The Struggle of Unseen Forces | Our High Calling - March 27

Beware of Satan’s Devices | Our High Calling - March 23

Above the Fog of Doubt | Our High Calling - March 21

Many SDAs will be lost because of this - Pastor Randy Skeete

Walter Veith & Martin Smith - Israel And Hamas, Zionists vs Islam...WUP #175

Daily Dependence on God

When you rise in the morning, do you feel your helplessness, and your need of strength from God? and do you humbly, heartily make known your wants to your heavenly Father? If so, angels mark your prayers, and if these prayers have not gone forth out of feigned lips, when you are in danger of unconsciously doing wrong, and exerting an influence which will lead others to do wrong, your guardian angel will be by your side, prompting you to a better course, choosing your words for you, and influencing your actions.

If you feel in no danger, and if you offer no prayer for help and strength to resist temptations, you will be sure to go astray; your neglect of duty will be marked in the book of God in heaven, and you will be found wanting in the trying day.— Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 3, p. 363, 364.

Messages to Young People, p. 90.

God’s Pledge of Security

God’s Pledge of Security, March 29

The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. 2 Peter 2:9.

In the time of trial before us God’s pledge of security will be placed upon those who have kept the word of His patience.... The pillar of cloud which speaks wrath and terror to the transgressor of God’s law is light and mercy and deliverance to those who have kept His commandments. The arm strong to smite the rebellious will be strong to deliver the loyal. Every faithful one will surely be gathered....

What part will you act in the closing scenes of this world’s history? ... Do you realize the grand work of preparation that is going on in heaven and on earth? ... Let none now tamper with sin, the source of every misery in our world.... Let not the destiny of your soul hang upon an uncertainty. Know that you are fully on the Lord’s side. Let the inquiry go forth from sincere hearts and trembling lips, “Who shall be able to stand?” Have you, in these last precious hours of probation, been putting the very best material into your character building? Have you been purifying your souls from every stain? Have you followed the light? Have you works corresponding to your profession of faith?

Is the softening, subduing influence of the grace of God working upon you? ... Are you letting your light shine to illumine the nations that are perishing in their sins? Do you realize that you are to stand in defense of God’s commandments before those who are treading them underfoot?

It is possible to be a partial, formal believer, and yet be found wanting and lose eternal life. It is possible to practice some of the Bible injunctions and be regarded as a Christian, and yet perish because you lack qualifications essential to Christian character.... While mercy lingers, while the Saviour is making intercession, let us make thorough work for eternity.

The great crisis is just before us. To meet its trials and temptations, and to perform its duties, will require persevering faith. But we may triumph gloriously; not one watching, praying, believing soul will be ensnared by the enemy.

Maranatha, p.96

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God's servants should be minutemen

It is important to believe God's word and act upon it promptly, while His angels are waiting to work for us. Evil angels are ready to contest every step of advance. And when God's providence bids His children go forward, when He is ready to do great things for them. Satan tempts them to displease the Lord by hesitation and delay; he seeks to kindle a spirit of strife or to arouse murmuring or unbelief, and thus deprive them of the blessings that God desired to bestow. God's servants should be minutemen, ever ready to move as fast as His providence opens the way. And delay on their part gives time for Satan to work to defeat them.

Patriarchs and Prophets, The Journey Around Edom, p. 422-423.

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Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?

1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

James Chapter 4

King James Version (KJV)

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Discovery Church illustrates how power of pulpit can lead pastors to affairs

By Jeff Kunerth, Orlando Sentinel

5:34 p.m. EDT, May 7, 2013



It happened again. Another Orlando-area megachurch pastor is stepping down after admitting to having an affair. Discovery Church Pastor David Loveless' resignation last weekend makes him the third in six months to step down after stepping over the line of adultery — following Summit Church's Isaac Hunter and The Gathering Place's Sam Hinn.

It has nothing to do with anything in the water and all to do with the pressures, adorations and temptations that come from being a high-profile pastor in a large church, say experts and fellow pastors.

"You're a brilliant preacher, you are a wonderful pastoral person in times of crisis, you can raise money, you can administer a staff, you have a vast array of gifts," said David Swanson, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. "That's a lot for one person to carry."

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Discovery Church pastor resigns after admitting to affair

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First Presbyterian Church of Orlando


That high position of respect and responsibility can elevate a pastor to the point of isolation, Swanson said. Without trusted confidants who can listen to the pastor's own doubts and burdens — and steer him back in line when he wavers — the megachurch pastor can be susceptible to his own impulses.

"Every pastor needs a group of male friends he trusts, who will ask him what is going on in your life, are you walking the talk?" Swanson said.

Sheila Strobel Smith, who has done extensive research on megachurch pastors, said failure often follows the pastor who becomes overwhelmed by the job's demands. In any size church, pastors deal with a multitude of responsibilities and expectations — and that's where the trouble starts.

"The common thread is when a pastor is in a personal vulnerable spot, these things happen. You are reaching out for something, and you make bad decisions," she said.

Those who successfully handle the demands and resist the temptations are deliberate in their spiritual, physical and mental health, Strobel Smith said. They don't neglect their family for their congregation, they cultivate people they can trust and confide in, they follow the "Billy Graham Rule" — never be alone with a woman who is not your wife.

But constructing a life that is healthy, balanced and normal is difficult for ministers whose jobs are by nature taxing, erratic and unpredictable, said James Coffin, executive director of the Interfaith Council of Central Florida.

They feel the success or failure of the church rides on them. Members of the congregation depend on them for advice, guidance, consolation and encouragement at all times — not just Sundays.

"Ministers live this very disjointed style of life," Coffin said.

Coffin said with the pulpit comes power and with power comes ego. Elevated by the congregation as a beloved and admired spiritual leader, the pastor is susceptible to an inflated sense of self.

"It's a self-perpetuating spiral — the more they look at you that way, the more you feel that way. You have that pedestal syndrome," said Coffin, a former Seventh-day Adventist pastor.

So gradually, the man of God falls prey to the mortal flesh — one small temptation at a time.

"I'm sure David Loveless and Isaac Hunter didn't wake up and decide they were going to have affairs today," Swanson said. "It was a thousand little decisions they made that opened that door a little wider each time."

Swanson says he has built safeguards around himself because the cost of betraying the principles of the faith is the loss of trust. Pastors who sin cause harm not only to themselves, their families and their congregations, but to the perception of clergy as hypocritical, he said.

Because of what has happened to Loveless, Hunter and Hinn, Swanson said he is writing a piece for the next edition of his church newsletter to reassure his congregation that this won't happen to him.

"I have been careful to lead in a particular way," Swanson said, "because those who lead are held to a higher standard."

Rick Warren, pastor of the megachurch Saddleback Church in California, has addressed the cost of ministerial misbehavior and offered strategies for other clergy.

At the top of his list is, "Never consider yourself above temptation." Also high on the list is "Remind yourself regularly of the damaging consequences of moral failure."

"Sit down and watch the confession of Jimmy Swaggart," he writes. "It's high drama, probably the most dramatic church service you'll see. You see how sin destroyed a congregation."

jkunerth@tribune.com or 407-420-5392

Source

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The Serpent's Deception

1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, Yes, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 

2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. 

4 And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die: 

5 For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her; and he did eat. 

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 


 Cross References

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the middle of wolves: be you therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 
Matthew 10:16

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
 Revelation 12:9

And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Revelation 12:15

And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

[Revelation 20:2]
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http://bibleapps.com/genesis/3-1.htm
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R. C. Priest Benedict Groeschel Claims Teens Seduce Priests In Some Sex Abuse Cases

Scarsuna

Published on Aug 31, 2012


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All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me

1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Matthew 4:1-11.

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He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger

24And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.

25And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.

26But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.

27For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.

28Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.

29And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

30That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Luke 22:24-30.

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"How the End Begins"

"How the End Begins"

by Pastor Kirk DiVietro,

Grace Baptist Church, Franklin, MA

Download the ASCII text version of this sermon

Text: Genesis 13:5-12

Introduction:

If you throw a ball straight up in the air when does it start to come down? If a nation begins to build an empire, when does that empire begin to decline? When does the Sun or the Moon begin to set? When do mountain climber start their descent? When does a Christian begin to backslide? When does the fervor for Christ begin to slip? When does the power begin to dissipate? When does it happen?

Genesis 13:5-12 5 And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. 6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. 7 And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. 8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. 9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. 11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. 12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

He Pitched His Tent Toward Sodom

I. Pitching His Tent Toward Sodom

This began Lot's decline. One day he woke up on the side of a mountain from a drunken stupor. Each of his daughters carried his child. His wife was a pillar of salt in the valley below. All of his earthly goods, his home, his wealth, his flocks, his prestige lay buried in the ashes of fire and brimstone. And it all started on the day when he pitched his tent toward Sodom. He had had it all!

II. Pitching His Tent Toward Sodom

This made good sense, to the natural mind. Plenty of provisions but a discernable distance between he and the world. You have to interact with the World. His position toward Sodom would place him in position to be a witness to the inhabitants. As God blessed him, the world would be able to see it, and would come and ask "How" and "Why" giving him great influence with the people. He could demonstrate that being one of God's does not make one a dangerous extremist.

III. Pitching His Tent Toward Sodom

This allowed the brilliant prospects of the immediate to blind him to the ultimate and unavoidable conclusion. He thought that he was strong enough to withstand the temptations. He thought he could protect his children from their influence.

IV. Application - We are No Different from Lot.

A.We Pitch Our Tent Toward Sodom - When we go to church for spiritual things but go to the world for entertainment.

B. We Pitch Our Tent Toward Sodom - When we go to church for spiritual advice but go to the world for other advice.

C. We Pitch Our Tent Toward Sodom - When we go to church to get spiritual and to the world to get fashionable.

D. We Pitch Our Tent Toward Sodom - When we get our Message from the Bible but our Method from the World.

E. We Pitch Our Tent Toward Sodom - When we get our vision from the Bible but our Priorities from the World.

F. We Pitch Our Tent Toward Sodom - When we get our focus from the Bible but our motivation from the World. "Doing a right thing in the flesh is only one step away from doing a wrong thing in the flesh. (Dr. Jack Hyles)"

G. We Pitch Our Tent Toward Sodom - When we set our standards from the Bible, but our behavior from the Flesh.

H. We Pitch Our Tent Toward Sodom - When we get our Commission from the Scriptures but our Resources from the flesh.

I. We Pitch Our Tent Toward Sodom - When we get our song lyrics from the Bible and our Music from the World.

J. We Pitch Our Tent Toward Sodom - When we get our Assignments from the Holy Ghost and our Excuses from our world

K. We Pitch Our Tent Toward Sodom - When we want our children to serve the Lord after we have educated them to succed in the World.

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Source: http://www.sermons.org/sermons/sermon55.html

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The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair

1And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

2That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

3And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

4There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

5And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

7And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Genesis 6: 1-8.

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Testing the Voice of the Shepherds

Testing the Voice of the Shepherds

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. John 10:14.

Every one of us will be sorely tempted; our faith will be tried to the uttermost.

We need to be anchored in Christ, rooted and grounded in the faith. Satan works through agents. He selects those who have not been drinking of the living waters, whose souls are athirst for something new and strange, and who are ever ready to drink at any fountain that may present itself. Voices will be heard, saying, "Lo, here is Christ," or "Lo, there;" but we must believe them not. We have unmistakable evidence of the voice of the True Shepherd, and He is calling upon us to follow Him. He says, "I have kept my Father's commandments." He leads His sheep in the path of humble obedience to the law of God. . . .

"The voice of a stranger" is the voice of one who neither respects nor obeys God's holy, just, and good law. Many make great pretensions to holiness, and boast of the wonders they perform in healing the sick, when they do not regard this great standard of righteousness. But through whose power are these cures wrought? Are the eyes of either party opened to their transgressions of the law? and do they take their stand as humble, obedient children, ready to obey all of God's requirements? John testifies of the professed children of God: "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 1 John 2:4. . . .

If those through whom cures are performed, are disposed, on account of these manifestations, to excuse their neglect of the law of God, and continue in disobedience, though they have power to any and every extent, it does not follow that they have the great power of God. On the contrary, it is the miracle-working power of the great deceiver. . . . We must beware of the pretended holiness that permits transgression of the law of God. Those cannot be sanctified who trample that law under their feet, and judge themselves by a standard of their own devising.

The Faith I Live By, E. G. W., pp.314.

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“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation.."

“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”

(James 1:12)