To hear the entire Sabbath service from Saturday 10/05/2013 click on the link below:
This service (broadcast from Ceres/Modesto) runs approx. 99 minutes and downloads to a file approx. 57MB in size.
Modesto Deacon, Corey Plagenza gave the sermonette: “Being Wise Financial Stewards” (This sermonette begins at approx. 9:07 into the audio file)
Modesto Elder Mr. Wayne Carlson delivered the main message: “Life is a Classroom” (This sermon begins at approx. 37:44 into the audio file)
When Jesus said, “This generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled”, was he pointing to or nodding at the disciples sitting around him? No. Jesus was speaking of the generation that would witness the climax at the end of man’s world, meaning the end of man’s rule over the earth under the influence of Satan.
Christ was not speaking of the generation of man alive at that time. He was answering their question posed at the beginning of Matthew 24, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matt. 24:3).
In response to this question Jesus gave the disciples a list of what would occur in the last days before his return. The list starts with describing things that have occurred throughout history. At the very top of the list is religious deception. Religious deception has always plagued the earth since Adam and Eve rejected God’s government. But from the day Christ had this conversation with his disciples, the deception became more focused than any time before. The intense focus of the great deceiver was to create his own false christian religion, coming in the name of Christ and spawning false christs, false prophets and deceiving the whole world over which he ruled. (Revelation 12:9)
It is instructive that at the top of the list of warnings was religious deception. This very deception that is blinding mankind is the cause of wars, famines and disease epidemics. If man had followed the teachings of Christ, mankind would not be experiencing the spread of these calamities to the point that if Christ did not intervene “no flesh would be saved” (Matt. 24:21-22). It is the generation that is living at the time when mankind can destroy itself that Christ was referring to. Not until a generation experienced nuclear warfare could any generation qualify as the end-time generation.
We are living in this end-time generation, and the time now is immediately before the events that lead to Christ’s return—this is the generation Christ described. The sins of mankind are coming to their fullness in “this generation”. We are living in a generation experiencing collapse of morality, unrestrained lust, all consuming greed, and perverse use of power. All this is causing this end-time generation to “wax cold” (or you might say, to become discouraged, turned off and thus dropped out). This explains the heavy use of all manner of drugs, including alcohol, in our world today. The members of God’s church can be adversely affected by this depressing generation (Revelation 3:15-17).
Christ warns this generation that when we see the conditions described in Matthew 24, we should know that his return is “at the door” (verse 33).
Christ gave his people of “this generation” two prime directives that if followed would keep them ready for his return. The first is stated in Matthew 24:42-43:
“Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.”
We are to be watching so that we see how the trends in the world are fulfilling what Christ prophesied. We are not, however, to be watching in a manner that frustrates our lives. That is, we are not to be looking for ways to solve the problems we see all around us today. We aren’t to enter into vain efforts to prevent what we know is coming, and we should be willing to accept this world’s grievous calamities as a part of the heavy punishment it is receiving for its overwhelming sins. Yet we can also sorrow over these things, and pray with real desire that God’s kingdom comes soon.
Secondly, we are to be doing God’s work right up to the time of Christ’s return (verses 44-46).
If we are watching, we will know that the “summer is nigh” (verse 32). Therefore, it is imperative that we support God’s true ministers who are doing his work. And it is ever more important that we are assembling together whenever and wherever possible with God’s ministers to support one-another in these perilous times.
After a Bible Study that Mr. LeBlanc had conducted, a lady approached Mr. LeBlanc to discuss his presentation. She commented that she was a regular church goer, but she had never heard the minister discuss what Mr. LeBlanc had explained. In effect, she said she had never heard Christ’s message about the Kingdom of God. Her minister had never addressed the central message of the New Testament.
The Kingdom of God is the first message Christ brought to the public in his ministry. (See Mark 1:14-15, Matt 4:23, Luke 4:23, and John 3:5)
How could this be? How could a minister who had attended college to learn the Christian religion not explain the most basic message Christ was sent to deliver? Paul explains why this happens. Instead of teaching the true gospel in their seminaries, man’s religious institutions teach another gospel – not the gospel Christ brought. Paul describes their error twice:
Galatians 1:6-7: 6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
KJV
What was that other gospel? That other gospel that was used to pervert Christ’s message was a gospel that created a cultish following after a false Jesus. This false Jesus carries a lying spirit that is against God’s law, and blurs the simple message about the coming Kingdom of God (See 2 Cor. 11:1-4).
In this modern age it is a struggle for the church to keep the true gospel before the world. Modern technology and global communication make it possible for the message to go out; but the overwhelming abundance of the use of that technology is used to drown out the church’s efforts. It is difficult to be heard when it seems the whole world is shouting with a multitude of entertainment, business, and other distractions.
The work of the church in this noisy world is not complicated. We are to prach (announce-proclaim) the Kingdom of God, and teach, to those who will listen, all things concerning the true Jesus Christ with clarity.
Acts 28:30-31 Acts 28:30-31: 30 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, 31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.
KJV
Anyone who attends Mr. LeBlanc’s Bible Studies will hear Christ’s gospel preached. Pray that God protects the ability of the Church to continue this work.