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 The Restitution
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Atlanta Bible College celebrated its 62nd graduation May 13, 2005. It was an evening of blessing and achievement as eleven students received their Bachelor of Theology Degree. This represents the most Bachelor Degree recipients in one year in OBC/ABC history! Seven received their Associates in Theology & Ministry Degree, and four received the Foundation Certificate. The evening was filled with wonderful music from the new orchestra of ABC Korean students, Amy Littler from New York, and Nicholas Kalonda from Africa. ABC continues to praise God for our diversity as graduates were from North America, Africa, and Korea. Amanda, Kim, and April Musch represented the first time three people from the same family received credentials in one year! The commencement address was by Rev. Vince Finnegan from Living Hope Community Church. Rev. Finnegan is from Latham, New York and is the father of Graduate Sean Finnegan! He challenged the graduates to show Christ’s love to those to whom they minister. Other addresses came from CAO Tim Jones, Dr. Joe Martin, Steve An, with David Riley and Pastor Jeong bringing the Invocation and Benediction. The evening concluded with a reception hosted by the ABC Staff. Several of the students will be continuing their ministry by entering their internship programs and then continuing into full, part-time, and volunteer ministries. Thank you for keeping ABC in your prayers and for your continued support.
New
Song, Same Message As
I was growing up and starting to date Rebekah, we went to Oregon
Bible College. A gentleman came up to preach a series of sermons. I
just fell in love with his preaching, because he painted a picture
of the Kingdom of God that was beautiful and real. I could see it
because he believed it, felt it and preached it. Most of you know
who I am talking about, Z. B. Duncan. One time at a General
Conference, maybe 20 years ago, I was passing him in the hallway. I
said, “Z.B., I want you to pray for me; I want you to lay your
hands on me. I want to feel the message as you feel the message”.
I shouldn’t have asked that! While walking down the hallway and he
pulled me into a room with no one in it. He laid his hands on my
forehead. I think I know what Elisha felt when he thought about
“What will it take to follow Elijah?” Elisha stuck with him.
Z.B.’s hand was stuck on my forehead for what felt like 30
minutes. In a beautiful moment that can’t be put in words he
poured out his heart in prayer for me and my ministry. I felt
that’s the kind of message we ought to have. The
Kingdom of God is represented by “Red and Yellow, Black and White,
they are precious in his sight.” In Revelation 5:9-10 we have a
picture of the different people that will be in the Kingdom of God.
I think we as the body of Christ ought to represent the Kingdom of
God as it will be in the future. Amen? Verse nine says, “And they
sang a new song, ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open
its seal because you were slain and with your blood you purchased
men for God from every tribe, language, people and nation. And you
have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they
will reign on the earth.’ ”
The
scenario in Revelation 5 is the scene in heaven starting with the
throne of God in chapter 4. There is a scroll that no one can open.
It represents the scroll of human destiny, humanity’s future. It
represents OUR future. Everyone is upset in the scene. John gets
upset.
In 5:3, it states “But no one in heaven or on earth or
under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside.”
“I wept,” John says. “I wept and wept because no one
was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one
of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, the Root of David has triumphed. He is able to open the
scroll and the seven seals.”
Verse
6 is where I want to sing!
“Then I saw a lamb, looking as if it had been slain.”
Jesus “endured the cross for the glory that was set before him.”
Do you know him?
Have you ever asked where did we get the idiom, “hang in
there?”
From this! Jesus did hang in there! If you’ve seen the
movie “The Passion,” Jesus hung in there!
Verse 5:7 says, “He
came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the
throne”.
This is Daniel 7:13, 14.
This is where he “Son of Man” approached the Ancient of
Days and received this authority and power and dominion and the
kingdom. This is the Son of Man going up to God Almighty, the one
who is, and was, and is to come, and receives the kingdom. This is
the Lord Jesus Christ receiving the destiny of humanity, the future,
the Kingdom of God. I like that. Then
they sang a new song, “You are worthy to take the scroll and open
the scroll because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased
men from every tribe, nation, and tongue!” With your blood! Anyone
who enters the kingdom of God is going to enter through the blood of
Jesus Christ! Abraham who did not know his name is going to enter
the Kingdom of God by the obedient sacrifice of Jesus. He had faith
that God would provide—God provided through the sacrifice of
Jesus. Revelation 6:9 calls it “…a great multitude that no one
could count.” O
Lord have mercy! Have you ever seen children dance and sing? Of such
is the Kingdom of God. I’m not being mean. I just want to talk to
you. What did it take for us to unlearn rejoicing in the Lord? The
Bible says, “don’t let your hands hang limp, the Lord, he is
God.” (Zeph. 3:16,17)
We need to rejoice in the diversity of the Kingdom of God.
It’s good to see the Kingdom represented here tonight in the
diversity of the Koreans, Africans, and all of us. The
Kingdom of God ought to excite us with all those folks that are
going to be there. Continue the verse, “you have made them to be a
kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on the
earth.” (Rev. 5:10) Everyone say “Hallelujah, Praise God,
Amen!” This is the message we’ve been trying to get out. The
world has been missing half the message for two thousand years!
We’ve got the message. Should you hide it under a bushel? No!
We have to reach out with this message.
Remember the woman with the issue of blood for years? She
crawled to Jesus, just to touch the hem of his garment. She was
healed. We have to do whatever it takes to start reaching and being
like these verses say! The
beautiful part – It’s
the
same
message!
The Davidic Covenant says there’s going to be a kingdom on earth.
“The saints receive a kingdom under the whole heavens.” (Daniel
9:27) Abraham’s descendant blesses the “whole earth.” (Genesis
12:3). It’s too small a thing, Isaiah says, for you to still save
little Jacob. Your light is going to the world for the Gentiles. (Isa.
49:6) This is God’s message, folks. We are those Gentiles,
representing Christ, that must go forth.
He has the keys of the Kingdom. We need to celebrate. I think
we can celebrate. I want to tell you, I think we are headed in the
right direction!
We were talking about this in our General Conference session
the other day.
Brother Dennis Baldwin said, “You know I never seen
anything like this.”
Brother Francis Burnett at the same
meeting at this Christian Workers’ Seminar said “I’ve
been in the General Conference since 1935; I’ve never seen
anything like this.”
I
want us to see how these verses lead us into a ministry and Kingdom
direction. Now what are we supposed to do? They have the new song,
but it’s the same message. They sang it, “they will reign on the
earth.”
It’s an answer to Jesus’ prayer “thy Kingdom come, thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” But we need to get it
out there. I
want us to go home, and put in our prayer bulletins “Pray for Red
and Yellow, Black and White!”
I want us to pray for Steve An, and the Korean work.
I want us to pray for Rufus Myers, and Simple Teachings
Church.
I want us to pray for those going to Africa.
Pray for the pastors there.
I want us to have them on your list. If you do not have them
on your list, shame on you, I say! I
also want us to think about funding. I’m talking for our Board of
Directors. I’m plugging this for them because we have a major
fund-raising campaign going on. It is called “Building the
Future.” If this verse isn’t the future, I don’t know what is.
If these verses aren’t that, what is it? We ought to give our
“due portion.”
We ought to go to our church and ask ourselves individually,
am I supporting my church? All right, let’s pass that; that’s a
given. Then we ought to ask our church, is my local conference and
the General Conference being supported as they are supposed to be.
The “due portion” according to the Hezekiah story (2
Chron. 31:4) says we need to be doing our part. If not, why don’t
you start something?
Do
you remember the movie about our first astronauts “The Right
Stuff?” Do you remember the astronauts and the monkey story.
German scientists were trying to get a monkey placed into space
before the astronauts. The astronauts said, “No way!”
The German scientists started talking among themselves,
“Was
ist das?, Amerikana!”
Basically the astronauts said they were backing out of the Folks, I’m not
begging for God. God doesn’t need your money to accomplish the
tasks He has set before us. But He wants to see our faithfulness
when we understand the true picture of the Kingdom.
At Valley View, where Jim Graham is pastor, he gets up and
asks that visitors NOT give. Jim has a line that says “it would be
like inviting you over for supper, and then saying, ‘here’s your
bill!’ We don’t do that!”
I don’t do that either, but I’m talking to the choir;
I’m talking to members; I’m talking to folks who have been to
Christian Workers’ Seminar for many years. We have a job to do.
That job is the job of God to sing a “New Song” with the “Same
Message.”
We need to sing the new song by reaching out in a NEW
way. Would
you support it? Everybody say, “Halleluiah, Praise God, Amen!”
It’s not an old song with a different meaning since he’s
been gone. It is a new song; with the same wonderful message. But
let me tell you he’s coming back.
Jesus is coming back to this earth to establish the Kingdom
of God! Let us each fulfill our part in the work to be done. God
bless you, as you support the changing face of the Church of God as
it represents the Kingdom of God. Amen!
What
is God Doing? For
over 40 years I have had a dream. It is not very spiritual, but it
was still a dream of mine. Last May God granted me the fulfillment
of that dream. Wanda and I purchased a 2000 Corvette. I never
dreamed what this would lead to. God had something more in mind than
what we expected. Matthew
6:33 says: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and
all these things will be added to you.” During the years of our
life there were more important things than this car to take care
off. There was a family to raise, bills to pay, etc. Yet God was
gracious enough, in His time, to grant our wish. After purchasing
the car, Wanda and I became a part of the local Corvette Club. We
usually go out to eat together once a month. The other day we drove
in a caravan for about 45 miles to go to supper. It was a lot of
fun, and watching the people watch us is always a kick! A
couple of months ago, at one of the suppers, the group was kicking
around some ideas of where we might visit together. I suggested that
they all come to church some Sunday. They thought it was a great
idea. One lady suggested we have a tail-gate party after church.
Things kept building from there and June 5, 2005 will be Corvette
Sunday at the Macomb Church of God. The church is furnishing
hotdogs, hamburgers and beverages and we are asking everyone to
bring some food to share with our guests. The club also wants to
bring food. We
would appreciate your prayers for that Sunday. The local paper will
be here to take pictures. We will have an ad in the paper the week
before the event. I will be speaking on “Chariots of Fire”, and
Lord willing, we will have about 20 to 30 guests that morning. May
God use this event to be a blessing to those who come and help them
to see that Christians don’t have to be strange and weird. We want
the day to be a positive experience for them, and pray that God will
touch their hearts and draw them back again. Who
knew that purchasing a Corvette would open doors to new folks and
give us an opportunity to witness to others of God’s goodness and
grace. Praise
His name!
Let the Walls Come Down The
Berlin Wall was a significant part of the history of the close of
the last millennium. It
was built by the communists on August 13, 1961, to surround and
contain free West Berlin which was situated in communist East
Germany. The Wall was a
concrete and barbed wire barricade that was 96 miles in length (155
km) with an average height of 11.8 ft. (3.60 m).
It was the intention of the communist regime to divide,
separate, and end the free interaction between east and west
Berliners. The
Wall was more than a tangible division of territory; it was also a
division of ideologies, economies and life-styles. It imposed an
emotional tension and division on the Berlin family and severed the
previously free contact that relatives in the East and West sectors
had with each other. With
the construction of the Wall came an invisible wall that separated
people. Recently
someone in our church was speaking to me about an estranged
relationship. The
individual said, “I feel like there’s a wall between us.”
Walls can exist in our lives.
They’re not made of concrete and barbed wire; they’re
invisible, constructed from pride, prejudice, anger,
ultra-sensitivity to offences, and unforgiveness. How can those
invisible walls that separate you from another individual) be broken
down? Consider these
five wall-destroying steps: Pray for God to soften hearts. Ask God to condition the hearts of the separated parties to desire reconciliation and renewed friendship. Exhibit friendliness. You may have been re-fortifying the emotional separation wall by giving the wrong signals; make sure you’re sending the right signals. A smile and a friendly word of greeting can quickly pulverize a lot of emotional concrete. To have friends a person must first be friendly. Speak directly to the issue. At an appropriate time, after the careful preparation period of forgiveness, prayer and friendliness, talk with the distant individual. Kindly share your heart with phrases like these: “I feel as though there is some barrier between us; do you feel it?” “Is there any way that I have offended you?” Expect positive results. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” God is eager to do good things in our lives and restore broken relationships. Anticipate His working to break down separating walls. It seemed impossible that the hated Berlin Wall would ever be removed, but on November 9, 1989, it was opened by the East Germans.By the end of 1990 it was torn down as Communism collapsed and the Cold War ended. Since that time East and West Germany have been reunited as one nation. In 1997, when my son went to Europe with his university friends, he asked me what I would like to have as a souvenir. I immediately answered, “I want a piece of the Wall!” It sits prominently in my office in a plexi-glass case. I look at it often.It reminds me that even the most impossible barriers—tangible and intangible—can be broken down. Nothing is impossible! What are you going to do with the walls in your life that separate you from others? You can maintain them with impossibility thinking, or you can begin today to bring them down.
Copyright 2006 - Church of God General Conference - All Rights Reserved |
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