Pastor Joel Laswell

In Matthew 22 Jesus gives a parable about a wedding feast that parallels the last message that His church is to give to the world that is found in Revelation chapter 14--the Three Angels Messages. The call of Jesus has always been to come to the feast. To accept His gift of salvation by being born again and receive the Robe of Righteousness that only He can provide. Will we accept this gift?

There are actually a lot of ideological similarities between the American Revolutionary War, and the war in heaven but I want to talk about just one that is striking to me. And we see this same deception today and that is the "liberty" deception. The idea that satan puts forth that only by rejecting God will one have true liberty or independence. Is this true?

The Bible says that at the end of time there are going to be a lot of people who will not be ready for the return of Jesus. It will be a terrible experience when you realize that now it is too late to get ready. You either had to be ready or you will not be ready at all. When I come to the end of the road of this world whether it is for death or translation, I want to be ready to meet Jesus in peace. What about you? This is the story of a man that when he came to the end of his life, he was ready.

If we are to have a steadfast endurance that takes us through the fiery days of temptation, we must have a confidence that God will do what He has promised to do. We must learn to trust God implicitly with all things pertaining to our life, especially when we don’t see the results that we may be expecting to see. This is what it means to have confidence… a trust that God is in control and we are okay with Him.

I want to take you on a journey back across the centuries of time to visit three very historic gardens. The story of each of these gardens is found in the Bible although their history is separated by about four thousand years. Each one has important memories of the past that speak to us today with relevant lessons for our own lives.

Paul says now is the time. It is the hour already for you to awake out of spiritual sleep. Now is the time to wake up, because we don’t have very much time left. I want to look at two main points with you—the time of the world, and the time of the church. There are several items for each and I will begin dealing with minding the time of the world.

I would like to share with you what could be the most hopeless case in the entire Bible, and that is saying a lot, for there are a lot of cases that can be shared. But I believe that if there’s hope for someone like this, then there’s hope for all of us no matter what we’ve done!

Paul warns, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Colossians 2:8.I am going to be speaking about what most Christians consider a holy day--Easter, and this can be a very emotional subject for many people because we humans are steeped in traditions. Not all tradition is bad and not all is good. Tradition is only bad if it is in contradiction to the will of God, takes the place of God on the throne of your heart, and if it leads others into error and the loss of their soul. Ultimately, each must be able to personally give an answer for what they believe. If what we believe, including the traditions we keep, cannot be substantiated and upheld by the Bible, then they must be discarded if we want to live eternally with the Lord.

Paul warns, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Colossians 2:8. I am going to be speaking about what most Christians consider a holy day--Easter, and this can be a very emotional subject for many people because we humans are steeped in traditions. Not all tradition is bad and not all is good. Tradition is only bad if it is in contradiction to the will of God, takes the place of God on the throne of your heart, and if it leads others into error and the loss of their soul. Ultimately, each must be able to personally give an answer for what they believe. If what we believe, including the traditions we keep, cannot be substantiated and upheld by the Bible, then they must be discarded if we want to live eternally with the Lord.

History is being repeated all over the world and right here in our churches. God’s people are so scattered right now that it has become easy for the enemy to sow seeds of error and discouragement and many leave spiritually from our congregations if not physically. Many are losing their first love just as Jesus said. What is the remedy for such a condition?

The basis of freedom is spiritual for it originates from God who is Spiritual. People are being enslaved because they have forgotten the Landmark of Liberty—they have forgotten God, or they have never known Him. The framers of our country were careful to guard against our ever forgetting this Landmark by placing it right there in plain view in the Declaration of Independence.

A lesson of faith and Providence found in the first Thanksgiving. Though we may not see God's hand at work in our life, by faith we believe His word and trust He will keep it.

When you take a look at the history of God's people you will find that when God sends a prophet that Satan then sends false prophets to cause great confusion. There were false prophets during the time of Moses when he was sent by God to guide the Hebrews to the promised land. There were false prophets when John the Baptist was preaching repentance and that the kingdom of God was at hand. Do you think that Satan would raise up false prophets during the time of the Elijah prophet that God promised to send to the end-time church? Absolutely! That is why the Bible has given certain tests of a prophet of God so that we can compare such people to what the word of God says.

It is very interesting, is it not, that Jesus told us that we can determine who are His people by discerning their fruits. One of the ten identifying attributes of the church is that it will have the gifts and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit; and this includes the testimony of Jesus, which the bible defines as the Spirit of Prophecy. In part one of "Sending Elijah" we started looking at the particular part of this attribute called the spirit of prophecy because it is a sign of the remnant church in the last days.

God gives spiritual gifts to His people and so it is one of the greatest identifying marks of God's church, especially in the last days. There is one particular part of this character trait that is a sign of the remnant church in the last days. Since we are in the last days it behooves us to know this sign as it helps to define God's people and thus His church.

One of the ten identifying attributes of the church is that it will have the gifts and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit; this includes the testimony of Jesus (Spirit of Prophecy). We will be spending some time on this particular attribute because it is one of the greatest identifying marks of God's church in the last days.

I think it safe to say that the greatest characteristic of the true church is that it has the nature of Christ—not the nature of antichrist. It is made up of those who are each a combination of humanity and divinity, or 'born again' individuals, thus they are a part of the nature of Christ. This is the introduction in the series: "This is My Body: Defining God's Church."

Jesus said in Matthew 5:14, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." What does it mean to be the light of the world? The world needs to know that the law is not darkness; it is light. And as we study the life of Christ, we see that if you want to be in the light, your life must be in harmony with God's law.

Of the ten characteristics defining the church, one describes the church as those who are of the spiritual seed of Abraham not of Ishmael, in that they keep the spiritual covenant that God made with Abraham and that the seventh day Sabbath is a sign of that covenant.

Genesis 3:15 tells us about the battle between the two churches and how it will eventually end. It gives mankind the truth as to the loving character trait of God, and His remedy for the sin problem. It speaks of two lines of descendants that will remain on the earth until the Great controversy ends and there will be one church again as it was in the beginning... The seed of Abraham!