it means to counteract. Please keep that in the back of your mind, because that's going to be really, really important. So, first of all, would we agree in the times that we're living in that, you know, spirit of prophecy is just unfolding before our eyes with everything that's going on in the world? Are we seeing the times that we're living in? I mean, let's really take a step back and reflect the world that we live in. First of all, there's so much violence. Now, not only is there violence, but who here heard of the mass shootings that just took place in Maine? Newsflash. My wife was one minute from where that scene was, and it really impacted. We know people that were involved in that situation. It's totally different to hear something on the news versus experiencing something. But brothers and sisters, there is so much violence, there's mass shootings, there's hatred, there's evil, there's war, there's death, there's diseases that are not curable. There's so much political and economic uncertainty. If there's ever a time to be sure or certain in something, it's right now, because the world is craving for a hope, because this world right now is dark, it's dying, and it's broken. Now, if I were to stop the message right now, it'd probably be like the biggest doom and gloom message you've ever heard, right? But brothers and sisters, this message is about hope, because we have a great promise, and we again have a hope that this world is craving at this time. You know who we have? We have Jesus Christ, absolutely. Now the Bible says, first of all, anybody know 1 John chapter 4, verse 8, one of my favorite scriptures? God is love. God is love. The Bible says He's compassionate. The Bible says that He calls us friends, which means He wants a personal relationship. Not only is He compassionate, He calls us friends, the Bible says He's specifically chosen us, we are made in His image, and He wants to bring healing into our lives. Why do you think the God of love, the compassionate God, that's sympathetic, wants to bring healing? Because there's an enemy that wants to seek, kill, and destroy, and God loves us so much He wants to protect us from that. That's the God that we serve. So when we're sharing our faith with other people, we better, in love, be pointing to them, to a person, a God that's compassionate, that absolutely loves them. Because there's nothing more the enemy loves than when people in the world today, and I've been guilty of this, where I've blamed God for the things that Satan was doing behind the scenes. But brothers and sisters, we are living in a time where we're to expose the enemy while we're lifting up Jesus Christ, because we are in this great controversy. And as this world is dying, again, Jesus and the gospel is the only thing that can bring true healing. So I loved the introduction. We didn't plan this. When we went to the scripture reading, it's known as the great what? Commission. And it sounds like you guys have probably heard about it, because somebody, I think it was you that mentioned, hey, we know this scripture. So let's turn to Matthew chapter 28, Matthew chapter 28, and we're going to look at something here. We might look at it with a little bit of a different lens. All right. So when we're in Matthew chapter 28, with your evangelistic voice, say amen once you're there. Amen. All right. So here we are. We're going to look at verses 19 through 20. And then I'm going to ask a really important question. But let's read this. Now, first of all, the ink is what color red. So who's speaking right here? This is the God of love, the compassionate God that's chosen us. We're made in his image. This is the one that's speaking right now. Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Who here has heard of this before? All right. Praise the Lord. Right. But I want to ask a question, and I actually want to give everybody just a couple of seconds to really think about what your answer would be. You don't have to yell it out. You don't have to shout it out. But if you were to think of the greatest act of disobedience in all of the Bible, what would it be? I'm going to give you just about 15 seconds. The greatest act of disobedience in all of the Bible. What do you think that would be? Couple of things come into mind. All right. Don't share it. We don't want to get anybody in trouble here right now. I have to ask another question for my own safety. Are we in a safe environment right now? Do you want to know the greatest act of disobedience in all of the Bible? That's not convincing. It's like crickets over here. Do you guys really want to know the greatest act of disobedience? You want to know. All right. We got we got a couple of people that want to know. And I'm saying this in love. But the greatest act of disobedience is when the church as a whole. I'm not specifically pointing to this church, but the church as a whole is not following the Great Commission. A lot of times people think of all these different sins. And yes, the world is getting worse and worse and worse. But you know what's not helping? There's an absence of God's people who are supposed to be sharing the light and the truth. And here we are looking at all the bad things that are going on in the world when God in love is saying, my people, be a light to the world. I hope that hits the heart, because again, and I'm a part of this, we're all in this together. Now, let's look. Let's look at the Great Commission again. What's the first word in the Great Commission? Go. Has anybody ever looked that up in Strong's? It's a verb and the tense of it is not to go once. It actually means to continuously go the Bible. So like, you know, sometimes we treat the Great Commission like, hey, I've done my one good deed for life. I'm all set or I've done that one good thing. I'm OK now. But God is calling his people to continuously go. I would encourage you in your Bible, write the word continuously in front of the word go, because that's what it means. God's calling us to continuously go. And I love this. Not only are we to continuously go, but to make disciples, to train, to educate, to equip others. And it says to make disciples of all what all the nations we sometimes like read that so quickly. You know what that's saying? This is what's saying, make disciples of all nations. We serve a God that doesn't discriminate. He has his people everywhere and we're to break down those walls of discrimination, which still is on this planet, believe it or not, maybe not so much here, but it is on this planet. But God respects all people and we're to be a part of that equation and encourage everybody to be a part of this great message. So we're to teach, coach, educate, and we're to what? In the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit. What a mission God has given us. So this is just one of the things. This is one of the purposes that God has specifically given the church to continuously go and mingle with people. But I want to go over a couple of other scriptures because there's multiple purposes that God has given us. And I'm telling you, we are absolutely blessed to be living in the times that we're living in. And you're going to see that. So let's go to another scripture. Let's go to Ephesians chapter three. So Ephesians is after first and second Corinthians, you'll have Galatians, and then let's turn to Ephesians. And what we're going to do is we're going to dissect scripture. I love really digging into scripture because you know, God doesn't waste ink. You can read the same scripture over and over and over. And there's so many layers to it. And I just love it. Absolutely love it. So everybody in Ephesians chapter three, because we're going to be camping out here for a few moments. All right. Amen. All right. So what we're going to do, we're going to read verses eight through 11. But guess what we're going to do first. We're actually going to read verse 11. I know some people might be like, what are you doing? Sometimes we want to get the main point that that bullet point, and then we want to back up, read it in context so we can really allow the Holy Spirit to go deep into our hearts as far as what he's trying to convey to us. So verse 11, here it is. You ready? According to the eternal purpose, which he accomplished in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Let's stop right there. We should all have goosebumps right now. God is saying that there is a eternal purpose. There's nothing more vital, nothing more important than this eternal purpose. Now that word eternal, a lot of times that's associated with eternity, right? So this message is to bring everlasting hope. You guys as excited as I am right now? All right. Amen. I heard a whisper. Are you guys excited about this? Amen. All right. Praise the Lord. So let's look at this. Here it is. According to the eternal purpose, which he accomplished in Christ Jesus, our Lord, who here wants to know what is the eternal purpose that God has for the church by show of hands? So what do we need to do? We need to back up and read it in context. So let's go to verse eight. Now somebody help me out. You know, if my family was here, my wife would always say, boy, he needs a lot of help. So I'm going to need your help here. But who wrote or who is speaking in the book of Ephesians? Paul is right. Watch this in verse eight because Paul speaking to me, to Paul, who am less than the least of all the saints. I want to stop right there because that is precious. What type of spirit is Paul exhibiting right here? Humility, a humble spirit. So let's let's let's kind of build on what we're learning. We just learned that God has an eternal purpose. A part of that eternal purpose is to have a humble people, brothers and sisters. I say this in love. And again, I'm not pointing up to this church location specifically, but sometimes there's just too much pride in the church. But God is looking for humble soldiers. So let's build on that verse eight to me, to Paul, who am less than the least of all the saints. This grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles or the unbelievers, the unsearchable riches of Christ. So again, let's build this. Let's let's build on what we're reading. God's eternal purpose is to have a humble people who consider it a privilege to preach to unbelievers the riches of Christ known as the gospel message. All right, let's continue now. Verse nine. And to make some see what is the fellowship. Oh, brothers and sisters, you better you better call me out quicker than that. I see a head on. What did I say? What was wrong? Some. All right. You guys better be picking this up. I'm Italian. I could be lying the whole time I'm up here. All right. We need to make sure we see it with the word of God. Verse nine. And to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ. So, again, let's back up and let's add everything that we're learning. God has an eternal purpose that he's going to have a people with what type of spirit that are humble, that are going to preach the great news of the gospel to unbelievers. And now in verse nine, there's a mystery. That's been hidden, but we know that God's a God of love and he doesn't like secrets. He wants to reveal secrets to his prophets, but he also wants to reveal himself. So now verse 10 is kind of like the main point. Here we go to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God. I'm going to repeat that the manifold wisdom of God. That's another way of saying the character of God. So knowing that in verse 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God or the character of God might be made known by the what by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. All right. Let's rewind. Let's put everything we've learned so far. This is why dissecting scripture is so much fun. God has what type of purpose, an eternal purpose. Right. And we're part of that equation and part of that eternal purpose. God has a plan that he's going to have a humble people that are going to preach the good news of the gospel to unbelievers, because there's a mystery that needs to be revealed to the world. That mystery is the character of God and God's going to use the church. God's going to use the church. Listen for it to fully reflect and reveal his character. Does that sound a little familiar from what we read earlier? I'm pointing to you, Kevin, reviewing Harold right here. God is waiting for his church to fully reflect and reveal his character. Now, let's again be sensitive to this. Why hasn't Jesus come back yet? Why hasn't he come back yet? Because the church hasn't fully reflected and revealed God's character and the church isn't following the Great Commission as a whole. For every truth that God has, Satan has a what? A counterfeit. So as God is calling us to go, what's the enemy want us to do? To sit tight. OK, so we're again in this great controversy. We're in this great controversy about what God has for the church. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 60. So I know this is the Old Testament and some people like, oh, man, I don't know the Old Testament. But I'm telling you, in Isaiah chapter 60, what we are about ready to read is very relevant for us today. So again, Isaiah is a little to the right of the book of Psalms. And I want you to see this with your own eyes, because this is just so powerful. Everybody in Isaiah chapter 60. All right. Praise the Lord. All right. So Isaiah chapter 60. Here we go. Verse one. Arise, shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. All right. So let's stop. Let's let's dissect this. Sometimes I think we go through scripture a little too fast. We really need to kind of embrace what God's trying to teach us here. All right. So pop quiz. But good news, it's open test and you guys get to work together. According to verse one, look at it carefully. Stick to the context. Where is the source of the light coming from? According to verse one only. Bingo. The Lord. Very, very important. OK, the reason why I bring this out is sometimes people get a little confused when you read Matthew chapter five or 16, where it says, let your light so shine that you may do that. The world will see your good works. I'll be very transparent. When I first read that scripture, I had a poor understanding of the gospel. And I was like, oh, man, I hope I don't disappoint God. It feels like I got to, like, put on my boots and tie them tight and do the best that I can, that I better perform. It's all about me, me, me. But we know that's not the gospel. So the question is, when we're thinking of Matthew five, 16, let your light shine so the world can see your good works. Who's the light? Jesus, that's John 8, 12. So when it's saying, let your light shine so they can see your good works, that's the gospel message. The light is Jesus Christ. Let the light live inside of us. In other words, allow Jesus to come into our hearts and by his power, nothing that we can do from self work, but by his power, we can actually do things or accomplish things that we could never do apart from him. And you know what some of those accomplishments are? You might chuckle at this, but this is truth. We can actually be nice to one another only if Jesus is really working in our hearts, because I can tell you right now, I have seen me without Jesus in my life. And I am miserable, poor, blind and wretched. And I guarantee you, if we are very true to ourselves right now, if Jesus isn't inside of us, people can just plain out be nasty. That's our sinful nature. But God loves us so much. He's invested in us that he doesn't want to leave us in the condition that we're in. And he wants to come inside and take the wheel and bring true healing. Again, that's the God that we serve. So let's get back to Isaiah chapter 60, verse one, and then we'll pick it up. So arise and shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. So verse one is a group of people that are embracing the gospel message because Jesus is living inside of them. But watch this. Now there's a movement where God has a people that he's working through. So let's go back to verse two, verse two, it says, but for behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and the deep darkness, the people, but the Lord will arise over you and his glory will be seen upon you. In verse two, it says darkness shall cover the earth. We already talked about this, but are we living in some dark times right now? But brothers and sisters, this is why today's message is called the great counteract. And I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I want to give us an illustration. Let's just pretend I know right now this is like a beautiful sanctuary and there's just so much nature and this is absolutely gorgeous. You guys are tremendously blessed. But let's just pretend for a moment that this room right now is pitch black. I'm talking as dark as dark gets. We can't even see the hand in front of us. So imagine this room. All of us are in this room, but it's pitch black. We can't see a thing. But someone, one person lights a match in this room that's completely dark. Where's the focus on? On the light. So let me ask you this question. What's more powerful, the light or the darkness? The light. That's a good answer because Jesus is the light, right? So we know we're safe with that answer. But here's the key. Don't miss this point. As this world continues to get darker and darker and darker, because that's what the Bible teaches. That's not necessarily doom and gloom. Remember, we serve a God of love that's compassionate. And the Bible says he wants the harvest to be ripe when he comes back. He doesn't want slim pickings. He wants the he wants tons of people to be in heaven. So as this world continues to get darker and darker and darker, here's the point. God's going to use what the enemy is creating against him to draw more people to the kingdom. Check this out. Watch this. The world gets darker and darker and darker. Guess what? God's going to have a people that's going to be a what to the world, a light to the world. A light to the world. So as this world gets darker and darker, anybody with an open heart is going to be attracted to the light, how Jesus is working through us. Notice that God always uses what the enemy creates against him to bring more people into the kingdom. Here's another example. This is a pattern that God does all the time. What was the very worst thing that happened to Jesus Christ? What did the Romans do to him at the very end? They crucified him. Right now, essentially, is being put to death a good thing or a bad thing? The bad thing. Right. But again, God always uses what the enemy does against him for the benefit of his creation. As Jesus died on the cross, which is absolutely horrible because of that, now a majority of people, if we choose, can have what everlasting life. God always uses what the enemy creates against him to draw more people into the kingdom. Is that principle still relevant today? I can tell you it is. Now, I want to be very careful with this next statement. I know I'm in I like interaction, but right here, I would say no interaction just just in case. So who here remembers COVID-19? We're still dealing with it, right? Now, I can tell you right now, my family, no one is in church. Prior to COVID-19, they wanted nothing to do about religion. They wanted nothing to hear. They didn't want to hear about Jesus, God, nothing. But when COVID-19 hits, cities were closed. People are lined up like cattle at Walmart. And the environment has changed. Guess what happened? They started asking questions. Why? Because the environment changed and they needed some type of understanding or some type of hope. Brothers and sisters, COVID-19 is rated PG-13 for what's around the corner. Brothers and sisters, COVID-19 is rated PG-13 for what's around the corner. But it doesn't matter because whatever happens, God's going to have a humble people who care about him. They're going to trust in him and his strength. And as everyone's life is, it seems like the world is falling apart. There's going to be a calm people that are just loving how God's working in their hearts. And they're going to be able to point people to the Savior. That's what we're living in right now. That is so we are living in some fascinating times. So that is why today's message is called the great counteract, because what God is longing for as a church body is when the enemy creates something that the body will learn how to use it against the enemy to counteract what the enemy has created. Use it against him to point people to Jesus. So when there's more problems that will occur, according to Bible prophecy, let's use it to our advantage as a church because it's an open invitation to people whose hearts might be open to receive truth. Does that make sense? So God is longing for us to counteract what the enemy is doing. Let's look at another purpose for the church. Let's go back to Ephesians in the New Testament. Ephesians. So that's again, right after the book of Galatians. And we're going to go to Ephesians chapter four. I don't know, you guys should get word. I'm a little too excited right now. Praise the Lord. Love the Word of God. So much hope in it. So much hope in it. Like I said before, as we turn to Ephesians chapter four, think about how many people do not have the hope that we have right now. And then they're experiencing everything that's taking place on planet Earth right now. Brothers and sisters, if there's a time to shine, for God's sake, by allowing him to come into our hearts and to share the gospel message, because that's why this world, there's so much depression, there's so much anxiety, but God's going to have a people that's going to be humble. That's willing to share the gospel message that will bring true healing to the hearts of people. All right. So Ephesians chapter four. Boy, I wish we could spend all day just on this one chapter. One of my favorite chapters. It's talking about unity. It's talking about specifically how the Holy Spirit has given everybody different gifts. Now, who here has heard that the Holy Spirit gives out different gifts? We've all heard that, right? But let's think about something. Do we ever wonder why the Holy Spirit gives different gifts to different people? Sometimes, again, we just we breathe through the scriptures, but we don't really think about what God's illustrating here. Let me tell you why. First of all, it'd be really boring if we were all the same. That's first and foremost. God is not about now. Now, listen to me again. I'm going to try to be sensitive when I say this. God is not looking for Rambos or Mavericks or independent people to do church their own way. The purpose of the Holy Spirit, by giving different gifts to different people, is he's telling us that when we come together as a church body, ministry is what? More effective. So the fact that God is distributing different gifts is his way of saying, you know what? I want my body not to be independent. I'm not looking for independent Rambos or Mavericks. I'm looking for a body to come together because we complement one another when we're together. That's what Ephesians chapter four talks about. So let's look at it. Verse 16. Verse 16. This is what it says. It says from whom some of the body joined a little bit quicker. Who was it? Somebody called me out. You called me out. Praise the Lord. From whom what? The whole body joined and knit together. All right. Let's stop right there. Here's a confession. And I know we're in the wrong church for that. But here's a confession. I do not knit, but I've seen people do it. All right. And I know when you knit, if there's a like a piece of string that's kind of like not closely knit in or tied together, it affects the whole thing that's being built. This is how tight God wants his church to be. That we are knit together. We are joined together by which every joint supplies according to the effective working. All right. Let's stop right there. Now there's so much to chew in verse 16, but in context, verse 16 is telling us how is ministry more effective or it says effective working. Well, here's the answer. It says effective working by which every part does its share. What does that mean? I want to open that up. What does that mean? Every part does its share. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So every part does its share is everybody is involved in ministry. What makes ministry more effective? And this is why the Holy Spirit has given us different gifts. When we come together and we're joined together, it makes ministry more effective because every part is doing his or her share. What's the result if every person is doing his or her share? The next line, it says it causes growth of the body or it causes growth of the what? The church. So ministry is more effective when everybody is involved in ministry. That's not just the pastor, not the elders or just the elders or just the deacons, but every person is is vital for God's work. Every single person. God has given you a specific purpose in your life. You might not realize it right now, but he has given you a purpose. And that is to mingle with people, to be a part of a church movement that can shed true love and true light in the times that we live in. And it's so exciting. Praise God for that. So not only is God looking for his church to follow through with the Great Commission that we continuously go, not only is he waiting for his church to reflect and reveal his character to this broken world, not only is he waiting for the church to be a light to a dark world, but did you know God's also looking for an attitude change? Now, I want to be extremely careful with this next statement. We're in a safe place here, right? We sure about that? There's no food pantry here, no like tomatoes come up or anything like that. All right, this is good. So this would not be the time to point to your spouse. OK, you'll understand in a second. Who here knows of an individual or person that sometimes might need a little bit of an attitude adjustment? Now you see why I'm saying do not point to your wife or your spouse. Anybody here ever experience somebody that's like, man, you know, that person can use a little bit of an attitude adjustment. We we we we we've probably all seen this before. Right. But let me let me bring out a point here. What if I told you that the biggest attitude adjustment that needs to take place is actually within the church? Would you believe that? It's there. Let's go back to Isaiah. We're going like Isaiah and Ephesians, Isaiah and Ephesians, back to Isaiah, chapter eight. Actually, Isaiah, chapter six, forgive me, Isaiah, chapter six. Amen. And right here, Isaiah, who's a prophet, is having a conversation with a prophet. Now, what we're about ready to read, this is the attitude that God is longing for from his church. It's verse eight. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, who is this person that you are going to use to adjust your attitude? And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. And I'm going to read this verse to you. Each person has a special gift. And God wants us to learn how to develop that gift to encourage others to come to Jesus Christ. That is what God is waiting for right now. And here's the last purpose that I want to talk about as we begin to wrap things up. Now, don't get too excited, because that usually means that my other church is back in a day that I have another two hours. But here's the beginning of that. There's another great purpose that God has specifically given the church. Now, I loved it. I don't know if this is by design or on purpose or what. But how many of the angels? Was that an accident? Did you guys put three on purpose? You did. Why? The three angels' messages. Now, again, I want to be very careful with this. We have learned so much as a church body. We have so much precious truth from the Bible. But I have to tell you, sometimes the way we tell somebody that's never heard the three angels' messages, we're not exactly polished with the way that we present it sometimes. Because sometimes it comes across this way. You better go to church on Saturday. If you don't, you're going to be eternally lost. You better do this or else. It's a doom and gloom message. Have you heard that? Unfortunately, I've heard that. But I'm telling you right now, God the God of love, we've already talked about it. He's compassionate. He calls us friends. We're made in His image. He's specifically chosen us for a purpose. So if God's a God of love and He has this message, this message better represent love. Otherwise, we're not displaying it or conveying it in a correct manner. Does that make sense? So let me show you something. In fact, let's do this. Go to Revelation 14. Revelation chapter 14. Last book of the Bible. Revelation chapter 14. I want to show you a way to really get people excited about the three angels' messages and how we can show it's all about love. It's not doom and gloom, okay? So I'm going to read verse six. Revelation 14, verse six. Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel. So in other words, that everlasting gospel, there's a message that brings everlasting life, everlasting hope, the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. All right, so watch, look up here for a second. On Revelation 14, verse six, there's an everlasting gospel message, this message of hope that this world is craving and that this world is dying and that this world is falling apart. And now I'm going to go over here and on verses 14 through 16, let's read it. Then I looked and behold a white cloud, and on the cloud sat one like the son of man, having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, thrust in your sickle and reaped, and he said, I have come for you to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. So he who sat on the cloud, thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. What's being expressed in verses 14 through 16? What's happening? The harvest, which is referring to what? End of the world, which is referring to Jesus' second coming. Brothers and sisters, watch this. This is a message that's going to bring life and hope for anyone with an open heart. Verse six, there's an everlasting gospel message to go to the whole world, a message that's going to bring life and hope because this world's falling apart. Then verses 14 through 16, it's Jesus' second coming, which means whatever is in between verse six and 14 is God's very last day message of love for planet earth before he returns. Brothers and sisters, you could say that there's no ahead of message, get into the boat. But there's one message and it's all based on love. How is the three angels' messages based on love? Very simple. First angel's message. It talks about the creator who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea. The first angel's message is about God wanting to unite with his creation. You know, we are his prized possessions. He loves us so much and he wants to spend time with us. Think of that, the creator of the universe loves us so much he wants to spend time with us. That's all about love. Now, you don't have to raise your hand, but I bet some of you have probably heard of Danielle Steele who writes those romance stories. And if you haven't, good for you. But Danielle Steele has nothing on the greatest love story right here in Revelation chapter 14. So God loves us so much, he wants to spend time with us. That's the first angel's message. Well, what about the second angel's message? The second angel's message is about the world. It says, Babylon is fallen is what? It's fallen. Now, we know Babylon means confusion. We know there's this antichrist system that's causing the world to drink wine or embrace false doctrines. But think about this from a love standpoint. As this world is confused because there's an end time application here and the world is fallen, we have a creator that wants to pick us up. He loves us so much, he wants to bring true healing. So the second angel's message along with the first is all about love. What about the mark of the beast, the image of the beast and worshiping the image of the beast? Well, you know how it says the torment of them will ascend forever and ever and ever. They'll be turned to ashes. Well, the smoke, excuse me, is a result of ashes. So that symbolic language for God is saying he doesn't want to be eternally separated from his creation. Brothers and sisters, it's how we present the three angels' messages. And sometimes we don't give this foundation. We just say, you better go to church on Saturday or else. We need to make sure they're falling in love with Jesus, the creator. That's why it's the first angel's message and the second and then the third. Sometimes we do the reverse. We try to do three, two, one, countdown. And usually when there's a countdown, there's some type of an explosion. Well, that's what's gonna happen, bad things. So, we're gonna do three, two, one and three. Follow the plan, one, two and three. Very, very important. All right. So, another point. As the antichrist system is causing the whole world to drink wine, again, symbolic language. That means to embrace false doctrine according to Proverbs. Did you know that Jesus wants us to be thirsty too? So, let's read this, John 7, verse 35. If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. This is Revelation 22, 17. And the spirit and the bride say, come. And let him who hear say, come. And let him who thirst, come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. So, watch this. So, if we're just consuming the wine, drinking the wine, the wrath of his fornication, and that wine leads to death, God wants us to drink pure water, which points to him, which points to eternal life. So, remember, for every truth that God has, Satan has to counterfeit, it's in every aspect of the Bible. The wine, either we're gonna be drinking the wine, or we're gonna be consuming Jesus by drinking the living water. Ah, so powerful. So, this is the beginning of powerful. Just a couple of more powerful quotes here from Spirit of Prophecy. This is from Acts of the Apostles, page 219. It says, at the present time, when the end of all things earthly is rapidly approaching, Satan is putting forth desperate efforts to ensnare the world. He's putting forth many plans to occupy minds and to divert attention from the truths essential to salvation. So, what is he doing? He just wants to divert the attention. He's trying to occupy our minds. Here's another one. Testimonies for the Church, volume one, page 260. And brothers and sisters, please listen to this. This is so powerful. Satan is now seeking to hold God's people in a state of inactivity. Satan is now seeking to hold God's people in a state of inactivity to keep them from acting their part in spreading the truth that they may at last be weighed and in the balance found wanting. So, as God is calling us to continuously go, which is the Great Commission, Satan is now seeking to hold God's people in a state of inactivity. Meanwhile, this world's getting darker, slowly and darker. There's opportunities all around us. We look at the obituary pages and they're getting bigger and bigger. I remember growing up as a kid, it was one page. Now, every single day, it's three pages because this world is filled with disease and darkness. Brothers, if there's a time to act, it's right now. And I want us to be serious about this. Who wants Jesus Christ to come back soon, honestly? All right, do we really want that to happen? Do you know there's a formula to make that happen according to spirit of prophecy and the Bible says the same thing? Let me read it. This is Evangelism, page 699. This right here is the formula to have Jesus come back soon. It says, when we have entire, wholehearted consecration to the service of Christ, God will recognize the fact by an outpouring of his spirit without measure. This is known as the latter rain. Who here is just craving for the latter rain to occur like what happened at Pentecost and then Jesus is coming right after, right? But this will not be, in other words, there won't be the outpouring of the Holy Spirit if we continue to do what the rest of the statement says. But this will not be, in other words, there'll be no outpouring of the Holy Spirit while the largest portion of the church are not laborers together with God. Brothers, it is time to change the church culture where it's not just about us coming to church maybe one day a week, doing a couple of nice little events during the week, but we have to make a point and a purpose to reach the community. That is what God has called us to do and God in love is trying to wake us up. It's always done in love because here's a very powerful statement. We know the enemy is working really hard right now. As God's representatives, are we working hard for God? Are we fulfilling the great commission? The word mission is right in the word commission and here we are in a state of inactivity. We're doing the same thing year by year. We're doing these great beautiful programs and we're repeating the gospel message over and over and over to people who have heard the message or at least the majority have heard it. Meanwhile, there's people all around us who are craving hope right now and God's longing for us to be creative and find ways to mingle with the people. All right, so a little bit of transition as I promised we're gonna wrap things up. So funny, you know, I did this in my head yesterday and I did it under three hours. I was hoping to do the same today, but we're almost done. So I wanna share a couple of exciting, some exciting things that are taking place at the conference right now. First of all, who here has heard of Fill the Baptistry Sabbath? Have you guys heard of that? So there's two times a year, April 13th and October 5th this year, where we're encouraging all the churches to fill the baptistry. And even if there's nobody to baptize, now some people are like, are you kidding me? Are we gonna waste like three bucks by heating up the water and not baptizing anybody on that day? No, the purpose of the Fill the Baptistry Sabbath is to remind the church that there is a mission, that we have a mission, each one reach one that all of us are defined ways to engage with people, to do Bible studies, to encourage them the precious truths that we have. You know, sometimes people get a little nervous with giving a Bible study. Here's a newsflash. I'm not gonna promote one particular Bible study series, whether it's amazing facts, it is written, lifting up Jesus. All you have to do is be one step ahead of the person that you're studying with. Feel comfortable with one study, then share it. Then start getting comfortable with the second one and share it. But the purpose of the Fill the Baptistry Sabbath is not for the elder or the pastor just to baptize somebody. It's actually designed for the people to baptize, obviously the pastor or the elder would baptize the person, but it's for the church to bring forward the people they've been studying with and baptize them on that Sabbath. It's so awesome because there is such a vision right now that's coming from God within the conference to equip the saints and encourage them to get involved with mission. So how do we do that? Phase number two. Who here has heard of Connect Academy before? Okay, a couple of you. Every twice a year, by Zoom, the conference has classes to teach, educate, and equip the church, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, how to feel comfortable in presenting certain truths or different classes that can help us with ministry. So just so you know, this is starting really quick. It's gonna be starting this in March. Every Thursday at 7 p.m., it's gonna come out in the email shortly, there's gonna be a meeting for the first two nights, how to reach the youth, the first two nights, the first two Thursdays. Then after that, and that's so important because the youth is the heartbeat of a church. You like that, don't you? That's good, praise the Lord. Not only that, after that, we're gonna talk about evangelism or literature evangelism. Now, hold up before you get mad at this statement because some people are like, I am not knocking on doors by doing an evangelism literature. Anybody here can do a literature evangelism. You can do the silent mode, okay? I'm, you know, just kind of looking around. All right, I'm just gonna leave this here, pray, let God do his thing and walk away. Everybody here can be a literature evangelist, but we're gonna talk about different ways to feel comfortable as far as how to do it. All right, and the last thing, I don't know, I wonder, Kevin, if you've heard of this yet. Have you guys heard that one of the things the conference really wants to encourage, again, we're not gonna force, we're not gonna manipulate, we might twist your arm a little bit, no, I'm just joking. But one thing we're really, really encouraging is every single church in the conference, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, so that includes Plainsfield right here, one time a year, hosts or conduct an evangelistic series for the community every year going forward. You guys don't sound too excited about that. That is awesome. In fact, that is what God has called us to do. And again, we're gonna talk about ways to equip the saints and how to do that. But going forward, some people might start next year, but we're hoping that a majority will start this fall, where every church in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, every single year going forward, will conduct an evangelistic series, because I'm telling you, evangelism works. That's what the Bible commands us to do as the people, and we have to honor that. It does work. In fact, show of hands, who here came in to the church through a prophecy seminar? I did. How many hands? We got several people. It works. It really, really works. So please remember the purposes God has for his church, and that is that he's waiting for his mission to continuously go, that he's waiting for his church to reflect and reveal his character, to be a light in this dark world. He's waiting for all of us to have that attitude change, where we say, Lord, send me. Send me, Lord. And he's waiting for the church to proclaim God's greatest love story, known as the three angels' messages. So in closing, that we're in a spiritual battle, let's remember that God's waiting. He's longing for us to be also a part of the great counteract. As obstacles come in the future, it's going to happen. We must come together in a humble effort, on our knees, seeking the Lord's divine wisdom, come together, press together, and let's learn how to use whatever obstacles around the corner against the enemy to draw more people into the kingdom. Let's learn from COVID, because what happened with COVID? COVID happened, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The church is just doing this, arguing this, that. We got to do this, we got to do this. No outreach. Satan brought an obstacle in, church froze, and we missed about a year plus on outreach. There's going to be something right around the corner that's going to take place. And as a church, we have to act quickly in prayer and learn, okay, how can we use this against the enemy to reach those people out there? Does that make sense? The time is now, brothers and sisters, friends of God, the time is now. So let's get on our knees, if you're able, and let's just praise the Lord for all that he's doing. Heavenly Father, Lord, I want to thank you so much for this church. This church is absolutely beautiful. I can see how you are working through this group of people to really reflect and reveal your character. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by multiple people, Lord, and there's just a house full of people that just have your love. And I just want to say, Lord, I want to thank you for this church. I want to thank you for this church. There's a house full of people that just have your love. And I just pray, Lord, that this hasn't been a message of doom and gloom, but this has been a message of hope that you have shown us that as a church body, we have a responsibility. And I pray, Lord, that you would put a fire, a passion and a desire in all of our hearts to look for opportunities to reach other people. Lord, the truth of the matter is all of us here should be reaching out to other people and doing Bible studies or finding some way to reach people. Lord, I pray that all of us here would pray the prayer that so many people are scared to. Lord, send me. Show me who I'm to be in front of. Lord, please continue to bring people into all of our lives that are searching for the hope that we have. That way your harvest can be ripe. So Lord, I just ask for a special blessing on this church that you would be with the leadership of this church, that you would give them vision, that everybody here would learn how to hear your voice. They would see things through a different lens, through your eyes, and that we would recognize the times that we're living in is short and there's such a great work to do. So Lord, I just ask that all of us here would humble our hearts, that we would allow you to come inside and to change the way that we think, change our motives. Lord, we long for the true healing that you can give. As David prayed, give us a clean heart, Lord. And we just want to thank you. We want to praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so the closing hymn, the closing hymn is page 462. Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. ♪ My hope for you, O God, is found in you ♪ ♪ My hope for you, O God, is found in you ♪ ♪ My hope for you, O God, is found in you ♪ ♪ My hope for you, O God, is found in you ♪ ♪ My hope for you, O God, is found in you ♪ ♪ My hope for you, O God, is found in you ♪ ♪ My hope for you, O God, is found in you ♪ Heavenly Father, again, we just want to thank you so much for all that you do. Lord, just continue to go deep in our hearts. And I just pray that today's words would be a blessing for each and every person here, that we would not become desensitized by all that you have done for us, that you love us so much that you were willing to choose to die on a cross. And I just pray, Lord, that we can give you gratitude. We can just be a part of this work where humanity and divinity can cooperate with one another to finish out this work. So thank you for the special calling that you've given each of us to do. Thank you in Jesus' name, amen.