Editor: Don F. Reviews Latest first. Sign in with your Faithlife account Sign in Register. Lee G. Praise God for His word! Keith E. I haven't even been able to download my copy yet. Will review it when that issue is settled.
I did pay for it and received a receipt online. Read more. Brian McLaren was born in His academic interests included Medieval drama, Romantic poets, modern philosophical literature, and the novels of Dr. Walker Percy. In addition, he is on the board of directors of the emergent village, a kind of think-tank for emerging church promotion.
Alright, so what does Brian McLaren teach doctrinally? So far, so good. However, there is a problem in that there is no statement that the Bible is inspired and inerrant. I could not tell if the Church affirms or denies universalism, the false teaching that everyone will eventually become saved. In addition, I saw nothing that mentioned the final judgment and eternal damnation of those who die outside of Christ.
On the church staff page there is a list that includes women pastors. Women pastors are not biblical and it tells me that the church is not taking the word of God seriously, at least in this issue.
Instead, it is adopting a non-historical, unbiblical, and liberal position. I have a problem cherishing such sinful things. But such feel-good statements make me cringe. Perhaps I am being overly critical here, and perhaps they did not mean to include such sinfulness in their statement, but it is not well thought out. It just seems too sentimental to me. One of the most disturbing I have found is his endorsement of a book by Alan Jones called Reimagining Christianity.
McLaren wholeheartedly approves of the book, and yet in this book Alan Jones says that the vicarious atonement of Christ is not a vital doctrine. In my assessment, Alan Jones is not a Christian and no true Christian should ever support the book Reimagining Christianity. But, what does Brian McLaren actually teach?
Some pretty disturbing things! You can go to the first and second articles that list a series of quotes from him. His acceptance and promotion as a good Christian teacher is evidence of a profound lack of spiritual discernment rampant in the body of Christ today. This is not to say that he does not have some good ideas and some good insights, but he is not properly representing the core teachings of the Bible.
Instead, he offers a watered-down gospel, a politically correct assessment of Biblical teachings, and instructions that remind me of New Age philosophy. The church should be busy about its business of housecleaning, of getting the plank out of its own eye, of removing false teachers from within its doors, of properly articulating the doctrines of Christ for which so many Christians have shed their blood, instead of advocating feel-good, politically correct ideologies to please the bleating of goats.
McLaren is to be avoided because he is leading the goats away from the truth. As you heard from my prayer this morning, we are going to study the message that God has for us in 2 Peter 3. Now before we begin reading at verse 3, allow me to say that this epistle of Peter was written very close to the end of his life.
In fact Peter, probably, at this time was imprisoned, and he was about to be crucified with his head down, by his own request. And so we have, in chapter 3, the last written words from the apostle Peter shortly before his death. Now the last words, I believe, are very important words, and so it would be well for us to listen to what the apostle Peter has to say. In other words, this is of the utmost importance.
You see, people who live according to their own lusts do not really want Jesus to come. They are not anxious about Jesus coming. And so Peter begins by saying that in the last days mockers will come who live according to their own lusts, and they will want to postpone, and delay, the coming of Jesus for that particular reason. It says in Genesis that God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. That test was found in a tree, and He expected Adam and Eve to live in harmony with the specifications that He had laid down.
Now we know from our study, that Adam and Eve failed the test. They ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And as a result they sinned, and the consequences of their sin were death, and suffering, and sorrow. Now I would like us to just reflect upon the law of God for a moment.
The law of God, the ten commandments, demands perfection. It requires perfect conformity to its specifications. Now if perfect conformity is not given to the ten commandments then they require the death of the individual who transgresses them. And, of course, Adam and Eve failed the test. They failed to offer a life of perfect obedience to the law, and therefore they became subject to death.
Not only do we find the death sentence falling upon man, but also death came into all of creation in consequence of sin. All nature began to decay and to die. Now the only way in which creation could be restored to the condition that it was in originally, is if man offered a perfect life of obedience to the law, because the law says obey and live. We want to begin our study today by turning in our Bibles to Revelation It says here in Revelation That is the devil. The woman represents the church.
Or the remnant of her seed. And now notice that this remnant has two characteristics. It says: Notice that the end time remnant will keep the commandments of God, and will have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Now the question is, what is the testimony of Jesus Christ? We know that the commandments of God means the ten commandments. But the testimony of Jesus; we need to take a look at what the Bible has to say about that. What is the testimony of Jesus? Here we have a clear explanation as to what the testimony of Jesus is, which the remnant will possess in the end of time. It says there, by the way, a majestic being appears to John, who is the writer of the book of Revelation, and we find these words about the encounter: And I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, That is the angel said to John, See that you do not do that.
I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus. What do the brethren of John have? They have the testimony of Jesus. And then it says, Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So here we have a definition of what the testimony of Jesus is. It is the spirit of prophecy, which means that the end time remnant is going to keep the commandments of God, the ten commandments, and they are going to have the testimony of Jesus, which is the gift of prophecy, or the spirit of prophecy.
And, by the way, this verse repeats one detail which we already read in Revelation So the end time remnant has faith; not any old kind of faith, but the faith of Jesus, the faith that Jesus had. And so we find three characteristics in these verses, about the end time remnant: they keep the commandments of God, they have the testimony of Jesus, which is the gift of prophecy, or the spirit of prophecy; and they also have an unbreakable faith, the faith of Jesus.
During the course of this seminar we have been studying stories in Genesis which have a prophetic dimension. You have the serpent and the woman. You have Cain and Abel. The sons of God and the daughters of men. Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers. Basically the book of Genesis is an amplification of Genesis The story of Esau and Jacob is actually a microcosm that illustrates the issues in the great controversy between good and evil on planet Earth.
I would like us to notice how this controversy is introduced in Genesis , You see, this story is more than about Jacob and Esau. They represent two worldwide groups at the end of time. Their characters illustrate the characters of two classes of people that will exist till the end of time. And we catch this from the very beginning of the story, from the moment of their birth.
Notice Genesis , Was there a great controversy from the womb? Now we find very clearly from the very beginning that the strong will lose, and the weak will win in this battle, or this controversy. In our last lecture we studied about the story of Jacob and Esau. And we noticed that Jacob and Esau, these two brothers, actually represent two different characters that people on planet Earth will have throughout the course of history, and particularly at the end of time.
In other words, Jacob and Esau represent two different types of characters that will distinguish one group from another upon this earth, particularly in the end time.
And, of course, the struggle between Jacob and Esau represents the final struggle in controversy between those people with those two character manifestations: the righteous, and the wicked. First of all I would remind you about the character of Esau. Esau believed that the law of God was a yoke of bondage, and he actually believed that the law of God restricted his freedom and his liberty. He wanted to proclaim his freedom from rules and regulations.
We also notice that Esau had no particular interest in the responsibilities connected with the birthright. The responsibilities involved being a righteous ruler over his household, being the spiritual leader, the priest of his house, and having the privilege of being the progenitor of the Messiah. He could care less about any of these responsibilities.
And we actually noticed that Esau lived for the here and now instead of being forced on the sweet by and by. Now the character of Jacob was different. Even though we know that Jacob sinned against God when he stole the birthright from his brother, and he deceived his father, Jacob was not given over to sin. In fact, Jacob appreciated the duties of the birthright. He actually understood what it meant to be the ruler, the righteous ruler of the household.
He understood what it meant to be a spiritual leader, or priest of the household. And he understood the awesome responsibility of being the progenitor of the Messiah. In other words, being a member of the holy line which would bring the Messiah into the world. And, of course, we studied last time that Esau was a very hardened and rude person, whereas Jacob is described as being docile and mild. Let me just review some of those elements.
In the Bible there is perhaps no more mysterious figure than an individual called Melchizedek. Throughout the course of Christian history there have been different views about the identity of Melchizedek. Some people have felt that Melchizedek is actually another name for Michael the archangel. Others actually believe that Melchizedek was another name for Shem the son of Noah.
Still others have believed that Melchizedek is really a name for Christ in his preincarnate state and still others have believed that Melchizedek is actually a manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.
I believe that Melchizedek was actually a historical figure who comes on the scene and disappears from the scene very quickly. Actually I would like to begin by reading a statement, a very important statement, that we find in the Review and Herald, February 18 of the year This is written by Ellen White.
She says this about Melchizedek: It was Christ that spoke through Melchizedek, the priest of the most high God. Melchizedek was not Christ, but he was the voice of God in the world and the representative of the Father. And all through the generations of the past Christ has spoken, Christ has led his people and has been the light of the world.
And so we find very clearly in this statement that Melchizedek was not Christ. Melchizedek was actually a representative of Christ. And we want to study about that representative of Christ as the story is found recorded in Genesis chapter 14 and verses Genesis chapter 3 and verse Here God is speaking to the serpent.
One Seed is righteous and the other seed is wicked. In other words, openly wicked. We would call them ungodly. Outcasts of society. Ungodly so to speak. They are covertly wicked. And of course this type of wicked person is illustrated by the scribes and the Pharisees. And so when Genesis speaks about a wicked seed we need to understand that that seed includes two different types of wicked people. In other words, they put on a wonderful veneer, a wonderful exterior, but their hearts and their minds are far away from God illustrated by the scribes and the Pharisees.
Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do calamities afflict our lives? Why many times do our lives appear to be out of control with no guiding force? Now, it probably would be a good idea for us to examine first of all the home life of Joseph. You know, we live in a world today where people have a tendency of passing the buck and blaming other people, blaming circumstances, blaming heredity, blaming the environment for the things that happen in their lives.
But as we look at the life of Joseph we discover that Joseph had a less-than-ideal heredity, he had a less-than-ideal environment, and less-than-ideal circumstances in his home. And yet Joseph cooperated with God and the end of the story is absolutely glorious.
As you know, Jacob was deceived into marrying Leah. But he did not love Leah. And the Bible tells us that Leah with Jacob had four sons.
In our lecture today we are going to study mainly Genesis chapter And in order to understand this story we have to start a little bit earlier in the book of Genesis.
We need to go back to Genesis chapter 15 and verse 4. Genesis Here God is speaking to Abraham and Abraham thinks that Eliezer perhaps might have to be the heir.
And so Abraham is thinking about adopting Eliezer and making him the promised heir. But notice what God said to Abraham.
It is going to be your very own son. He was sacrificed in figure because he pointed forward to Jesus Christ. Probably more accurate to say years old. And Isaac at this point was approximately 40 years old. And so the process… In Genesis chapter 24 begins describing the process of getting a wife for Isaac. It was the afternoon of the resurrection, and 2 of the followers of Jesus, not of His 12 disciples but two of the followers of Jesus were walking to a little village relatively near Jerusalem called Emmaus.
And as these two men were walking to Emmaus. Jesus — who had resurrected from the dead that morning — actually caught up to them and started walking with them.
You can find this story in Luke chapter And why are your faces so sad? Actually I want to read Luke chapter 24 and verse You can almost hear it in their voice as we read this verse.
Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. You can hear the disappointment in their voices. And then, of course, Jesus spoke to them in direct terms. And I would like to read His words in Luke chapter 24 and verses 25 through Actually, this is quite a rebuke of Jesus. Notice what He says in Luke 24 and verse Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?
In order to understand the meaning of marriage we need to begin at the very beginning of creation week. The first day the Bible tells us that God spoke light into existence.
The second day he spoke the firmament into existence. On the third day he spoke the dry land and the trees and the flowers and the plants into existence. On the fourth day God placed the sun and the moon and the stars in their positions by the power of his word. On the fifth day God spoke the birds and spoke the fish into existence. On the first part of the sixth day God spoke the land animals into existence.
And then, of course, the Bible tells us that towards the end of the sixth day most likely God created man and woman. Genesis 1 and verse This is towards the very end of the sixth day.
It says… And then of course a little bit further down in verse 31 we find that is says,… Now remember that. Indeed it was very good… So you have God creating in six days. Towards the end of the sixth day God makes man and woman and then at the end of the sixth day God looks upon his work and he sees that it is very good.
Now you notice that God did not explain how he created man and woman. And one of those things which was not explained is how he created man and how he created the woman. Genesis chapter 2 and verse 7 explains it… Now I want you to notice here that with man God did something different than with the rest of creation. The rest of creation he spoke into existence. In the book of Hebrews chapter 11 we find in the first 22 verses a list of heroes that are first mentioned in the book of Genesis.
Now these individuals that are mentioned in Hebrews 11 are great heroes of faith. And our subject for today is Unshakeable and Unbreakable Faith. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1. It says here in this very well-known verse: Now the word substance could better be translated the assurance.
Assurance of things we hope for. And faith is the proof of things that we cannot see as of now with our physical eyes. So obviously, faith helps us look into the future. Faith helps us see what is invisible to the naked eye. Now we want to begin discussing faith — the meaning of faith — in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 3.
Now we want to take a look at Hebrews It says there: Basically, this text is telling us that God made the visible universe from that which could not be seen. In other words, He created the universe out of nothing. As we look at scripture it becomes very evident that the relationship between God the Father and His Son Jesus is a pattern of the relationship which should exist between husbands and wives.
And so as we begin our study I want to describe very briefly the relationship that exists between God the Father and His Son Jesus. John chapter 10 and verse This is a very short verse.
And basically He says: Notice the Father and the Son according to this text are what? The Father and the Son are One. Though they are two they are really One in a very special sense.
We all know that the Father and the Son are two correctly? Now another point that I want to underline is found in John chapter 1 and verses 1 to 3. John chapter 1 and verses Here we find a description of the relationship of Jesus with His Father. It says there: Then it speaks about creation after that.
Now in Greek there are two main prepositions that are translated with. One is the Greek preposition sun, s- u-n, which means just to be with someone. They moved, so to speak, towards one another.
There was a very close relationship between them. We want to begin our study today at Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5. And it tells us there in this very well-known verse: This sounds pretty much like a world where most minds were identified with evil. Now notice Genesis chapter 6 and verses 11 and 12 on the aftermath or the result of this condition of the corruption of the minds of those who lived before the flood.
It says in verse So we see that every intent of the heart of man was only evil continually. And as a result, the Bible tells us that the earth was filled with violence. Now the question is: what led to this situation in the world?
In other words, what led to the thoughts of man, of the heart of man being only evil continually? And what led to the corruption of the earth? Genesis chapter 6 has the answer to this question. We find in Genesis 6 verses 1 through 4 an explanation of the cause for this deplorable condition in the earth. And now notice. And so basically, what Genesis is telling us that the sexual connection or the intermarriages between the sons of God and the daughters of men is what led the human race to be in this condition where every intent of the thoughts of the heart was only evil continually.
The title of our study today is Innocent Until Proven Guilty. It is not a modern concept of jurisprudence. But this aspect of the judgment that we have in our system of government actually is based on a divine principle that we find in scripture.
Now what I want to do is go through several stories that we find in the book of Genesis that deal with the issue of judgment. And then we will end our study by noticing the concept of judgment in the book of Revelation.
Genesis chapter 2 and verses 16 and First of all, in these verses there is a moral authority who is God.
Secondly, that moral authority has a moral code or a moral law. So the moral ruler has a moral commandment or a moral law. And in these verses God who is the moral authority who has this moral code tells man that if he eats from the tree the penalty is going to be what? Is going to be death. So you have a moral authority. You have… In the second place, that moral authority has a law or a code and disobedience to that law or to that code brings as a result death. Genesis chapter 5 and verse And by the way, Enoch is the only person in Genesis 5 who did not die.
It says he walked with God and God took him. Now in the book of Hebrews we have additional information about Enoch. Go with me to Hebrews chapter 11 and we want to read verse 5. Hebrews 11 and verse 5. It says here: So Genesis tells us that Enoch walked with God. In the book of Hebrews it explains that walking with God means that he pleased God.
To walk with God is to please God. Now a detail which many people have missed is that according to the Bible Enoch was the first prophet. Go with me in your Bibles to the book of Jude… Jude 14 and Audio Software icon An illustration of a 3.
Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses.
EMBED for wordpress. Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Poor are always with us. The Lord would cry when he sees every aspect of SDA's. Business end of getting the lords word out to them Yet they can't because there's not a thing you get without a large price attached, so sad Is there a latest edition?
SDA commentary hopefully will be accessible online for referencing for laymen and local church elders who need to expand the understanding of the scripture for better and relevant preaching and sharing!
Since this is not accessible, I have to rely on non-Adventist commentary! Hoping that service prevail over profit! It was great until i needed to upgrade my computer I needed to pay the odd dollars again! Sorry but I am left with a very poor opinion of it all, refuse to pay again. I use other online commentaries instead.
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