ROADMAP TO HEAVEN!
By Tony Cirigliano
GOD IS GOOD!
HAND-OUTS – KEVIN MORGAN’S CD
58 MINISTERS THUS FAR.
WE’RE EXCITED TO BE TRUSTING THE LORD –
What better thing can we do to start a revival weekend than to do as Ellen White did in one of her last sermons.
In fact, at the close of one of her last large public meetings, as she turned to sit down, she stopped.
She walked back to the pulpit.
Picking up the Bible, she pressed it close to her; then held it outstretched on her hands and said, “Brethren and sisters! I commend to you this Book.”
Revival can only come if we are re-Bibled!
I WANT TO tonight ALSO COMMEND TO YOU THE BIBLE!
YAHWEH’S HOLY WORD!
IT CHANGES LIVES – IT HAS POWER!
JOE’S SUICIDE/ MY DRINKING/ THE CATHOLIC DOUY-RHEIMS BIBLE
IT CHANGED MY LIFE – JULY 13TH, 1977 – ISAIAH 53!
New Supreme court judge, Religious right’s power – Now An American cardinal in the office of the Inquisition in Rome, Terrorism – Men’s hearts failing them for fear, Seas and the Waves Roaring in the Tsunamis, Global warming is now real and it has been proven that the icecaps are melting
How important that we not only study the Word of God, but that we share it with others!
In Luke 8:11, Jesus said, “The seed is the word of God.”
It’s a seed that grows a new life in the heart and mind!
In Luke 8:21, Jesus said, “My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.”
In Luke 11:28 he said, “blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”
In John 10:35, Jesus said, “the scripture cannot be broken.”
The Bible is the anvil that has broken many hammers!
It’s dunamis! It has power!
In Romans 10:17 we are told that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God!
In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul wrote, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.”
In 1 Peter 1:23, Peter wrote, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever”
We’re born again through the Word! I know I was!
Chester was – Imagine a Professor of Philosophy from China
Not a Christian at all – but met Jesus here with you - the brethren and he found and was born-again!
Now he is in China telling others about Jesus!
There’s power in the Word!
“Temptations often appear irresistible because through neglect of prayer and the study of the Bible, the tempted one cannot readily remember God’s promises and meet Satan with the Scripture weapons.” – GC, p. 600.
(Comment on above!)
We are on a journey to heaven and eternity!
For every journey we need a road-map.
And if our journey is to the kingdom of God, then the only map that will do is the Bible!
As the world grows darker, how much more we need the light of the Word!
Psalm 199:105 says Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
There are unsure waters ahead. We may find ourselves in turbulent seas
The seas and the waves might be roaring like Jesus said.
But when the waves roar, and the shore is dark, and the way to safe harbor is unknown.
How glad the sailors are when they see the lighthouse during the storm!
The cry goes out, “I see the light! Follow the light from the lighthouse!”
Yahweh’s holy Word – The Bible is our light-house!
Henry Ward Beecher, the well know evangelist of days past wrote: “The Bible is God’s chart for you to steer by, to keep you from the bottom of the sea, and to show you where the harbor is, and how to reach it without running on rocks or bars.”
The great Methodist preacher John Wesley wrote: “I want to know only one thing – the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way. He has written it down in a book! At any price, give me that book!”
The Old man in the housing project – hardly any furniture – 0range crate. Old worn Bible – I asked if I could read something to him. He said the 23rd Psalm – he wept as he heard it! “I love the Holy Bible” He said. It had been his anchor – His rock – You can trust the Word of God!
Nehemiah 8:5-10
5And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:
6And Ezra blessed YAHWEH, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the YAHWEH with their faces to the ground.
8So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.
9And Nehemiah . . . and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto YAHWEH your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.
10Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto YAHWEH: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the YAHWEH is your strength.
They wept when they heard the Word and Law of God like that old man wept when he heard it!
We need to hear the Word of God.
There won’t be revival until we are re-Bibled!
Friends, If we have that kind of love for the Lord’s Word, if we will tremble as we read and touch it. . .
If we know it is the invincible, unconquerable, eternal word of the living god. The eternal word of truth, we will never veer off course!
Isaiah 66:2 “On this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at My Word.”
The Lord looks with approval on those who hold near and dear His holy Word.
The Bible is God’s roadmap that shows us the narrow way that leads to eternal life!
The devil does not want you reading the Word.
He knows that if you open and study the Word, its plain truths will expose his deceptions!
In the book The Great Controversy, on page 593, we find these words written:
“The last great delusion is soon to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely with the counterfeit resemble the true, that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested.”
Only those who have fortified their minds with the Word of God will stand through the last great conflict.
Let me also say that we as Seventh-day Adventists have been blessed by the Spirit of Prophecy.
Today the Spirit of Prophecy is under attack like never before – “The very last deception of Satan will be to make of no effect the testimony of the Spirit of God.”
Some years back, Ministry Magazine did a survey of 9000 Seventh-day Adventists.
2800 said they believed in the Spirit of Prophecy and read it often.
6200 said they seldom if ever read the Spirit of Prophecy books and were not sure if they believed in them.
In every single area, from witnessing to church attendance, to daily Bible study and family worship,
Those who read and believed in the Spirit of Prophecy books scored markedly higher than those Adventists who did not read or believe in the Spirit of Prophecy books!
That’s good fruit!
Friends, Yahweh has blessed us with light!
I am blessed by the Spirit of Prophecy! It has blessed my ministry and my life!
And I praise God for it!
Ellen White lifts up the Word – I commend unto you this book!
The lesser light will lead you to the Bible, the greater light!
It was from the Bible that great men and women were inspired from!
Charles Dickens wrote, “The New Testament is the very best book that ever was or ever will be known to the world.”
The great president Abraham Lincoln wrote, “I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.”
The Bible is powerful! It is so powerful they ought to put a warning label on it!
“Warning – This book is habit forming. Regular use causes a lack of anxiety, a decreased appetite for lying, cheating, adultery, hating and selfishness. Symptoms: increased sensations of love, peace, patience, kindness compassion and understanding.”
Many times I have experienced the Lord speaking to me through His Word.
The great soul winner Dwight Moody wrote, “I know the Bible is inspired because it inspires me!”
The great missionary David Livingston, whose love and service for the people of Africa so touched the people, that when he died they asked special permission to have his heart removed and preserved.
He wrote these words, “All that I am I owe to Jesus Christ revealed to me in His divine book the Bible.”
Martin Luther, the great Protestant reformer wrote, “The Bible ought day an night to be in everyone’s hands.”
But the most important reason for studying the Bible is that it teaches us about Jesus!
In John 5:39, Jesus said, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.”
Search the Scriptures – looking for treasure, for an answer!
They will tell you about Yahshua – Jesus the Savior of the Word!
The Scriptures will testify that the Ark built by Noah was really about Jesus who unless we are in Him, we will be lost.
The Scriptures will testify that when Abraham was about to slay his son Isaac, the voice of the Lord stopped his hand.
Then he turned and saw a ram caught in a thicket – the ram was sacrificed instead of His Son.
The Scriptures will tell you that Ram represented Jesus who died in our place – who allowed Himself to be caught in the thicket of sin!
He said, “Abraham saw My day, and he was glad!”
The Scriptures will testify about Him Jesus said.
They will tell you that the ladder Jacob saw connecting heaven and earth represented Jesus!
Jesus said in John 1:51, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”
The Scriptures will testify that Jesus is the real Passover Lamb that saves us from the angel of death!
In 1 Corinthians 5:7, Paul wrote, “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.”
In the days of Moses, the people were in rebellion against Yahweh, and He allowed poisonous serpents to plague them, but He gave them a way to save their lives, all they had to do was look at a brazen serpent tied to a wooden pole.
Our Savior testified in His Word – the Bible that the serpent lifted up in the wilderness represented Him!
In John 3:14, Jesus said, “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.”
We have all been bitten by the serpent and the poison of sin was in us.
Many will die in their sins, but those who look unto Jesus on the cross and accept Him by faith will live!
The Holy Bible testifies of it!
Jesus said, “Search the Scriptures and see that they are talking about Me!”
There are books on astronomy that tell you how the heavens go, but only The Holy Bible will tell you how to go to heaven!
There are many books that were written to give us information,
But the Holy Bible was written for our transformation!
Babies drinking milk – they desire it and they want it now!
Mothers know!
In 1 Peter 2:2, Peter wrote, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.”
Drink the milk of the word! Hunger and thirst for it – treasure the time you have with it!
In Mark 4:19, Jesus said that “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, (can) choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”
Don’t let it happen to you!
We have an eternal life of everlasting joy before us!
The map to get to the better land has been given to us!
The map is the Holy Bible!
For this first revival sermon I want to do as Ellen White did and commend unto you this book – the Holy Bible!
It is hard to read about the crucifixion of Jesus without your lips quivering as you behold the awesome love of God revealed in the gift of His Son.
No one can read the precious promises of God without being drawn to love, and admire the God who made these promises!
Friends, it says in John 17:3, “For this is life eternal, to know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.”
We come to know Him through the Bible!
Tomorrow – a special day
Call – dedication prayer!