Thanks Giving services/Sermon in Minneapolis 25.11.2005

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we will continue our services this evening by reading the written Word of God found at this time from the fortieth chapter of the Gospel of Isaiah, beginning from its first verse. And these words are in Jesus' name as follows:

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry out unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she has received the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.

The voice said, Cry, and he said, What shall I cry?

All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, and the flower fadeth away, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely, the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Amen.

First of all, I would ask and beg of you, dear brothers and sisters, been wearied about physically and spiritually these weeks and months past and filled with many fears and doubts, I would ask, could I believe all these and all my sins forgiven? I certainly desire to live with you.

We had our Thanksgiving program on Wednesday evening, and I had been asked to say a few words there some days prior. And I was thinking to myself and wondering because there would be so much to speak of when we speak of Thanksgiving. There in Quikayo, we have those who have loved ones serving our country in the armed forces, the sacrifice that they have had for this land, for this great land wherein we live.

I wondered about that. Then I wondered about, well, there's so much in scriptures of the former saints who have gone before us, who had endured severe trial and affliction, persecution, and, yes, even martyrdom. But it so happened that before I went to our program, I stopped at the nursing home there in Howard Lake. Margaret Mario is lying there. Carl had called me.

The nurse, the hospice nurse, had told Carl that in her experience, she foresees maybe a couple of days of life left. I stopped there and went to see her, and she has lost some 60 pounds in the last few days lying there, unmoving. And yet, as I approached her and began to speak to her, it became very evident to me very quickly how very clear she is in her mind. Now months prior to this with our visits, she had drifted in and out of reality. Her memory was leaving.

Wednesday evening when I stopped there, it became very clear and evident with those few gestures of her lips and her eyes, the thankfulness that she had. Yes. Knowing that the end of life was very, and is very near.

And yet, thankful heart, that her sins have been forgiven unto her. And I got a call just before I came here this evening again to stop. And your family was gathered around your deathbed, and they asked for your prayers on their behalf and on behalf of their mother. That, my dear brothers and sisters, very simply puts into context the purpose of our life and what is the greatest reason for Thanksgiving: that the spirit within a child can utter those words, Come, Lord Jesus.

Now we would be unable to utter these words from the synchronic fleshly portion. And yet the spirit of our heavenly Father is such a miraculous spirit that that spirit then gives unto you and me that strength to utter, Come, Lord Jesus.

And I thought it would be important even this evening then to study and be reminded of this very comforting text. Because I ask you, dear brother and sister, how has it been? Has the endeavor of faith been even as is recorded in our scriptures here, oftentimes of those former saints, how one seemed to be traveling through that green and lush valley, and there was praising and thanksgiving unto the heavenly Father.

We have experienced these times in our life and how needful they have been unto us. But I ask you, how has the battle been?

Has the enemy of the soul come in torment to deceive and to cause loss and sin to be sent? I am sure, dear brother and sister, that you agree with me how dearly we are in need of the comfort of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. How dearly we need to hear that sweet message of the gospel. But, yes, you can believe all sins and doubts forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

The prophet here writes unto us, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people," saith your God. "Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry out unto her that her warfare is accomplished and her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received the Lord's hand double for all her sins."

Dear brothers and sisters, we need the encouragement and the comfort of our Lord and Savior Jesus. This sin-corrupted portion that we carry battles such a fierce battle within us, and how important it is and that miracle of the Holy Spirit that our heavenly Father has gifted unto you, that you allow that Holy Spirit to do that work, that you would indeed, as our heavenly Father reminds us, endeavor to mortify the deeds of the body.

He reminds us here of this one very important matter: Speak comfortably to Jerusalem and cry out unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. In that psalm of thanksgiving, in that hundred and third psalm, He reminds us of the grace and mercy of our heavenly Father and how abundant it is unto us, where He said, "As high as the heaven is above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him."

Dear brothers and sisters, I have had a need of this encouragement and comfort of our heavenly Father.

I have had to be reminded that all that is required of us is faith and trust upon Him and upon His word. The prophets of old and indeed, this very prophet has reminded us how the years of our heavenly Father have not been closed unto your plea and unto your sigh, unto your cry. He reminds us that His loving arms have not been shortened, but they encircle you.

This warfare, which is referred here, is that battle against that threefold enemy, against Satan, against this world, and against this uncorrupted portion. And yet how comforting it is here, dear brothers and sisters, how very clearly our heavenly Father reminds us of this one matter that the warfare is accomplished.

It is finished. Now that her iniquity is pardoned, the songwriter writes in another portion, "Blessed is that man whose sins are forgiven and whose iniquities are covered."

Iniquities are covered. The apostle John reminds us in that first epistle to confess your sins one to another. And if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Satan, dear brothers and sisters, especially during these last days, is becoming even more and more deceitful. And he knows that if you, dear child of God, battle fiercely against his onslaught, the temptations of the world, and yes, indeed your very own sin-corrupted flesh, He knows then that he has need to come in through the backdoor.

And then he begins to prompt and attempt you in the other way into the sins of self-righteousness where you begin to see yourself as successful, where you begin to look down upon the other children of God as truly wretches. Both, dear brothers and sisters, are as dangerous. If we fall to those sins on the left, those sins that we immediately know that we have fallen, so dreaded and heinous sins.

Or if he causes us to begin to swell and to grow in ourselves and to take honor and glory unto ourselves, to take merit upon ourselves, to begin to look down upon the other believers, those sins on the right-hand side of the way. And oftentimes, even these, one could say, are very, very dangerous because it is so pleasing to the flesh to think that I have been successful and very, very difficult then to comprehend that how can I be an heir when I have been so successful?

But there, dear brothers and sisters, there, the love of our heavenly Father shows forth in our life when we find ourselves there on that side of the way. He sends forth His beloved angels here upon the earth to come with much love and humbleness and timidity to remind and to help and to show, yes, lovingly revealed where fall and error has happened. But the prophet here reminds us that speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received at the Lord's hand double for her sins.

Yes. As high as the heaven is above the earth, so great is His mercy toward you and I. The apostle Paul in that fifth chapter of Romans, he reminds us of the deceitfulness of Satan. And he then reminds us of this grace and mercy of God, which is so abundant as we have heard how the Psalm writer even reminds us. And he says here in this way, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so my praise reign through righteousness, unto eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? And he replies, God forbid. But even this, the enemy of the soul is tempting us with.

But there is so much grace and mercy here in God's kingdom. And tempting us on those ways of sin. And here, he reminds us so clearly, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.

And then on later here, he says, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. This is the work of the Holy Spirit within you and I, dear brothers and sisters. This is that which battles fiercely daily against that threefold enemy.

And that is why we are encouraged and exhorted that the Spirit of God within us would do its work. Then there comes this situation oftentimes when we begin to think and to reason matters in our mind, and the enemy of the soul very quickly causes us to be confused in many matters and issues. And I fear and I fear, dear brothers and sisters, that there is much confusion here in God's kingdom of the atmosphere, the bleeding home, of the husband and the wife, and the difficulties that beset us, the temptations that the enemy of the soul sets before us, and in the matters of separation and divorce, how the enemy of the soul can clog our mind and even cause us to begin drifting away from the correct understanding of living faith, to begin to think even that the matter of divorce would be correct, and yet we understand and know, and scriptures reveal unto us that it is sin. It is not that which a believing husband and wife would do to take care of matters, you know, in their midst. It is not a solution.

It is only the sermon of the enemy of the soul. And the apostle Peter in that epistle unto the Galatians, he reminds us, he reminds us here firstly of this freedom and liberty of a believer. For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. This is that freedom and the unity of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

That we would use this freedom and liberty not for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serving one another. For all of the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

And then he goes on here to remind, but if he bite and devour one another, take heed, take heed that he be not consumed one of another. This I say then, walk in the spirit, and he shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that he cannot do the things that he would, and so on.

It is very important, dear brothers and sisters. Very, very important. When we think of this love, which binds the hearts of the believers together, this love of Christ and how important this love is that it is in our midst and burning warmly in our hearts one to another.

Dear brothers and sisters, if that love has cooled, the enemy of the soul has caused grief in your life. The apostle Paul reminds us here, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, and so on.

First fruit of living faith is love. And it follows then joy and peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness. When we think of the atmosphere of our believing homes, you dear mothers and fathers, dear brothers and sisters, how important it is that this love of our Lord and Savior Jesus is burning warmly there in your little home congregation, and that you would have the understanding and the miracle that God has gifted unto you when he gave you a believing spouse, a helpmate, one which you can lean upon, one whom you can uplift and comfort one another, and, yes, lovingly rebuke and remind.

But how important it is that there in that home congregation, these fruits of living faith would prevail: love, meekness, gentleness, compassion, long suffering, and so forth. For there in that believing home, dear mother and father, your little children see your actions as examples.

Even if you do not say anything, only by your actions they learn and observe, and how important it is that the love of Christ would burn brilliantly there. That is the start of the spiritual inheritance of your children and how important it is that they learn of the love of Christ and the mercy and the grace of our heavenly Father and the unity of the Holy Spirit.

Very, very important, dear brothers and sisters. And when we think of this matter, the precious instructions given unto us husbands and unto you wives, how we are to treat one another, very, very precious instructions. Yes.

You and us as husbands are reminded to honor the wife as the weaker vessel, that we are to love her as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. And you wives are reminded to show reverence unto your husband. To use old Sarah as an example.

And certainly, that atmosphere there in the believing home, that very, very, very precious reminder that has so touched my heart when our heavenly Father reminded you, wives, that your grace would delight your husband and that your discretion would fan his bones, that in all the decisions that you make there would be for his benefit. And what is the most important is for his undying soul. That is the beginning of all.

Jesus said, seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all else shall be added unto you. That begins there, dear mother and father, in your home congregation. Your dealings with one another. And that it's not the atmosphere of a believing home, and that in all the decisions that we would make, that it would be for the benefit of our spouse, that it would be for the benefit of our family and certainly, first and foremost, that it would be for the benefit of the undying soul of our spouse and the undying soul of our children. It is remarkable, dear brothers and sisters, when we think of this matter.

Last Sunday was a judgment Sunday and, oh, how it really touched me, that gospel text. And that portion where Jesus, when Jesus is speaking of that final judgment day when he then divides the goats from the sheep and the goats go on the left side and the sheep go on the right. And he says then to those, "Blessed of my Father, that when I was sick and in prison, he visited me." And my mind is failing me. But then shall a king say unto them on the right hand, "Come, be blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

For I was so hungered, and he gave me meat. I was thirsty, and he gave me drink. I was a stranger, and he took me in. Naked, and he clothed me. I was sick, and he visited me.

I was in prison, and he came unto me. And then shall the righteous say, "Lord, Lord, when did we do this?" Then shall the righteous answer him saying, "Lord, when saw we thee a hungered and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in prison and came unto thee?" And the king shall answer and say unto them, "Verily I say unto you, insomuch as you have done it unto one of these least of my brethren, you have done it unto me." Is not this there in the home congregation when you serve one another, you are serving our Lord and Savior Jesus. That is the beginning of that service unto our Lord and Savior Jesus.

And then the children learn and observe this, and then they learn how important it is. The apostle Paul revives again, in that epistle on the regulations, the importance of loving one another, the importance of loving thy neighbor and serving thy neighbor. And then he says, and so much the more those of the household of God.

It is so important, dear brothers and sisters, that we serve one another. Now why is this important? I've had a sore throat two weeks, and my voice is failing. But why is this service so important? Because dear brother and sister, when you serve one another, you are indeed serving our Lord and Savior Jesus.

And when you, dear brother and sister, are serving one another, this is nothing more than that love of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing more than the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus doing his work here in our midst. That is how simple it is. But what really was so touching to me when I read what Jesus said unto those on the left side. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was a hungered, and he gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and he gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and he took me not in. Naked, and he clothed me not. Sick and in prison, and he visited me not." Then shall they also answer him saying, "Lord, when saw we thee a hungered or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee?"

Then shall he answer them, saying, verily I say unto you, insomuch as he did it not to one of the least of these, he did it not to me. And what is so striking here? What was it that separated those lambs from the goats? We understand, dear brothers and sisters, and the Bible is very clear unto us concerning those sins on the left side. And the apostle Paul writes in a couple of portions unto us, warning us of those sins of adultery and fornication and drunkenness and of heresy, even of petitions and so on.

And he says that they that do such things will not inherit eternal life. We understand this, and we know why it is so important to watch as you pray. But what really struck me was this: No, Jesus did not present these heinous sins unto those goats.

No. It was such a simple issue. What was lacking from those goats were the fruits of living faith: love, compassion, gentleness, meekness, love, suffering, patience. That was that which had separated them from the kingdom of our heavenly Father. But that's why, dear brother and sister, it's so extremely important to watch and to pray.

Where do we watch? We watch here, into our heart. And if the enemy of the soul has caused bitterness to begin to grow, if we see that love is not cold, then, dear brother and sister, we need to utter those words of the apostle, "Lord, save me, I perish." Because that is the simplicity of living faith, and that is how simple this matter of mercy and grace is. And, oh, how the enemy of the soul would desire and wants to bring wedges between the brothers and sisters in living faith.

Oh, how he wants that love to begin to grow cold and empty. But what grace of grace is, dear brothers and sisters? The warfare is accomplished and sins can be forgiven. Oh, the simplicity of living faith and soul. Wednesday evening, as I stood before that deathbed, I marveled at the simplicity of faith.

What is that which saves us? It's nothing more than the grace and mercy of our heavenly Father. Nothing more, nothing less. We in ourselves are sin-corrupted. Oh, the apostle Paul even lamented, and we lament with him:

"Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?"

But what grace of grace it is, dear brothers and sisters. Those loving arms of our heavenly Father have not been shortened. His ears have not been closed after your pleas and cries.

He has promised, "I will not forsake you. I will not leave you." And, oh, how preciously he reminds us in that fourth chapter of Hebrews where he says, "Come boldly unto the throne of grace."

Alright, I said, "Therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Yes. We have here the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus, those robes of righteousness that have been gifted unto us, of which we have blemished, that they can be washed with the blood of Christ and made white and pure as snow. This, dear brothers and sisters, is the simplicity of living faith. We need to hear that voice of the Holy Spirit, and it may seem, my dear brother and sister, of time. Oh, that candle of faith is as a flickering candle.

Some years back, when I was traveling to Colorado, I stopped there in the area of the Badlands, and I went with my wife and family to that cave known as Wind Cave. And we took the elevator down into the depths and the bowels of the earth, and it's remarkable. And then the guide told us, "Okay, now everyone grab a hold of something. We will shut the lights off."

And they shut the lights off. And, dear brother and sister, I had never experienced darkness as that. It was indeed as the darkness of unbelief. I put my hand here before my face, and I could not even sense my hand was there. So dark was that.

And yet, dear brothers and sisters, even you, dear brother or sister, will feel yourself. That is their even faith. Again, as a prophet of old reminds us, that little flickering candle of which he reminds us, our heavenly Father will not extinguish, but he encourages you, dear brother and sister.

Yes. You, you of so little faith that even that minute speck now when you compare that little minute speck of light that is flickering from that candle of faith, with that light that is found in the darkness of unbelief, it says the noonday sun.

Such is the power of the Holy Spirit, and so important it is that we listen to that voice of the Spirit. Jesus reminded us in the very last pages of the Bible, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit sayeth unto the church. How important it is, dear brothers and sisters, that we endeavor in that place of a child. It is so important.

And always I have marveled at the way that Peter, Peter who was so boastful in his lifetime, and Peter who, although all the disciples had said it, but Peter was so vocal that, "Lord, I will go to prison and even under death for you."

And at that moment, even Jesus looked down upon Peter, and he said, "Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. But when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."

And Jesus knew that Peter would go into the darkness of unbelief. He knew that his faith would fail him there in that courtyard that very evening and night. And yet Jesus prayed on his behalf as he has prayed for you, dear brother and sister.

And then Jesus tells Peter that Peter then said unto him, "Lord, I will go to prison and even unto death for you." And Jesus then told him that before the cock crow, "Thou hast denied me thrice."

But then, he did not leave Peter there in doubt and in great fear, but no. He continued. I think in that gospel according to John, it says then in that following right at the beginning of the chapter, he says, "But let not your heart be troubled. I go and prepare a place for you. There are many mansions in heaven for you. And when I go, I will come again to gather you unto myself."

I ask, dear brother and sister, does it pay you to believe? We say as Peter, "Where would we go, Lord? For thou hast the word of life."

And then later as Peter, when he wrote in his epistle, he reminded us that we would be as newborn babies desiring the sincere milk of the word. It is so important, dear brothers and sisters. Yes.

Faith cometh by hearing, but it is also preserved by hearing. A very, very important and certainly that sweet voice and message of the gospel that you can believe all sins and doubts forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

Yes. Believe all sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood. We have a loving heavenly Father in heaven.

Oh, the reason for thanksgiving, dear brother and sister. The miracle that you and I are this evening endeavoring to believe. And this is nothing short of a miracle, and it is only by the grace and mercy of God that we are here this evening and all that we would remain in that place of a child, dependent and totally upon our heavenly Father and his beloved congregation mother here upon the earth.

And oh, how secure that it is to do a journey in the bosom of the congregation mother, where one uplifts and comforts. That is how our Lord and Savior Jesus does his work.

When you, dear brother and sister, approach and uplift and comfort another, this is the work of the Holy Spirit, and this is the work of our Lord and Savior Jesus.

And I, again, need to hear that assurance that I can plead my sins and doubts forgiven. I certainly desire to believe with you. In Jesus' name, amen. The Lord bless us and keep us.

And the Lord make His face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up His countenance upon us and give us peace. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.