Broken Bride IV – Divine Divorcee

our talk this evening is entitled TheDivinedivorce and you know when when you'reasked to preach at a camp meetingsometimes they ask you like what this iswhat we want you to preach on like thefruit of the spirit or something likethat and sometimes they just send you aschedule and they said these are yoursix speaking appointments and that's itand uh and sometimes they tell you thetheme of the camp meeting and sometimesthey don't and I really can't rememberfor what um Caribou sent me at all otherthan I know it was well organized and Igot some papers a long time ago and sowhen you're sitting down and you'rethinking about what am I going to preachyou pray about it and if you have noguidance whatsoever you kind think Lordwhat am I going to talk about and youpray for the Lord to give you somemessages and so this evening I want totalk about marriage and betrothal andthe wedding supper of the Lamb becausethis is where we're all going thewedding supper of the lamb and as I talkabout the the the the uh experience ofthe people of Israel as they go throughthe process of getting married thendivorced and then there's the betrothalthat comes again in scripture and thenthe promise of the wedding supper of thelamb and the consummation in Heavenabove each one of us finds oursel inthat story forourselves and so um our talk tonight isentitled The Divine divorce and uh it'smy prayer that as we go through thistogether that the holy spirit will workupon each of our hearts because Ibelieve that as we go through this storywe're going to see ourselves somewherein this story but as we begin and beforewe begin let's invite the presence ofthe Holy Spirit once more to bless ourtimetogether HeavenlyFather we thank you for the blessings ofthe Sabbath day Lord we thank you forthe spiritual highs we thank you wethank you for those precious Souls whowere born again today in the waters ofbaptism Lord I Thank you for those whoare faithful in preparing others forbaptismLord I pray for those new Disciples ofJesus Christ that you will fill themwith your spirit from this day forwardand they will see the fruit of thespirit in their characters in abeautiful way Lord I pray for us as weshare these moments together tonight andLord as day is dying in the west and theSabbath hours are slowly but surelyfading away I pray that your holy spiritwill come in a beautiful way into eachof our hearts and Minds now father wepray that our worship has beenacceptable in your sight I pray fatherthat there was nothing will come betweenus and you now in this moment together Iask Lord that everything in our lives wecan give as a holy sacrifice to a holyGod I ask father that you cleanse us nowof our unrighteousness you wash away theguilt of our shame and of our sin andyou give us hearts that desire to do thewill of God so father we give thesemoments into your hands we play we prayfor the protection of your angels andfor those who are watching online mayyour spirits move upon their hearts andin their homes as surely as you'removing here tonight in the name of Jesuswe humbly pray amen so does everybodyhere like going to awedding yes some people like going toweddings um my experience is that when acouple get betrothed or get engaged thelady tends to focus on the wedding dayand the guy is more focused on thesubsequentmarriage like so the lady is oftenfocused on the dress and the flowers andthe invitations and all the rest of itand uh the guy is focused on how we'regoing to pay the bills when this is alldone and will my mother-in-law live6,000 miles away from me or not a veryimportant question um as I said theother day um as a pastor um it's easierto serve at funerals these days than atweddings uh because at at a weddingreally nobody listens to what you sayeverybody's looking at the bride withtheir cameras they just want you to bequiet and to get to the point where youcan now kiss the bride that's whateverybody's waiting for so nobody reallycares what you say as the preacher asyou're going through thesermon the homy with the couple um andwhen it comes to funerals funerals arebasically Evangelisticevents because when people are Weepingfor their loved ones you remind themthat Jesus wept at the grave ofLazarus and Jesus wept with Mary andMartha who had the Hope in theresurrection and he wept for thosePharisees who had no hope in theresurrection and every mner at a funeralis in one of those two groupsJesus weeps with them or he weeps forthem and which group are you in todaybut um marriage is is very specialprocess and um it's it's comes from theGarden ofEden and this is our journey today afterthe introduction we'll look at theprocess of Israel being divorced thenthe betrothal then the married and thenour conclusion so this is our journey toa divorced betrothed married and Isuspect that most people in the roomtoday um if you're married praise theLord I pray it's a happy marriage I knowthat some people here today have gonethrough divorce are going throughdivorce are afraid that they will gothrough divorce some of you havementioned this to me and you're goingthrough an extremely painfulmoment and there are people here todaywho want to be married but who are notmarried today and are praying for asuitable life partner so marriageaffects us all one way or the otherwhether we recognize it or not so thispassage here is from the common book ofprayer it's it's from published by theAnglican Church back in1662 and um when people come to as apastor and they say Pastor um we want tohave the traditional wedding you know inthe English-speaking world that they'rereferring to the common book of prayerand these book these words here werepublished first in 1662 we read them atmany weddings and they've come throughinto the Adventist pastor manual thatpastors get when they're ordained orwhen they become a licensed pastor andso these words are very familiar and Iwant to share these words with you todaybecause they they really nicely Expressthe purpose for marriage in the eyes ofGod and some of you will remember thesewords from your own marriage okay sothis is what the preacher normally sayswhen the bride or the the the twobetrothed people come to the front ofthe church and then the pastor saysthese words he says dearlybeloved we are gathered together here inthe sight ofGod and in the face of this assembly tojoin together this man and this woman inholy matrimony which is an honorableestate instituted by God in the time ofman's innocency signifying to Christiansthe mystical Union between Christ andhis church which holy estate Christblessed and adorned by his presence andfirst miracle that he wrought in Kaa ofGalilee and is further commended by theApostle Paul as worthy of all honor andintended to promote a deeper Union withour Lord himself therefore marriage isnot by any to be contemplated norentered into unadvisedly lightly orwanly but reverently soberly and in thefear of God duly considering thatmatrimony was divinely ordained formutual help and comfort that the oneneeds from the other and should receiveboth in prosperity and adversity intothis holy estate these two persons herepresent come now to be solemnly andinseparably joined it's a beautifulpassage and it really summarizes neatlyGod's purpose for marriage and when weenter into the spirit and the purpose ofmarriage as God intended marriage isperhaps the single biggest blessing youcan have in thisworld and uh people ask me like what ismarriage like and I've been married withmy wife for almost 25 years and the bestdescription of marriage is it's like acolonoscopy and before you laugh when Isay thatbefore you laugh and you say you'relaughing already you need to let mefinishokay it's like a colonoscopy so Ireached a certain age about a couple ofyears ago I turned 50 and there comes apoint in life where you kind of dreadgoing to the doctor because you'vealways reached a certain age and onceyou turn 40 as a guy there are certainthings that have to 40 then 45 andwhether it's colonoscopies or or examson your prostate or shingles vaccines asyou go through life these things addingup as you get to certain ages my doctorsaid you've reached a certain age youneed a colonoscopy I said why he saidbecause there's a risk you may you knowhave polyps or something down there Idon't know what a polyps is but itdoesn't sound very good to me so um Itook these chemicals and it cleans meout and my wife drove me into the intothe hospital and um I I changed I gotinto the into the uh the surgical gownand they wheeled me in and um they theyknocked me out and they did whateverthey were going to to do tome and um the next thing Iremember was I woke up at home in mybed I thought to myself hang on Ithought I was inhospital was that all a bad dream no Idon't think it was a bad dream I had umI had some residual pain uh and so I I Igot up at a bed and I walked into thekitchen my wife was there said um whatdid I do today and she said well you went and had acolonoscopy this morning I thought ohthat's right I did have a colonoscopy Isaid and what happened after thecolonoscopy well she said the doctortold you not to sign any paperwork for24 hours because it looks like you'reawake but you're actually not with itthose of you who are doctors know whatI'm talking about there there's somekind of after effect from anesthesia andso she said um after you had thecolonoscopy you came to in the recoveryroom and the um you were chattering witha doctor about how soul and became aChristian in in the surgical room andyou were just babbling on about thisstuff and then you started telling thedoctor that you could feel it becausethey couldn't get the the probe around acertain Corner up there and the doctorexpressed to us yeah they were havingsome trouble with that process so youweren't misremembering this or anyway wedecided after you got dressed that youyou something wasn't quite right withyou so we put you in a wheelchair and wewheeled you to the back of the hospitaland I went and drove the car around tothe back and I put you in the car and Ithought while my husband is with melet's go and do the grocery shopping sowe went and did the grocery shopping butI have no recollection of groceryshopping and that's a memorable event inour family because um when we gotmarried I said to Mor wife there's manythings I will do but there's one thing Ireally don't want to do in that'sshopping like I'll eat food because eatfood is like filling the Gasol leine inthe car it just keeps you on yourforward Journey but shopping for foodplease don't ever ask me to do that somy wife took advantage of thisopportunityand while I was not quite with it Idon't remember anything apparently Iwalked up in the on the aisle of thelocal Aldi and and um Walmart we gothome and apparently allegedly I carriedthe food into the house and put it onthe kitchen and then my wife could seethat I still wasn't quite with it so sheput me to bed to sleep it off and then Iwokeup and uh so why is marriage like acolonoscopy well because I was out of itfor about 6 to eight hoursand during those six to8 hours there wassomebody who I didn't I wasn't evenaware of this there was somebody lookingafter me in ways I could not begin toimagine the while I was completelyhelpless and out of it somebody wasshown they could be trusted to lookafter to me and do good for me eventhough I had no idea it was happening tome that's why marriage for me is a bitlike acolonoscopy uh it's the experience of mywife looking after me while I wascompletely out of it and to me it's it'san illustration of what God wants for usin our marriagesum sometimes things always don't goquite so well on our 20th weddinganniversary it was August 19 my wifesaid it was four months before theanniversary she said would what wouldyou like to do for our weddinganniversary and I thought thank the LordI have a wife who reminds me of myweddinganniversary wives hinthint send an email every week every dayfor a week beforeum and so I saidwell what do you meanwhat do I want to do and she said I'dlike to know what do you want to do tocelebrate her 20th wedding anniversary Ithought but I really I'm not sure what Iwant to do actually well actually doknow what I want to do but I'm not sureif I should admit to it she says wellI'd like you to be honest with me I saidwell I said you really want me to behonest with you she saides I said wouldyou like me to be vulnerable aboutwhat's in my heart and she said well yesI said would you like me to be presentfor this conversation and she said wellyes these are a marital cing buzzbuzzwords and so I took my life in myhands and I and I and I made sure I wasoutside about with outside of like a 4foot range from MyWife and and um I kind of lookedguiltily at the floor and said well Iwas hoping and this is the truth said Iwas hoping we could go to Texas for athree-day hoghunt and um The Book of Revelation saysthere was silence in heaven for thespace of half anhour and therewas and I could tell from the look on mywife's face that this probably wasn'tthe best answer I'd given and I said areyou disappointed and she said yes I saidwere you hoping for a five-day hog huntshe saidno and so at this stage I was completelyyou know baffled like what am I supposedto say you asked me what I want to doI'd like to go hog hunting in Texas forthree days that looks pretty good fun tome with a 303 and um so she my wife isvery gracious with me she said I'm goingto ask you again you're going to give methe correct answer I saidoh so she said what would you like to dofor our 20th wedding anniversary and Isaid well I was hoping we could go toTexas for a mini Safari she said nowe're not going hog hunting in TexasI'll ask you again so she did and I saidI was hoping we'd go to Texas for umecotourism trip she says no we're notgoing hog hunting in Texas so finallyshe says this is your last opportunityuh to give me the right answer I knowthere's a right answer here and so Isaid well I was really hoping we go toOliveGarden and so lone behold we went toOlive Garden and had our standard whichis soup and salad and water with lemonin it and um the moral of that story isis is important to tell the truth nomatter how unpopular it is uh I'll tellyou why because there was a church in inin Al Alabama watching that service andI told that children story to thechildren and they called me upafterwards and said well you want to gohog hunting pastor we can arrange thatfor men Retreat next year if youwant and so um I spoke the truth and andum I was blessed with a bunch of guysthe following year who went out andcleaned out a bunch of hogs from anAdventist farmer who needed them cleanedout so anyway I got the hog hun sing mywife got her um Olive Garden mealso um when you look back at marriagemarriage is an incredible blessing um ifif marriage if you're with the rightperson you you marriage is like being inthe Garden of Eden if you're with thewrong person being married you start tobelieve in the Catholic doctrine ofpurgatory where your sins are burnt outof you on a dailybasis but all jolity aside this passagefrom the common book of prayer reallyemphasizes that marriage is a gift fromGod God is to be present at everymarriageour marriage is for a deeper Union notjust with our husbands or wives but itis for a deeper Union with God himselfit is not to be entered into unadvisedlyor rapidly or or um without carefulprayer andreflection and it is for the purposes ofdeepening the love between husband andwife and for the for the procreation toperpetuate the the Human family and souh God has been through the process ofmarriage with his people we're going tostart out with the process of God beingadivorce because sometimes when peoplehave gone through divorce they carry itit sometimes it's like a a personalshame when people have gone throughdivorce they often don't they don't wantto talk about it and those who arehappily married often come across aslike smug to those who are going throughthe trauma of a divorce and the realityis divorce does happen to innocentpeople sometimes stuff does happen inyour life sometimes something changessometimes a terrible catastrophe comesabout sometimes somebody has a roadaccident and and they have brain traumaand it's a very violent person you'renow living with mean things happen inlife and so many many Adventists who'vegone through divorce they're often kindof like maybe reticent or shy aboutsharing the fact that they've gonethrough a very painful process but partof the good news of the Gospel is thatGod is also a divorce and he knows whatit is to weep over a broken marriagehe knows what it is to yearn for awayward spouse to try and win her andwoo her back but in the end she wouldnot come back to him and we find thisstory in the book of well there's a fewtexts we can look at in Exodus chapter6: 6 and7 which reads say therefore to theIsraelites this is just before theExodus from Egypt I am the Lord and Iwill free you from the burdens of theEgyptians and deliver You From Slaveryto them I will redeem you with anoutstretched arm and with Mighty acts ofjudgment I will take you as my peopleand I will be your God you shall knowthat I am the Lord your God who hasfreed you from the burdens of theEgyptians So In this passage here Goddeclares that he wants to be God to thepeople of Israel and he wants them to behis people and this passage here we seethat God acts in the life of his peopleto deliver them from slavery to theEgyptians before he enters into amarriage covenant for them that is Godtakes the time to demonstrate his lovefor his people before he invites theminto a covenant relationship and it'simportant in our marriages rather thanhaving like a shotgun marriage if you'rethinking of marriage allow time andspace to demonstrate the depth of yourlove one for another before you makethat finalcommitment you want to know that persontruly is committed to you you want toknow that they truly love you before youenter into the marriage covenant and soGod when he enters into a marriagecovenant with Israel he demonstrated hislove for them by delivering them fromslavery without any guarantee that theywould agree to be his people at MountSinai Exodus chapter 19: 3-6 in thispassage we read that God has now savedhis people from slavery in Egypt andhe's now entering into a covenant withwith with the Israelites it says Moseswent up to God the Lord called him fromthe mountain saying thus you shall sayto the house of Jacob and tell theIsraelites you have seen what I did tothe Egypt Egyptians how I bore You OnEagle's Wings and brought you to myselfnow therefore if you obey my voice andkeep my Covenant you shall be my treasurpossession out of all the peoples indeedthe whole earth is mine but you shall befor me a Priestly Kingdom and a holynation these are the words that youshall speak to the Israelites and so Godproposes a marriage covenant with hispeople and Exodus chapter 19- 24 includethe terms of the go the Covenant and itis marriage covenant and it is based onGrace and that is why the first of theTen Commandments in this marriagecovenant is this then God spoke allthese words I'm the Lord your God whobrought you out of the land of Egypt outof the house of slavery you shall haveno other what before me Gods okay sowhen God enters into a marriage covenantwith his people the first thing he doesis he demonstrates his love for them bysaving them from slavery in Egypt toprove he loves them even when there's noguarantee they're going to agree to MarMar Covenant and then he says to them aswe enter into this marriage covenant inExodus chapter 20 the first rule of thismarriage is you shall have no other godsbefore me that is this is going to be amonotheistic it is it is an exclusiverelationship between God and his peoplethat when we enter into a marriagecovenant with God God does not want anyother gods in that in thatrelationship when you marry somebodyelse you don't want to know there's anex hangingaround that's bad newsand so God the first of the of the TenCommandments as they enter into hismarriage covenant is you shall have noother gods before me God is looking forCovenant faithful monotheism in thismarriage covenant with his people nowwe're not going to read all this passagehere this is where Moses they offer asacrifice in Exodus chapter 24 3-8 thisis where they ratify the marriagecovenant between God and his people andjust above the bit in read there it saysthen Moses took the book book of thethat's a bit in red and read it in thehearing of the people and they said allthat the Lord has spoken we will do andwe will be obedient so Moses took theblood and dashed it on the people andsaid see the blood of the Covenant thatthe Lord has made with you in accordancewith these words so in this passage herethe people of Israel entered into amarriage covenant with God and they theyratified it these days we sign a weddingcertificate back in in in that marriagecovenant there was a sacrificeand some of the blood was sacrificed onthe altar showing how God is going to befaithful to his people and part of theblood is splashed on the people showingthat they are now going to be faithfulto this Covenant with God the blood alsosymbolized as they entered this marriagecovenant God wanted his people to putaway sin and to be consecrated to Divineservice and so God claimed his people astheir own but the problem with thismarriage was that the Israelites wereonly in it halfhalfheartedly and sometimes when you'remarried sometimes when you're marriedyou discover that maybe your spouse didnot enter into the marriage for thereasons you thought theydid they say that when a man getsmarried a second time it's often atrophy wife it's not for honest reasonsand when a lady gets married a secondtime it's often a life insurancepolicy there are different motivationsin marriage and sometimes he's are notobvious at thebeginning but Israel's problem wasidolatry and idolatry was spiritualadultery and this passage here from 1Corinthians 10 explains that idolatry isreally the worship of demons so Paulsays here in 1 Corinthians 10 he'stalking to the Church of Corinth he saysI implied that what pagans sacrificethey sacrifice to Demons are not to GodI do not want you to be partners withdemons you cannot drink the cup of theLord and the cup of demons you cannotpartake of the table of the Lord and thetable of demons so when Paul what Paulis saying here is when the paganssacrific to these statues of Jupiter orVenus or Aphrodite or Mars in the Romanand the Greek pantheon of gods theyweren't just bowing down before Idols ofgold or stone or bronze or wood theywere bowing down before manifestationsofdemons and as you read the Old Testamentyou see this is exactly what happened inDeuteronomy Moses writes this that asthe Israelites were wandering throughthe Wilderness it says there they theIsraelites made him that is God jealouswith strange Gods with abhorent thingsthey provoked him they sacrificed towhat he physically they sacrificed toIdols but in reality they weresacrificing to Demons so they sacrificto deities they had never known to newones recently arrived whom theirancestors had not feared and thepsalmist puts it this waythey served their Idols which became asnare to them they sacrificed their sonsand daughters to the what demons theypoured out innocent blood the blood oftheir sons and daughters whom theysacrificed to the idols of Canaan andthe land was polluted with blood and sowe know from the Bible the names ofcertain Idols that were worship deeonMolech baale and ashth are the four mostwell-known Idols in the Old Testamentfrom the life of of ancient Israel thoseare actually the names of demons notjust of idols and the Israelites theyengaged in the worship of these Idolsbecause the demons behind them and thedemons they were worshiping wereattractive because they LED them intosensual Indulgence so Molech was a Godand they they have these statues you cansee the pictures in the Middle EastMolech was a God it was like um was likea like a like a coyote almost animalthat sits on a seat and it has thesebrass arms in front of it and the statuewas Hollow and they would light a fireunder the statue and the fire would comeup through that through that metal untilthose those arms were red hot and thenthey would sacrifice their newborn CHchildren by placing them on those redhot arms and they would literally frytheir children alive in the worship ofthese idols and so God it was veryfirmly against you must have no part inthe idol worship that is going on in theNations around God is so concerned aboutthis because um idol worship andidolatry led to the shocking abominationof the sacrifice of children to Molechand the Unspeakable degradation of grosssensuality but over the years Israelwent after these Idols which weredemons and that is why the Bible callsitadultery because they were going on notthey were turning away from Jesus Christto Fallen Angels that's why it's calledadultery that's why idolatry is adulteryin the eyes of God over the years Israelwent after to pagan gods which wereliteral living demons they chose Satanover Christ demons over angels andsensual debasement over ritual Purityand because of this God sent prophets tohis people such asHosea calling them away from not justfrom idolatry but from adultery so Godsaid to the people of Israel thenorthern tribes of T the northern 10tribes Kingdom of Israel to the prophethose he said plead with your motherplead for she is not my wife and I'm notyour husband that she put away herwhoring from her face and her adulteryfrom between her breasts and so uh youfind elsewhere in the Old Testament thatidolatry is referred to as as spiritualadultery but then in the prophetIsaiah a hundred years after thenorthern tribes been taken intocaptivity God speaks of the the southerntwo kingdoms the southern tribes Judahand Benjamin the kingdom of Judah andlook what he says to the latter half ofthat screen there he says she saw thatfor all the adulteries of that faithlessone Israel I that is God sent her awaywith a decree of divorce some versionssay certificate ofdivorce and so God is a divorce he sentaway the northern 10 tribes with acertificate of divorce because hispeople the northern 10 tribes werecontinually playing at spiritualadultery they weren't just engaging inidolatry they were turning their back onJesus and worshiping idols and demonsand whereas Jesus leads us to Purity theidols and the demons were leading themto gross sexual immorality and thesacrifice of their children and Soeventually after over 400 years God hassent many prophets the people of Israelwill not listen and so God sends Israelaway with a certificate or a degree adecree ofdivorce indeed as a faithless wifeleaves her husband so you've beenfaithless to me oh House of Israelsayith the Lord so God his charge hereis that they have committed spiritualadultery as for the southern two tribesin the Kingdom of Judah Judah andBenjamin God doesn't ever write them acertificates ofdivorce but he does ask them where isyour mother's bill of divorce with whichI put her away we find that with thesouthern Kingdom God does not write adegree of a decree of divorce becausethe southern Kingdom simply abandons himso the northern kingdom God separateswith them through the process of divorceand the southern Kingdom God is left asan abandonedspouse and there are some people heretoday some of you may have be gonethrough the pain ofAbandonment where your spouse just walksout on you and there's nothing you cando about it and there are some peopletoday who've gone through the pain ofdivorce and if that's you I want you toknow today that you're not on your ownGod has gone through the same processGod knows what it is is to be completelyintimate with somebody then to have thatperson turn their back on you that's whydivorce is so painful because if yourboss doesn't like you and fires youthat's okay because they don't know theinner you but when you've been marriedand somebody says I no longer want to bewith you I'm choosing to reject youthey're rejecting you when they've seeneverything about you that's why it issuch a painful process the process ofdivorce you are being rejected at theinnermost and deepest level but God hasbeen through that process and you wantto know the heart of God in this processwhat he feels aboutit God appealed to his people repeatedlyhere in Ezekiel 18 says why will you dieoh House of Israel for I have nopleasure in the death of anyone saiththe Lord God turn then and live thatverb to turn is often translated as torepent that even as he was sending awaywith the certificate of divorce God washoping against hope that his peoplewould turn back to him goes on them sayto them as I live sayith the Lord God Ihave no pleasure in the death of thewicked but that the wicked turn fromtheir ways and live turn back turn backfrom your evil ways for why will you dieoh House of Israel so we see that thisis the prophet Ezekiel this is after thenorthern 10 tribes have gone intocaptivity in Assyria it's after thesouthern two tribes have gone intocaptivity in Babylonia and even aund orso years after Northern tribes havedisappeared God is grieving for hispeople God is grieving his brokenmarriage and he wants them to come backtohim it's a the tragedy of a broken heartand a broken marriage and unrequitedlove when Jesuscame he came as one last appeal to thepeople of God the Israelites the houseof Israel to enter into that marriagecovenant onceagain and Jesus weeps over Jerusalemjust before he dies says JerusalemJerusalem the city that kills theprophets and S Stones those who are sentto it how often have I desired to gatheryour children together as a hen gathersher brood under her wings and you arenot willing see or behold your house isleft unto you desolate for I tell youyou will not see me again until you sayblessed is the one who comes in the nameof the Lord in Matthew 21 when Jesuscleanses the temple he refers it hecalls it my house my house shall be ahouse of prayer for All Peoples but twoverses two chapters later that Jerusalemis and the temple is no longer my housefor Jesus he says it's your house andit's left unto youdesolate so if you have wept over abroken marriage you've wept over an exwho's left youdesolate Jesus has gone through thatsame process as well when Jesus weptoverJerusalem he was weeping I believe withevery person weeping over the Brokennessof theirmarriage behold says your house is leftunto you desolate how often I would haveGA how often I desired to gather you asa hen gathers her chicks under her wingsit's a beautiful image of the the tenderlove of Jesus Christ for his church forhis people but they were stubborn theywould not accept him they would notenter into a marriage covenant with himso Jesus knows what it's like to gothrough the trauma ofdivorce but Jesus didn't just come tomake one last appeal to his people Jesuscame came because he wanted a bride foreternity and Jesus is the bridegroom whowill not give up on his bride that'sgood news he is a bridegroom who willnot walk away from an adulterous spouseand so when Jesus came he came toinaugurate a new marriage covenant andso we shift to that now the stage ofbeing betrothed and just so youunderstand in the Jewish context in theJewish context if a young man wanted tomarry a young lady he would come and hewould negotiate with the father of theyoung ladyand what was the bride price and hewould agree on the bride price and thenhe would go back to his home and then hewould then pay the bride price but hewould prepare a home for his new brideto live in and if you go to the MiddleEast today you see that you see homeswhere you have one story and almostevery home in the Middle East has umrebar rods sticking out from the cornerssome of you have seen that yes and whyis that is because when your childrenget married because housing is so hardto get what happen Happ s is the parentslive in the ground floor and when theson finds a bride to marry he has tobuild on the on the the roof of thehouse another room and that's going tobe the home he's preparing for his brideand so you see this all over the MiddleEast today rebar rods sticking up fromthe four corners of almost every housein the major Arab cities and so Jesustells us he says let not your hearts betroubled he's speaking to a a disciplewho just betrayed him says I go now toprepare a place for you that where I amthere you may be also so that thebridegroom comes to this earth to find abride and he pays the bride price onCalvary for his bride he demonstrateshis love for her that for Goddemonstrated his love for us while weyet sinners he died for us hedemonstrated the the depth of his lovefor us and he went back to heaven toprepare a place for his bride and whathe's doing is exactly what a Jewishgroom would have been expected to do andso thebetrothal the new marriage that Jesuswants us to enter into is summarized inJeremiah30:22 says you shall be my people and Iwill be yourGod this is a god who's gone through apainful divorce and the shame ofAbandonment but he's still wants hispeopleback and he offers a New Covenant theNew Covenant is spoken about here inJeremiah 31 there are four promises inthe New Covenant I've put them indifferent colors on thescreen we just look at them briefly itsays this is the Covenant I'll make withthe house of Israel after those dayssayith the Lord this is the firstpromise I will put my law within themand I'll write it in their hearts that'sthe promise of sanctification that Godwill write his law Upon Our Hearts sothat we no longer wish to follow ourfallen desires but our desire is tofollow God's perfect will that's how Godis restoring His Image into brokenHumanity the second promise is this Iwill be their God and they shall be mypeoplethat is God is promising in this newmarriage relationship between him andhis peoplereconciliation he wants to heal our ourestrangement from God to restore ourrelationship with him the third promisefrom God in this new covenant is in bluesays no longer shall they teach oneanother or say to each other know theLord for they shall all know me from theleast of them to the greatest saith theLord and this is a promise that when weenter into a this New Covenant with Godthis new marital Covenant he has a taskfor us us and that is Mission that weare to make God known through the worldthrough verbal witness and our lovingservice to humanity and the fourthprovision is this there at the bottom inthe purple it says I will forgive theiriniquity and remember their sin nomore that is forgiveness andjustification and God is promising hereforgiveness to those who previously werespirituallyadulterous do you know how hard it is tofor for give somebody who's committedadultery onyou if you married and your husband oryour spouse cheats on you it's one ofthe most painful experiences you can gothrough and God says yes I know that'swhat we've gone through but I willforgive you for youriniquity and I will remember your sinsnomore and to we with hearts today ifwe've committed spiritual adultery goneafter the gods of this world God issaying to you today I will forgive youfor your iniquity and I'll remember yoursins no more God offers us a newbeginning in the New Covenant now we'renot going to look through all this thisall technical theological stuff okaywe're going to come to Matthew 26 herethe Lord's Supper is perhaps the leastwell attended service in our cycle ofservices in the church I've noticed as apastor that people come for every otherservice when it comes to the Lord'ssupper and the foot washing theattendance always drops on Lord's Supperand this is a tragedy because the Lord'sSupper is when we are reenacting ourmarriage covenant with the Heavenlybridegroom this is our betral we are thebride of Christ we are entering into abetral with the Heavenly bridegroom andJesus we read there while they wereeating Jesus Took a loaf of bread andafter blessing it he broke it he gave tothe disciples and said take eat this ismy body he gives it to Judas actually weknow elsewhere in the gospels who's justbetrayed him then he took a cup andafter giving thanks he gave it to themsaying saying drink from it all of youfor this is my blood of the Covenantwhich is poured out for many for theForgiveness of sins I tell you I willnever again drink of this fruit of thevine on that day when I drink it youwith you in my father'sKingdom In this passage here or in theLord's Supper when we wash each other'sfeet we remember Christ's humility whodid not come to be served but to servefoot washing though is more thanphysical it's it's a washing of theheart it's a Fellowship of forgivenessfor we wash the feet of those who haveoffended us and accepting foot washingfrom others we recognize our own needfor Spiritual help foot washing alsorepresents our fellowship with Christwho told Peter when he refused footwashing Jesus said to him if I do notwash you you have no part in me when wedrink the fruit of the vine we affirmour faith in the deliverance from sinthrough the shed blood of the Lamb ofGod who died to take the sins of theworld in the eating of the bread we feedon Christ the bread of life whose bodywas broken in our place we accept hissacrifice on our part for our sins wealso affirm that daily spiritual growthis dependent upon feeding on the word ofGod which is Jesus Christhimself and so as we celebrate theLord's Supper we enter into the NewCovenant we are now betrothed to ourHeavenly Father to our Heavenlybridegroom we're not yet married but weare betrothedand today regardless of your pastregardless of my past regardless of howmuch spiritual adultery we have gonethrough in our lives Jesus is offeringthe chance to enter into a betrothalrelationship with him that you we mayenter the the bride of Christ and we maylook forward to the consumation inHeaven above when we meet our Heavenlygroom now for those of you who have beenfor those of us who have beendivorced but you're in the body ofChrist you are still the bride ofChrist and you have a Heavenly groom whopromised I will never leave you norforsake you and you have a Heavenlygroom with the the price he prayed foryou is chiseled into hishands and he's demonstrated his love foryou he's proved his love for you thatwhile we and I and you were yet sinnershe died on Calvary for oursins we understand when we're teenagersthat when a teenager says to a younglady I will love you till the day I dieit's basically nonsenseit's basically nonsense there's a youngman nodding his head over there isn'tthat true young man yes it's basicallynonsense in Russia they have anexpression for we we say sweet nothingsin America um that these are sweet wordsbut they mean nothing um in in Russiathey say lanha which means spaghettihanging from the ears which just showsyou how ridiculous these words are so weknow in in poppy love and teenage lovethese days that there's a lot of warmfuzzy words spoken but often they amounttonothing but when Jesus enters into abetral with his with hisbride he's already paid the price onCalvary and he's demonstrated his lovefor his bride and he's gone back toheaven to prepare a home for his brideand one day he's coming again so he cantake his bride to a Heavenlyhome and everybody here today regardlessof our past regardless of whateverspiritual adulteries we have committedin the past are wandering away from Godafter the idols and gods of this worldtonight God is offering you a chance toenter into the betral of JesusChrist to enter into that NewCovenant and so what does the marriageprocess looklike we come to this in Revelation 196-9 it's a beautiful passage then Iheard what seemed to be the voice of agreat multitude like the sound of manyWaters like the sound of Mighty uhThunder peels crying out Hallelujah thatmeans praise be to Jehovah for the LordOur God the Almighty Reigns let usrejoice and exalt and give him the gloryfor the marriage of the Lamb has comeand his bride that is the church thosewho've been waiting for the secondcoming of Christ they have they she hasmade herself ready to her to her it hasbeen granted to be clothes with finelinen bright and pure for the fine linenis the righteous Deeds of the Saints andthe angel said to me write this blessedare those who were invited to themarriage supper of the lamb and he saidto me these are the true words of Godnow if you have your B with you Ihaven't put this on the screen but takea look at Revelation 19 there are twofeasts in Revelation 19 two feasts atthe end of time after the second comingof Jesus when Jesus comes again andtakes his bride back to Heaven um sothat she can be reunited with him anddwell with him forever there are twofeasts in Revelation 19 the first we'vejust read about is the marriage supperof the lamb but what about the wickedwho are not taken toHeaven well their bodies rot some onplanetEarth verse 17 of Revelation 19 says Isaw an angel standing in the sun loudvoice he called to all the birds thatfly in the middle of Heaven Come gatherfor the great supper of God to eat theFlesh of Kings the Flesh of captains theFlesh of the Mighty the Flesh of horsesand their Riders the Flesh of all bothfree and slave both small andgreat verse 21 and the rest were killedby the sword of the rider on the horsethat is Christ when he comes the swordthat came from his mouth and all thebirds were gorged with their flesh sothere are two feasts when Christ comesfor his bride and we can choose todaywhich Feast we're going to be a part ofwe can join the wedding supper of thelamb in Heavenabove or the birds of the air will Feaston our rottingbodies the wicked will bedestroyed there are two feasts in thischapter in this passage here Revelationchapter19 this Union between Christ the groomand his bride the Church of Christ iscontrasted with the illicit andadulterous Union between the Fallenchurch and spiritual babyon Revelation17 in the bride of Christ are those whohave heeded the call to come out ofBabylon and not to be partakers ofBabylon sins they've kept themselvespure and undefiled from spiritualpollution from false doctrines and thesins of end time spiritual Babylon andas a result they have sufferedpersecution when it says rejoice and begladit echoes the final beatitude of Matthew5:12 which says rejoice and be glad foryour reward is great in heaven when YouFace persecution so this bride has comethrough persecution in the final daysshe's A persecuted church and Christ TheHeavenly groom has left his father'shouse to come to Earth to have a betralto his bride a Calvary as have alreadysaid he paid the bride price for his hisbride before returning to heaven toprepare a home for her in the me timewhile we wait for that Heavenlyconsumation the wedding supper of theLamb we have a part to play the passagesays that she has made herself ready inbright bread there you see his bride hasmade herself ready so the bride ofChrist is not just to sit and wait forthe coming of Jesus we are to makeourselves ready for the coming ofJesus and as far as I know when a ladyis getting married there is a lot oftime and preparation goes into thepreparation for the wedding is that nottrueladies okay uh they they people do abouttheir hair they worry about their dressand all the rest of it um while mymarriage day I was working on a contractbetween Adra and usaid my office in Bakuand my dad came up to me at 2 o'clockbecause I was franly trying to do thisum the no cost extension with usaid on acontract and I was working on this Surmy dad says K he said says you'regetting married in two hours time don'tyou think you should like put yourlaptop down and go and get showered andhead off to the church I said said noI've got about another half an hour weshould just about make it well we didand my my wife was exactly on time whichwas a real blessing for us but when mywhen my wife walks down the aisle I knewthat she had made herself ready for themarriage I could see it you can see itso Christ's bride makes herself readyfor her marriage she is clothed withfine linen bright and pure the this finelinen that is bright it shows a radiantrighteousness that shines out of herthen the righteous will shine like theson in the Kingdom of their father letanyone with ears listen she is a cleanbride means there's a church that's purein Doctrine in loyalty and faithfulnessto God the righteous Deeds of the brideof Christ are the natural inevitableresults of a righteous character butthat righteous character does not comeabout through our own effort it isproduced by Victorious Christian Lifedeveloped when we accept Jesus Christinto our hearts and our Liv lives whichwe can do tonight both the pure Churchof Revelation 19 and the Harlot Churchof Revelation 17 are clothed in theirdeeds and in theircharacter it says there in thepassage and to her it has been grantedto be clothed with fine linen that's apassive it means that God is in thatprocess that God has done this for hisbride the end time bride of Christ isnot dressed in her own righteous Deedsher righteousness is supplied by JesusChrist The Robe of Salvation and therighteous Deeds are granted by God tohis bride that heeds his message to theleodan church Revelation 79-14 describes it thus the end of thatchapter there's a countless multitude onthe sea of glass Before the Throne ofGod and one of the elders addressed mesaying who are these robed in white andwhere have they come from and I said tohim sir you are the one who knows soJohn is in a dialogue with an Angel andthe the angel explains to John says thenhe said to me these are they who havecome out of the great ordeal that is thefinal troubles for Christ comes againthey have washed their robes and madethem white in the blood of thelamb and so when Christ comes again hischurch is a persecuted church for theyhave washed their robes in the blood ofthe Lamb that is they have arighteousness that is not their own butit comes from accepting therighteousness of Jesus Christ Ourrighteous Deeds are filthy rags beforeGod there is nothing in my life or yourlife that earns ussalvation but tonight we can acceptChrist's sacrifice on our place theForgiveness that comes through thespilling of his blood to cover the guiltof our sins and we can accept hisrighteousness by faith his word isliving and it's a two-edged sword and itcomes into our innermost being and it'slike it's like radiation it radiates outthrough us and it changes us from theinside out we ask God every day for therighteousness of Jesus Christ andbecause of that the redeemed at the endof time they give praise to God becausethey have washed their robes and madethem white in the blood of thelamb and so Revelation 21: 1-4 afterthat wedding supper of the Lamb Jesusrefers to that supper in the gospels hetalks about when the saints weregathered from the north south east andwest when we will sit down with AbrahamIsaac and Jacob and I don't know whoyour favorite B Bible character is youwant to sit down with Esther do you wantto sit down with Paul do you want to sitdown with David I don't know I think Iwant to sit down with Paul because hewas a stubborn guy and I'm a stubbornguy as well but um maybe you want to sitdown with Esther I don't know but afterthe wedding supper of the Lamb the brideof Christ comes down from heaven down toearth and in Revelation chapter 21 wefind that not only is the churchreferred to as the bride of Christ butthe New Jerusalem is referred to as thebride of Christ we read it there it sayslike saw the holy city the New Jerusalemcoming down out of Heaven from Godprepared as a bride adorned for herhusband Jerusalem is used in the NewTestament like Matthew 23 to representGod's people so in this vision of thefinal consumation between bride andgroom the term bride is used to refer tothe church and also to the New Jerusalemitself but what does this mean for ustonight what does this mean for ustonightwell when Jesus came came the firsttime a messenger was sent before himcalled John theBaptist and he spoke to the people ofIsrael and he said you brood of vipersyou see it on the screen there whowarned you to flee from the Wrath tocome he said bear fruit worthy ofrepentance do not presume to say toyourselves we have Abraham as ourancestor and before Jesus comes againthat same message of repentance is to beheard that we we are to Bear fruitsworthy of repentance in our ownlives so whatever in your life cannot begiven as a holy sacrifice to a holy Godmaybe it's time to give it up to Godtonight maybe we need to kneel besideour beds or our cots tonight and sayLord there's this cherished sin in mylife and I want no more I want it tohave no part in my life anymore I don'twant it to hold me from the the NewJerusalem or those streets of gold I'mgiving it over to you tonight we are tobear fruit worthy of repentance and asJohn the Baptist said to those Jews donot presume to say to yourselves we haveAbraham as our ancestor we' say tonightdo not presume to say to yourselves wehave Adventists as ourancestors whether your mother or fatheris an Adventist and you're an adult iskind of immaterial in the big scheme ofthings you are not saved because yourparents are Adventistsyou are saved because you have chosen toenter into that Covenant relationshipwith the Heavenly groom which we gothrough in in the waterers a baptism andwe affirm every time we have a Lord'sSupper do not presume to say to yourselfmy father is a pastor my mother is aSabbath school teacher everything'sgoing to be okay with me I'm going toslide in on their coattails it doesn'twork like that so the message from Johnthe Baptist at the first coming of theof the Messiah was bear fruit worthy ofrepentance and do not have any spiritualum don't make any spiritual assumptionsGod does not care particularly what raceyou have what passport you have who yourparents are he wants you to enter ofyour own free will into the Covenantrelationship with the Heavenlygroom and we can do thattonight Matthew 251-4 as the church awaits the coming ofher groom says the kingdom of heavenwill be like this 10 bridesmaids tooktheir lamps and went to meet thebridegroom this when he comes back tocollect his bride five were foolish fivewere wise when the foolish took theirlamps they took no oil with them but thewise took flasks of oil with theirlamps some in the church as we await thearrival of the groom will be filled withthe Holy Spirit and some will not befilled with the Holy Spirit there arethose whose lives are filled every daywith the reality of a transformedcharacter God is looking in his churchfor the fruit of the spirit from thisday forward for God is looking in mycharacter and in your character for loveand joy and peace kindness generosityfaithfulness gentleness andself-control this is what God is lookingfor in his church this is how the bridemakes herself ready by partnering withthe Holy Spirit and asking the HolySpirit to wash away the works of theFlesh and yield a harvest of Beauty inour lives so that whatever season oflife we find ourselves in no matter whattroubles we may find ourselves no matterthe highest of the lows there is alwaysa harvest one of the fruit of the spiritthat gives Beauty and hope and joy tothose around us in Revelation 181 we'recoming to the end of our time togetherhere says after this I saw another angelcoming down from heaven having greatAuthority and the Earth was made brightwith his Splendor with hisglory this tells us that just beforeJesus comes again the Earth will be litby a manifestation of God's characterlike never seen before there will be aharvest of righteousness among God'speople before Jesus comes again wherethe one sign of the of the coming ofJesus is this Kingdom of the Gospel willbe proclaimed to All Nations as a tesyto them and the end and then the endshall come the other sign of the thecoming of Jesus Christ is in Revelation14 uh where it says I looked there was awhite cloud and the seat on the cloudwas one like the son of man with aGolden Crown on his head and a sickle inhis hand another angel came out of thetemple crying with a loud voice to theone who sat on the cloud you use yoursickle and reap for the hour to reap hascome because the Harvest of the earth isfully right and so God is looking for aripe Harvest of the fruit of the spiritand victory over sin in the lives of hissaints that is the bride of Christ thatis what God wants for you and what hewants for me and the Earth will be litby a manifestation of God's characterbefore Jesus comes again so people haveno there's no question in anybody's mindwhat the character of God is truly likewhat the character of The Heavenlybridegroom is like because they see hischaracter in the faces and the heartsand lives of the Saints onearth that is what God wants for me iswhat God wants for you a transformedcharacter a transformed character thatcomes as we partner with the holy spiritbecause it's called the fruit of thespirit you don't get this through gointo counseling you get this through alife of confession and repentance andprayer and asking God to change yourcharacter and to wash away the faultsthat we all have those fault lines inour individual Hearts the character ofGod Is Hisglory as a pastor Walter Vice said thismorning he says the earth is made brightwith his Splendor the word is doxa weget the word doxology from thatdoxology is mean giving praise toGod the character of God is his is hisSplendor this is a summary of thecharacter of God the Lord passed beforeMoses and proclaimed the Lord the Lord agod merciful and gracious slow to angerand abounding in steadfast love andfaithfulness keeping steadfast love forthe thousandth generation forgivinginiquity and transgression and sin yetby no means clearing the guilty butvisiting the iniquity of their parentsupon the children and the children'schildren to the third and fourthgeneration it's a beautiful picture ofGod's character what we learn here isthat when parents sin their childrenwill live with the consequences forthree to fourgenerations and that is true if a manbeats his wife the chances are his boywill beat his wife when he grows up isthat true yes the sins of the fathersare passed on to thechildren but God says he limits it tothe third and fourthgeneration but for those who are in acovenant relationship with God God saysthat I will keep Stead fast love withyou that's said steadfast love Covenantfaithfulness and mercy to the thousandthgeneration like do you know how manygenerations have happened since Adam tonow it's nowhere near athousand this passage tells us that whenwe enter into that Covenant relationshipwith God and we say we want to be partof the bride of Christ and we're waitingfor that Heavenly bridegroom we have thepromise up until the thousandthgeneration that God will be faithful toour children our grandchildren our greatgrandchildren our great great greatgreat grandchildren Generations we willnever know because we were faithful toGodtoday this is why God could repeatedlysay to the Kings of Israel and kings ofJudah you may be Sinners but for thesake of my Covenant with David I will dothis for you today and for the sake ofour covenant with God say our marriagecovenant with God God promises he willbe faithful to my children and yourchildren to my grandchildren and to yourgrandchildren regardless of where theygo life they will still receive ablessing fromGod that God's mercy far outweighs hisjudgment it's a beautiful picture of Godthat God desires to be merciful to hispeople and this is what God wants forhis Bridestonight it's what God wants in each ofOur Livestonight what do we say in conclusionhere some of us have gone through the pofdivorce we know it's a brutal journey tomake and nobody comes out of divorcewith a a clean heart not a clean a badword with a a heart free of scarseverybody has scars from a divorce nomatter how innocent you were in theprocess and God has also been through adivorce and he Bears scares on his handsfrom his divorce and he has scares inhis side in going into his heart fromthe spear thrust that came from thedivorce God knows what it is to die of abrokenheart but God did not give up on hisbride and he sought to woo her back tohimself and he sent his son to thisworld as the Heavenly bridegroom to setup a betrothal ceremony which is calledthe Lord'ssupper and the Lord's Supper Jesusinvites everybody here tonight to enterinto that process of the Lord's supperto enter into that Covenant of God wherewe say we want to be part of the brideof Christ and we are looking forward tothe arrival of the Heavenly bridegroomto take us to our Heavenlyhome and this enables us to move fromthe pain of the past to anticipation forwhat God is going to do forus and if you've gone through that painof thepast inviting you tonight to ask God tobe your heavenly High your heavenlybridegroom and to change that pain withthe sense of anticipation that God isgoing to do something special in yourlife and he is in heaven above his sonis in heaven above preparing a new homefor you a home where there's no rent ormortgage payments where there's no leakyleaky um taps or anything like that ahome where all isJoy each one of us tonight can enterthat betral withGod Jesus eagerly awakes the moment whenwe will be reunited with him in thewedding supper of the lamb and so Iencourage you tonight I want tochallenge you to as the bride of Christprepare yourself for the arrival ofJesus Christ and to accept therighteousness of Jesus Christ into yourlife tonight the word of God is livingand it is powerful When God says he'sgoing to do something for you you acceptit by faith it comes true in your lifeJesus is the word of God when we accepthim into our lives tonight we can havethe promise that he is going to dosomething for us far better than we canimagine and he will bring completion thegood work that he begins in us tonightby the day that he comes back to collecthis BR his his Heavenly his his brideand we look forward to the day whenJesus comes again asAdventists and theanticipation reaches its fulfillment andthe pain of the past is completelywashed away and we experience the joy ofthat marriage with our Heavenlybridegroom a time when God promises thatevery tear will be wiped away when deathand disease and sorrow will will be nomore the sea will give up her dead andwe will dwell with God and he will dwellwith us is God's promise to his bridetonight and you ask what's it going tobe like it's our final slide for tonightmaybe our final slide of this campmeeting I hath Not Seen Nor Ear hath norhath ear heard neither have entered intothe heart of man the things which Godhath prepared for them who love himisn't that beautiful you cannot wecannot even anticipate or imagine thejoys that God has prepared for us all Iknow is that The God Who fashioned Adamin the Garden of Eden and who knit metogether in my mother's womb he knows mydeepest needs for love and intimacy andcompanionship and fulfillment he knowswhat's going to satisfy my heart and heknows what's going to satisfy your heartand he's promising he's going to dosomething far beyondthat far beyond that I hath not seennor have they heard neither has enteredinto the hearts of manash the thingsthat God has prepared for those me in mymother's womb he knows my deep for loveand intimacy betro companionship andfulfillment married he knows what'sgoing to satisfy my heart we no longerneed to be in that divorce stage YourHeart Tonight by faith we can enter thestage Lord tonight I want to bebetrothed to the Heavenly bridegroombeyond that and when Jesus comes againas that Heavenly bridegroom coming forI want to come things that I want him totake me to that Heavenly home I want tobe part of the marriage supper of theLamb I want every tear of my life to bewiped away I want this corruptible bodyto put on incorruption I want thisMortal body to put on immortality I wantthis perishable body to put onimperishability I want to be changed inthe twinkling of an eye I want mydeepest needs for love and joy andfulfillment purpose and happiness to bemet in ways I cannot possibly begin toimagine today all because I have a groomwho promised I will never leave you norforsake you and I paid for you with myblood onCal BEP it's a beautiful thing that wehave to look forward to as the bride ofChrist we are seventh day Adventists wedon't just live in the in the in thefading Shadows of Calvary and every yearthat Fades into the past we're living inthe ever brightening dawn of the secondcoming of the Messiah we're lookingforward to our Heavenly bridegroom andit's my pray that when Jesus comes againeach one of us will have an invitationto wedding supperof so if like me you want to be at thatwedding supper of I invite you to standnow we're going to have a prayer ofconsecration for us as acamp fading Shadows ofalevery only the Heavenlybridegroom knows what's going to meetthe deepest needs of my heart and ofyours and he's coming again to make usinto something incredibly new and he'scoming to give us something that's neverhas entered into the heart of man soshall we prayfather invite you to stand we want tothank you tonight PRof that despite the paths we've taken inlife despite how our feet or our heartsmay havewed we feasted onsin I want to thank you Father that youdid not give up on your People Inc newand tonight father we are so gratefulnever that you so love this world thatyou sent your only begotten son intothis world that whosoever believeth inhim might not perish but haveeverlasting life Des tonight fatherwe're grateful that you did not sendyour son into the world to condemn theworld that through him this world mightbesaved tonight father we ask that Jesusas that Heavenly brid will enter each ofourhearts we're asking father that your sonwill wash away the pain and shame of ourheartsthat he will take control of ourminds and that he will give in ourcharacters a total transformationalmakeover so there is no hint what wasbefore when people see us now they seenothing but the character of JesusChrist father father giv Our Lives thefruit of the spirit from this dayforward love and joy and peace andgentleness and generosity and selfcontrol and father give us a harvest ofthe fruit of spirittonight father your spirit upon each oneof us send your spirit into our homesinto our marriages between parents andchildren father turn the hearts of thefathers to their children children backto their fathers May our families bereunited and restored as to how youwould wish them to be father May theworship of almighty God send our dailylives Jesus I ask that you be at theheart of every marriage repres tonightgive us and father I ask that this partof the bride of Christ manifest heretonightwe will indeed make ourselves ready forthe wedding of lamb I pray that to uswill indeed be given Robes ofrighteousness Jesus Christ our Heavenlythat he will clothe us and hide any hintof the shame of that when people see usthey see his Beauty and his PerfectionJes please comesoon take away take away ourtears put an end to this world of sorrowand painand replace it with the new heavens andnew earth where every tear is wiped awayand we will dwell with you and you willdwell with us until that day HeavenlyFather may we walk with that Heavenlybridegroom may we talk with thatHeavenly bridegroom may his Spirit leadus in every step of the way may hisSpirit change our hearts and our mindsand May in our lives in our churches inour families May there be amanifestation of the glory and thecharacter of God like has neverso father we commit ourselves into yourhands tonight as we closethis father I pray that not one personpresent here tonight will be lost whenJesus comes again or may not one grainfall between the C father for everyfamily that is represented here tonightwe're asking that every member of everyfamily that is represented that theywill all be saved as well father for ourparents for our brothers our sisters forour children wherever they may be withyou or far from you tonightso we implore the presence of your HolySpirit in their lives in a powerful waythat you will bring them conviction andconversion and they will experience thejoy ofSalvation and father out of this campmeeting I pray that streams of lightwill flow through each of Our Lives thatthere will be a manifestation of theglory of God in every Adventist everyChristian who's gathered here tonightthat the world will be lit by amanifestation of the glory and thecharacter of God and people will knowthere is a God above they'll know hischaracter ofthey know he is coming again for themFather when Jesus comes again may notjust we be in the L book of life butLord we ask that every person in Mtonight Life by your grace so father wewe we give ourselves fresh into yourhands tonight mold us and shape usprepare us for that wedding supper aboveuntil you come may we be found faithfulto you in whatever portion of Vineyardwe are called to serve we ask theseMercies in Jesus name amen