Happy Sabbath - Please see our chat room information at: http://www.csda-adventistchurch.to/chat.html
Zahakiel : Let's get started, then. Bro. Abe, will you offer the opening prayer?
Guest_Abraham : ok. Our most wise and loving Father in heaven. We count ourselves most blessed to meet with you and our brethren here once more on your sacred day. We ask also again that you would preside with your Holy Spirit to lead and to bless those thoughts that will be expressed here tonight. Lead us with your wisdom from on high as we usher in the blessed Sabbath in Yahshua’s name we ask for your presence among us Amen
Adriel : Amen
Barbli : Amen
Pastor_Chick_CSDA_7 : Amen.
Zahakiel : Amen
Guest_eagle : Amen.
Guest_Giselle : Amen.
Guest_Peter : Amen
Elyna : Amen.
Guest_Gadriel : Amen & Amen
Zahakiel : Happy Sabbath to all. This week, we are concluding our examination of The Highway of Holiness. In this last section of chapter 8, we have a few final topics to discuss.
Last week, we spoke about the CSDA baptismal vow, our Church seal, and the “three baptisms” that attend true conversion. We emphasized the need for a “covenant” with Christ, which goes far beyond what nominal and casual Christianity teach. For many, and probably most, who claim to be Bible believers, it is sufficient to be baptized by “someone” belonging to “some group,” because in their minds, since salvation is an individual experience, it does not really matter who facilitates this event between them and Yahshua. Biblically, however, this is only a part of the doctrine of Baptism. While it is true, as Paul wrote, that it is not important who the human facilitator is, (this came up during his discussion about Apollos ) what IS important is that this facilitator be a genuine representative of Christ Himself, and His earthly people. It did not matter if the one who baptized you was Peter, or Paul, or John, or any of the various disciples who were working along with them. It would matter, however, if the one facilitating the baptism was a member of those various groups that the apostles warned against in their writings, those teaching false doctrines, failing to live up to the standard of Yahshua’s character, and attempting to draw followers after themselves. As we saw last week, those who were baptized without knowledge of the Holy Spirit were re-baptized when they realized that they were missing a significant portion of their spiritual education. In this generation, with such a variety of deceptions, one’s spiritual education can be severely lacking while to all outward appearances he or she is a member of a church in good standing.
Just as important to knowledge of the Holy Spirit, in this generation, would be the effect that this Spirit has in the life. In fact, we would see that as the modern-day equivalent. If one has not been taught about victory over sin, nor accepted it as the natural result of being born again, one does not truly know the Father, the Son, or their Spirit. The effect is the same, and one baptized without this knowledge would require a rebaptism, and a re- (or rather, a genuine) conversion in order to truly enter that individual relationship with the Savior. Furthermore, knowledge of the Holy Spirit in this generation will lead to an acceptance of that light which the Holy Spirit has shed upon Yah’s people. It is not enough to know that the Spirit “exists,” but to know It as the personal presence of the Father and Son, and to accept those things to which It has testified.
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We could speak here of all those teachings that distinguish us from the nominal Churches, such as Sabbaths, New Moons, and the annual feasts. We could speak of the Spirit-enlightened conscience, that governs in the believer his or her actions, words, and decisions. We could speak of the unity of mind that causes us to fellowship with one another. It causes us to communicate, lovingly and openly, with one another, to bear one another’s burdens, and to share our needs, desires and requests. These things are all the results of knowing the Holy Spirit, without which our spiritual experience would be, fatally, lacking.
As we have seen in numerous studies, and by means of several verses, our Father has given us a Church, organized, structured, and populated by the saints, in order to prepare each member individually for Heaven. You see, the experience is individual, and the preparation is individual, yes... but the journey is taken with Spiritual Israel. We are given to one another as gifts, necessary gifts for our salvation, and those who know the Spirit unto baptism, unto everlasting life, understand this principle. To know the Holy Spirit is to have life beyond the watery grave of baptism. If we are “dead to the flesh,” then we are only alive by the Spirit. And if we are not alive by the Spirit, but we yet live, then we are still living in the flesh, regardless of what outward display we may have experienced. Those who are alive in the Spirit, and who recognize the gifts that our Father has given, also know that the Church has been given to the world as a gift. We, both individually and collectively, have been saved, not only for ourselves, but for those around us as well. In order to fulfill the will of Yah in this regard, we who are offering ourselves to others must put aside all worldly ambition, all selfishness and secular pride, and take upon ourselves a life of service to others, and a testimony of Yahshua’s pure faith.
We must teach, in whatsoever capacity we are called, the Three Angels’ Message. Now, this does not always mean we must go about quoting Revelation 14. The three messages within the Everlasting Gospel existed from the entrance of sin into the human experience, and we must be able to understand, and explain, and testify to, these three principles, which are listed in various places as repentance, faith, and baptism.
First, we can show how the three angels’ message, which takes a very specific form in the Bible’s last book, actually boils down to these three simple ideas, and then we can begin to recognize it in EVERY complete message that our Father has ever given to mankind.
The first angel speaks of repentance. This is easy enough to see, for the angel says, “Fear Yah, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” (Rev 14:7) A warning of judgment has always been a call to repentance. For example, we read, “‘Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,’ saith the Lord Yahweh. ‘Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth,’ saith the Lord Yahweh, ‘wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.’” (Ezek 18:30-32)
The second angel speaks of faith. This is a little less easy to see, for all this angel does is tell us that Babylon the Great has fallen. But this statement is entirely given to us for the purpose of telling us that there is an end to the principles of Babylon, among which are fear, confusion and doubt. This is never clearer, especially concerning the issue of “doubt,” than when the captivity of Israel ended, and the people were called forth under Ezra and Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem. As we read, however, not everyone of Yah’s people arose to accomplish this work. It took faith to believe in the words of Jeremiah and Daniel, who had written of this time. It took faith to accept the encouragement of Haggai and Zechariah, who were saying, “Is it time for you to live in comfort, while the House of Yahweh lies in ruins?” Zechariah also said, “Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.” (Zech 2:7) When we speak of faith, we often speak of doctrines. We speak about believing (having faith in) the right teachings, and following the right practices. But faith is about more than this. It takes faith to change one’s life, to depart from the comfort and familiarity of darkness, for so it seems to the sinner...and to come into the light. It takes faith to believe in the words of the prophets, from the ancient speakers to the more recent voices, and to believe that Yah has not left His Bride without eyes, and not without a voice of witness. If we believe that Babylon has fallen, we must receive the call to come forth from confusion, and doubt, and fear. Faith, as a principle, is necessary to enter “the faith” as a state of being. This would be impossible, were it not for the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, but we are given all that we need for the fulfillment of Yah’s pleasure in our lives.
The third angel speaks of baptism. It is also a little less easy to see than the first, but with spiritual discernment it becomes obvious. The third angel speaks about avoiding the Mark of the Beast, which, in its simplest terms, is the mindset and character of Satan as he operates through human agencies. We have already been told that Yah’s judgment, which separates humanity into two classes, (of sheep and goats) is come. We have already been told that Babylon is fallen, indicating that this is the spiritual “nation” of the goats, the unsaved. All that remains, then, is to choose loyalty to one or the other: Fallen Babylon or Eternal Heaven. As we have seen from the very first line of our baptismal vow, which is taken directly from the New Testament teachings, “Christ has made baptism the sign of entrance to His spiritual kingdom.” It is baptism that indicates the choice we have made. It is baptism that unites us in our testimony against the Beast, his Image, and his Mark. It is baptism that shows the ones who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Yahshua.” (Rev 14:12) It is baptism, and the life into which they enter through it, that prepares them to “overcame [the Beast] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and [that] they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Rev 12:11)
Thus, the three angels’ message, and thus the work of the Church toward the world, is to teach repentance, faith and baptism. If you are baptized into this covenant, then that is what you have been called to do by Heaven, and both our privilege and our duty toward our fellow man whom we are pledged to love with perfect and divine love.
As I have mentioned, this message, these three principles, may be seen in every significant message that our Father has given to us. In The Highway of Holiness I show how they are present in Peter’s very first Spirit-inspired sermon to the faithful Jews who had come to see what Yahshua’s followers had to say following His crucifixion. He said, openly, “Repent,” and he said, “Save yourselves from this untoward [crooked, wicked] generation.” Of those who heard him, and repented, and believed, it is written, “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized; and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” (Acts 2:41, 42)
This is a perfect picture of the effective working of the Church. It teaches repentance from a life of sin, and from the darkness that caused the death of the Son of Yah on our behalf. It teaches faith both in the form of doctrines and practices, and also in the grasping of the promises and blessings of our Father which He provides “to them which should hereafter believe on [Yahshua] to life everlasting.” (1Tim 1:16) It teaches baptism, and note HOW it teaches baptism. It does not say that those who gladly received his word were baptized and went about on their own, in independent ministries, each one doing his own thing, and attacking this or that false doctrine in the hopes of getting agreement on some Bible teaching or another. It does not say that those who gladly received his word were baptized and sat at home with their Bibles, refusing fellowship and avoiding opportunities to evangelize. No, it says that they were “added unto them,” which indicates unity, and that they continued in both doctrine and fellowship, believing the same things, and spending time in sharing, communication, and mutual blessings.
There is one more major “work” that the Church accomplishes on behalf of humanity. In addition to teaching them repentance, faith and baptism, those who have covenanted with Yahshua as one of His people also take on an intercessory role.
Guest_greenhorizon : (
)› Guest_greenhorizon has left the conversation.Zahakiel : They pray, give spiritual offerings such as fasting, and perform acts of healing on behalf of one another, and for those who are not yet born again. We are called a “kingdom of priests,” and we are therefore types and representatives of our great High Priest, who “is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto Yah by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Heb 7:25)
If we examine our prototypes, the Old Testament priests, we note that it was into the priests’ hands that the sacred “breastplate” was committed.
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Zahakiel : This garment contained twelve stones, one for each tribe, and represented the “name” of that tribe before Heaven. Of great significance is this particular verse describing those twelve items: “And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes.” (Exo 28:21)
Guest_Gadriel : Doy gracias a YAHWEH por el entendimiento de estos principios. Amen.
Zahakiel : As we have studied in several places, a “signet” is another term for a “seal.” The sealing of the twelve tribes of Israel was placed in the hands of the priesthood, and therefore I would advance the concept that we ourselves are only sealed, and facilitate the sealing of others, as we act in our priestly, intercessory, capacity. This only makes sense. We know that everlasting life is to KNOW the Father and Son, and knowing them means becoming like them, to the point where we say that the character of Christ is reproduced perfectly in the believer. But none can become “like” Christ if they do not do the works of Christ.
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Zahakiel : None can see everlasting life unless he becomes an intercessor on behalf of others, which involves doing the work committed to the Church, the priesthood: teaching the Gospel’s three component elements, praying, serving, and interceding for others.
The final topic covered in The Highway of Holiness involves the baptismal procedure itself. At this point, after reading the book, a baptismal candidate will have learned the key doctrines of the CSDA Church. He will have come to understand the significance of the life of victory that each believer attains through the indwelling of the Savior’s Holy Spirit. He will understand, appreciate, and eagerly anticipate, the covenant into which each believer is sealed, joined in a solemn, blessed union with the Father, and the Son, and the Bride. He will be aware of the responsibilities placed upon Him as a representative of the Most High, but will have claimed the Faith of Yahshua, which makes him more than equal to the challenge of those responsibilities. At this point, the candidate will be saying, “See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” (Acts 8:36)
Unfortunately, in the days of that quotation, under the ministry of the apostles, this was a far simpler matter. There was only one Church; one was therefore either a member of the Church, or a pagan of some sort. False teachers, and erroneous doctrines, were quickly identified and diligently avoided. Those who called themselves “brethren,” and yet continued in flawed beliefs and carnal practices, were actively shunned by the Heaven-seeking community. (Rom 16:17, 1Cor 5:11) The enemy has seen to it that this is no longer so clear-cut. There is every grade of deception, every shade of falsehood, so that one may be a “Christian” in all things but true conversion, and the world would not know any differently. There is a church for every spiritual disposition, to the degree that it has become fashionable to “look for a church” that fits you. In truth, the Church is the one that should mold the believer, shaping them for everlasting life and eternal, glorious service.
No one who is merely seeking a “fit” will find the CSDA Church to their liking. We are called to be a refiner’s fire, to burn away that which is impure in the heart of the seeker of truth, and to be a furnace of spiritual heat so that, when the “furnace of affliction” arises, we will have already been prepared for that tribulation. None come to the Church to “fit in” easily and to sit quietly while awaiting Yahshua’s return. We have things to learn, and things to unlearn, and those seeking smooth messages will not find what they are looking for with the true Bride of Christ.
But this is what we have been told: “Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2Tim 4:2-5) Paul tells Timothy that “the time will come,” and for us, the time has “been here” for centuries. Thus, it cannot be Yahweh’s plan in this generation that we simply accept a claim of conversion at face value. No, indeed... inspiration has told us to make a “close examination” of the baptismal candidate to see if, among other things, they have “ceased to sin,” and that they have a proper understanding of the commitment they are about to make.
In some cultures there is such a thing as an “arranged marriage,” which has little to do with the personalities and characters of the bride and groom, and even less to do with Yahweh. It exists for the purpose of strengthening the secular family’s connections, and perhaps even for societal and political gain; but it is not so in the Christian marriage, nor in the divine marriage of the Lamb. The potential husband and wife must come to know one another, both in terms of their spiritual and practical characteristics.
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They must pray for wisdom and guidance for the choice, and consider carefully the responsibilities of the life into which they are entering.
It is no less solemn and careful a thing with baptism. We have adopted a baptismal examination procedure, as outlined in that last chapter, that involves careful questioning of the candidate’s relationship with Yahshua, and the testimony he or she has of the change that this relationship has made in his or her life.
Recently, we have discussed also adding a more detailed set of questions on doctrines that constitute our test of fellowship, to ensure that they have properly understood what the Spirit has revealed to us with regard to the more central teachings.
For those interested in the specifics, the book is there to reveal them, but for now, the principles that I have gone over are the more important concepts.
Finally, I would like to end our examination of The Highway of Holiness the way it begins, with an emphasis on the importance of spiritual education. Yah tells us plainly that “lack of knowledge” will be responsible for the loss of many souls.
In this generation, with access to so many documents, so many writings of inspiration, and Bibles of our own, there is no excuse for any Christian to be ignorant. Of course, there are deceivers busily at work, but there is also a voice of truth, a Bride of Christ, who exists specifically for the purpose of casting light upon the darkness of this world, and being a visible, audible representation of the Son of Yah. Those who take advantage of this opportunity, to seek the truth that the Spirit has given to Yahshua’s Bride, these will appropriately be named the “Wise Virgins,” because they have sought out knowledge, and they have found what they sought. Those who persist in their own ways, and reject the calls to repentance, to faith, and to baptism, to the principles of Christianity, Protestantism, unity and fellowship that are enshrined in those teachings, they will not find wisdom.
Let us all commit unto Yah, that we will always be seekers of truth, and that we will be soft of heart, and willing of spirit, to accept it when it is placed before us.
Elyna : Amen.
Adriel : Amen
Zahakiel : In this way, even as we grow, and stretch, and are fitted into that Heavenly mold, we will nevertheless be at peace, abiding in Yahshua, and partaking of His Sabbath rest.
Zahakiel : Are there any comments or questions as we close?
Guest_Gadriel : Amen
Guest_eagle : Amen.
Zahakiel : If there are none, then I will ask Bro. Peter to offer a closing prayer.
Guest_Peter : OK. Let us pray. Loving Father we give you thanks for the Sabbath that you have made for a blessing to humanity. We are thankful for the time that we as your children can come together to feast at the foot of the cross. We are thankful for instructions and reminders that you have sent unto us by your servant each Sabbath evening. May your sweet spirit rest upon us as we rest to night and may we contemplate upon these words as we go to rest this night. We rest in your sweet arms tonight in peace in the name of Yahshua we pray amen.
Barbli : Amen
Pastor_Chick_CSDA_7 : Amen.
Adriel : Amen
Zahakiel : Amen
Guest_Abraham : Amen
Elyna : Amen.
Guest_Giselle : Amen
Lucan : Amen
Guest_eagle : Amen.
Guest_Giselle : (Amen & Amen)
Adriel : Thank-you for this study David it was a blessing.
Pastor_Chick_CSDA_7 : Amen.
Guest_Giselle : yes, thank you.
Guest_eagle : Thank you for this Spiritual education.
Zahakiel : Praise Yah.
Elyna : It has been a blessing.
Zahakiel : Hello, payback. Have you been to this room before?
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payback : Zahakiel yes a long time ago
Zahakiel : With this same name?
payback : yes
Zahakiel : Hm, well, glad you have returned
payback : ty