Welcome back to The Approaching Storm, a seven part series on last day events. I'm Ken Norton, speaker director for the Voice of Prophecy. In the presentations to come, we will be covering in detail the topics of the Sunday law, The Shaking, the Latter Rain, the Loud Cry, and the final rapid movements right before Jesus comes. But before looking into what will be taking place in the future, it is important that we look at what needs to be taking place now, how to prepare for the coming crisis. That is the subtitle for this series and the subject of this presentation. Please pray with me as we begin, God in heaven, open our eyes that we may see wondrous things from your law. Lord, teach us in this presentation to anchor ourselves into your word so when the crisis comes in the future, we will be prepared to stand with you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We begin with this from the book, the Great Controversy. Before His crucifixion, the Savior explained to his disciples that he was to be put to death and to rise again from the tomb, and angels were present to impress His words on minds and hearts, but the disciples were looking for temporal deliverance from the Roman yoke and they could not tolerate the thought that he and whom all their hope centered should suffer an ignominious, a humiliating death. The words which they needed to remember were banished from their minds, and when the time of trial came, it found them unprepared. The death of Jesus as fully destroyed their hopes as if he had not forewarned them. So in the prophecies, the future is open before us as plainly as it was open to the disciples by the words of Christ. The events connected with the close of probation and the work of preparation for the time of trouble are clearly presented, but multitudes have no more understanding of these important truths than if they had never been revealed. Satan watches to catch away every impression that would make them wise into salvation and the time of trouble will find them unready. Is it possible to be prepared for the time of trouble and be ready for Jesus to come? Absolutely. I think we are all familiar with the parable of the five wise young women and five foolish ones who were waiting for the bridegroom to come. One of the major points of that parable was that when the delayed bridegroom did show up at the wedding, there were only two groups, one group that was prepared and the other that wasn't. There are several statements by Ellen White on last day events that reveal the sad fact that there will be a large number of Seventh-day Adventists who were not ready for the time of trouble. Here is one of those statements. She says, soon God's people will be tested by fiery trials and the great proportion of those who now appear to be genuine and true will prove to be base metal. Instead of being strengthened and confirmed by opposition, threats and abuse, they will cowardly take the side of the opposers. This is a very sad glimpse into the future and it's hard to imagine how a great proportion of those who are accounted as faithful Seventh-day Adventist now will one day walk away from the truth and join the opposers. How can that happen? There is an Old Testament passage that tells us exactly how this happens, and it's important that we take this warning seriously through the prophet Hosea. God says, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge. I also will reject you from being priest for me because you have forgotten the law of your God. I also will forget your children. From Hosea, we see that willful ignorance or the outright rejection of knowledge has been practiced by God's people in the past and it will be the same at the end of time, but this doesn't need to be a Seventh-day Adventist. We have at our fingertips all the knowledge necessary to be prepared for what is to come, but the Hosea passage seems to imply that the knowledge God is talking about is not just knowing information, having a correct head knowledge of doctrines or prophecy. He seems to be implying that something much deeper is at stake. Here as many other places in Scripture, God is referring to an experiential knowledge that is lacking among the great proportion of his people. It is a sational matter that we understand what this experiential knowledge consists of. I believe God desperately wants his people to gain this experiential knowledge right now. While there is still time and as strong as it sounds, I believe whether or not we obtain this knowledge now will be a matter of life or death in the near future. What do we need to be learning and experiencing now? We need to have an experiential knowledge of Scripture. The last part of the Hosea passage highlights how important it is not just to know what the Bible says, but to live what the Bible says. Let's look at the Hosea passage again. My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge. I also will reject you from being priest for me because you have forgotten the law of your God. I also will forget your children as we will see in coming presentations loyalty to God through obeying all His commandments will be at the center of the final worship war that is spoken about in Revelation 13 and 14, but the obedience and loyalty that will be shown by God's people at the end will simply be a continuation of faithful obedience and loyalty that has been obtained and practiced before that time comes. The process of preparation for the end begins with a fortifying of the mind with the truths of the Bible. Now, but fortifying the mind isn't just about reading or intellectually knowing what the Bible says. Fortifying encompasses a much deeper level in talking about the events surrounding the time of trouble. Ellen White says this, those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of God will be opposed and derided. They can stand only in God in order to endure the trial before them. They must understand the will of God as it is revealed in His word. They can honor him only as they have a right conception of his character, government and purposes and act in accordance with them none, but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through. The last great conflict to every soul will come. The searching test, shall I obey God rather than men? The decisive hour is even now at hand. Are our feet planted on the rock of God's immutable word? Are we prepared to stand firm in defense of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus? Ellen White expands on the idea that fortifying the mind with the truths of the Bible isn't just something to be learned but lived. She says, Christians should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise and this preparation they should make by diligently studying the word of God and striving to conform their lives to its precepts. Being prepared for the final crisis must go beyond a surface. Reading of the Scriptures. Reading the Bible and conforming one's life to its precepts are two very different things, and the second is much more difficult than the first, and that's why having an experiential knowledge of the Scriptures goes hand in hand with having a personal practical relationship with God. Without a close relationship with him, it's impossible to conform our lives to him because he is the only one who can change us. This brings us to the second area of knowledge we should be seeking. Now before the time of trouble, first we should be seeking an experiential knowledge of Scriptures and secondly, we should be diligently seeking an experiential knowledge of God. I cannot emphasize enough that the experience of knowing God, not just knowing about him ranks above all others in importance of what God's people need to be focusing on now and preparing for the future. Jesus couldn't have made it clear during a prayer with and for his disciples in John chapter 17, and this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent in preparing for the coming crisis. Knowing God experientially and personally is the single most important knowledge that one can possess. Knowing him not just knowing about him should be the subject of our study and contemplation every day. It is our only defense against evil now and in the future. Listen to what Ellen White says. The only defense against evil is the indwelling of Christ in the heart through faith in his righteousness. Unless we become vitally connected with God, we can never resist the unhallowed effects of self-love, self-indulgence, and temptation to sin. We may leave off many bad habits for the time we may part company with Satan, but without a vital connection with God through the surrender of ourselves to him, moment by moment we shall be overcome. Without a personal acquaintance with Christ and a continual communion, we are at the mercy of the enemy and shall do his bidding and the end. Our first work is to know Him personally by experience, not through someone else's experience, but through our own. As you know well. Satan has devised countless ways to hinder our pursuit. To know God personally, practically and intimately in describing the time of trouble and the end of the world. Jesus names what the specific enemies are that will keep people who live at the end of time from building a relationship with him. Jesus said, but take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing drunkenness and cares of this life and that day come upon you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to and to stand before the son of man carousing, drunkenness and the cares of life. What is carousing? One commentary states it is the giddiness and headache resulting from excessive wine bibb a drunken nausea. In a broad sense though it isn't about drinking alcohol, it's the addictive buzz that comes from forbidden pleasure in whatever form that may be. Drunkenness means continual intoxication in a prophetic context. This is an obsession with ideas or activities that are not godly. It's a preoccupation and familiarity with the world and its ways instead of God's ways cares of this life. This is pretty straightforward with an emphasis that the cares of this life draws away in a different direction to be distracted. Jesus stated it clearly when he was explaining the parable of the sower. He said, now these are the ones sewn among thorns. They're the ones who hear the word and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things entering in. Choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. There are many destructive things that keep people today from obtaining and experiential knowledge of God and becoming fruitful, but the good news is that there will be a group in the last days who because of their relationship with Jesus did not allow these things to distract them, they will stand with him in heaven because they learned to stand with him here on earth as they followed him wherever he led them. Look at this text, then I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion and with him 144,000 having his father's name written on their foreheads. These are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. In John chapter 10, Jesus described how this group followed him because they learned to know His voice and when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow Him for they know His voice. I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and I am known by my own. He is known by his own. The 144,000, the symbolic number of God's people who make it through the last tribulation is seen by John in Revelation. They follow the lamb because they know His voice. It's a well known fact that sheep don't follow a stranger's voice. Why? 'cause they don't know them. If someone knocks on your door in the middle of the night and you ask who is it and you don't recognize the voice, do you open the door? No. Well, at least you shouldn't. The point of all this is brought home in Matthew 25 when the foolish virgins finally make it to the wedding venue, the door is shut and they cry out saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. What was the bridegroom's response? But he answered and said, assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the son of man is coming. Brothers and sisters, do you know Him? If not, spend intentional time and prayer and in the study of His word, getting to know Him and learning to recognize and obey His voice. Now, if love for pleasure preoccupation for worldly things, the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches or the desire for other things has drowned out His voice and choked your spiritual life to almost non-existence. It's not too late. Jesus is pictured in Revelation chapter three, verse 20, knocking on the door of everyone's heart. He wants to come in, spend time with you and be known by you. If for whatever reason you find the door of your heart closed off to him, choose today to open it wide and let him in. Create a vital connection with him. Learn to love His voice and when it matters most, you will follow Him wherever He leads you. Now is the time to seek an experiential knowledge of Scriptures. Now is the time to seek an experiential knowledge of God and there is one more area of knowledge we should be seeking. Now, it is a difficult knowledge to obtain since everything in society tells us not to live this way and to avoid it as much as possible. But the Bible and the spirit of prophecy are clear that before the time of trouble, God's faithful people must have an experiential knowledge of sacrifice and suffering. Tucked away in the Psalms is an interesting passage that describes the second coming of Jesus, the mighty one God. The Lord has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down out of Zion, the perfection of beauty. God will shine forth. Our God shall come and shall not keep silent. A fire shall devour before him and it shall be very contemptuous all around him. He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. Let the heavens declare his righteousness for God himself is judge. It's very interesting that at the second coming of Jesus, those who God acknowledges as His holy ones are those who know what it means to sacrifice. In the Old Testament, the word sacrifices often connected to the ceremonial act of killing a lamb, ram, goat or some other bird or animal which brought forgiveness and atonement to the sacrificer. But we forget that when an Israelites sacrificed a lamb, they really did sacrifice. Lambs were highly valued property at the time, and it literally was a sacrifice for them to sacrifice it. Sacrificing for them meant giving up something, but those who participated in the sacrificial service did so as part of their covenant relationship with God. They were committed to sacrificing because that's what God asked them to do and they were willing. So how does all this translate today? It is interesting that the word sacrifice in the Psalms passage must go beyond lambs and rams since the sacrificial service ceased at the cross. How do we make a covenant with God by sacrifice today? By giving up things for him, by giving of our time, talents, treasure, whatever he asks us to give up. The bottom line is that before Jesus comes, there will be a group of people who know on a very practical level what it means to sacrifice for God. And this goes far beyond money. When the tears press out, because God asks you not to do something you really want to do and by a miracle you don't give into that temptation that's making a covenant with God by sacrifice. When he asks you to forgive someone, you really don't want to forgive, but you choose to forgive. That's making a covenant with God by sacrifice. When God asks you to inconvenience yourself on behalf of someone else that's making a covenant with God, by sacrifice, God's people who are seeking and obtaining an experiential knowledge of sacrifice and suffering now will be prepared for the physical, spiritual, and mental distress to come in the trouble sometimes ahead. Ellen White puts it this way. The season of distress and anguish before us will require a faith that can endure weariness, delay, and hunger. A faith that will not faint those severely tried the period of probation is granted to all. To prepare for that time, Jacob prevailed because he was persevering and determined his victory is in evidence of the power of fervent prayer. All who will lay hold of God's promises as he did and be as earnest and persevering as he was, will succeed as he succeeded. Those who are unwilling to deny self to agonize before God to pray long and earnestly for his blessing will not obtain it wrestling with God. How few know what it is? How few have ever had their souls drawn out after God with intensity of desire until every power is on the stretch, when waves of despair, which no language can express sweep over us. How few clinging with unyielding faith to the promises of brothers and sisters? May you be among those who clinging with unyielding faith to to God's promises by making a choice now to give God what is his and give up anything that separates you from him. By doing so, you are making a covenant with God by sacrifice, by embracing sacrifice and suffering. When called to do so, you are following in the footsteps of Moses and a long list of faithful believers who chose sacrifice and suffering during their lifetimes, knowing they would gain it all back and much more in the future. This from Hebrews 11 by faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he looked to the reward. There will be a group of people in the last days who have learned by experience what it means to deny self, to cheerfully, be without, and have learned how to make God their strength. They are described in an in time prophecy and the book of Habakkuk. Though the fig tree may not blossom nor fruit beyond the vines, though the labor of the olive may fail and the fields yield no food, though the flock may be cut off from the fold and there be no hurt in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like deer's feet and he will make me walk on my high hills. Before the time of trouble arrives, there will be a group of faithful followers of Jesus who will have obtained an experiential knowledge of Scripture of God and of sacrifice and suffering. They will have fortified their minds with the truths of the Bible and by God's strength conform their lives to its precepts. They will have a vital connection with Jesus and will know His voice. They will have learned to follow Him wherever he has led them in life and will have not allowed themselves to be distracted by that which would make them unfruitful. They will know what it's like to sacrifice and suffer. They will have experienced what it's like to wrestle with God and will have chosen rather to suffer affliction than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. They will be prepared for what is to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise and will be ready to meet Jesus when he comes. Is it your desire to be one of these faithful followers of Jesus? If so, I wanna challenge you at the close of this presentation. I challenge you to make a commitment for the next 30 days to grow spiritually in one of these areas of experiential knowledge, a knowledge of Scripture, a knowledge of God, a knowledge of sacrifice and suffering. Maybe it's an area that you realize you need to grow in, but you aren't sure exactly how to do that. Maybe it's an area you have been avoiding altogether, but you hear Christ's gentle voice calling you into a deeper experience with him and you want to follow Him wherever He leads you. Hear our few few ideas on areas to challenge yourself for the next 30 days. Commit to engage in a deeper study of Scripture. Spend extra time reading and studying God's word. Ask God to reveal areas of your life that you know need to be more closely conformed to His word and to His will. Commit to growing your relationship with Jesus beyond your normal practices for spiritual growth. Ask him how he would like for you to do that. He might impress you to join prayer meeting at your church. Start a small group Bible study in your home or become active in a local ministry. Take your relationship with him to the next level. Tell him I will not let you go unless you bless me and he will. And lastly, commit to intentionally sacrificing in some way that's only known between you and God. Make a covenant with him by sacrifice. The Lord will be your strength and you will find joy in the God of your salvation. May Jesus help each of us to know Him, love Him, and be ready for his soon return. Let's pray to close God in heaven. Help us to experience your Scriptures deeper. Help us to know you more. Help us Lord to experience, sacrifice and suffering in a way that will give you glory and prepare us for your second coming. I ask this all in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.