Sermon: Keeping the Faith Once Delivered

#1646B
Kim Myers (1947-2023)
Given 09-Apr-22; 36 minutes

description: (hide)

I am going to sound like I am beating a dead horse because I spoke on kind of the same subject the last two times I spoke. What I am going to be speaking on—keeping the faith once delivered and enduring until the end—is going to be very critical to our spiritual well being over the next few years as we head for the Kingdom of God.

You and I are now living in crazy unprecedented times. I think we would all agree on that. In the past year, fuel for our cars has almost doubled in price, or more than doubled in price in some states. We are living with extremely high food prices. Now my youngest daughter Nicole, JB, a girl from the United Church of God, and I went out to dinner to a friend of mine and JB's Mediterranean restaurant. This man is a Syrian and he always comes and stands at our table and talks to us for 15 minutes to a half hour because we are friends. He was telling us that one year ago he was paying $45 for a box of chicken breasts because he makes kebabs. Now he is paying $125 for the same box of chicken.

We all realize that everything is going through the roof in price. That is not counting all of the shortage of items. I had to buy a new dishwasher this year because they could not get parts for my old dishwasher. I did not want a new one. I have had my dishwasher for 14 years. So I went to the appliance store and they had no dishwashers. Can you imagine that? I went to another appliance store and they had eight but four of those had red tags on them. They were sold. And so I did not see anything that I liked. So I talked to the salesman, he said, "Well come on, let's look online and see if we can find a few." We looked on the computer and I found what I wanted and I said to him, "Is this available?" He said it was but he said you would not be able to get it for one year! One year to wait for a dishwasher. So I had to buy another one.

I have one short article here that I want to read to you that I think you might find interesting. This article comes from involved.com. I do not know where they are. They are not an American news company like CNN or Fox News or any of those. Now I do not know if any of this is true. I do not know if any of it will happen. But I found it to be interesting. This article says anyone who opposes the World Economic Forum's great reset program will be sent to a Chinese-style re-education camp, according to the pledge by the World Economic Forum. Those who oppose Klaus Schwab's great reset should be imprisoned in communist-style re-education camps until they no longer embrace freedom—think of that—nationalism, and the right to bear arms.

Now, according to Wang Wan, a WEF Young Global Leader (Wang is currently a chief political journalist for a Chinese state-run media outlet right here in the United States, I cannot even believe that goes on here, that broadcasts Chinese propaganda daily). In the National Pulse, Natalie Winter said, "The WEF has grown around the world and it's getting bigger all the time. And it's not only limited to pushing for the great reset amidst Covid-19. At its core, the group aspires to abolish [listen to this] property ownership in encapsulating this goal in the contemptuous phrase, 'You will own nothing and you will be happy.'" I do not know if any of that is true, but that is what this article says.

We as God's people are just like all other Americans when it comes to all of this craziness. Some of us have health problems, some of us are struggling financially, some of us have problems with our mates, our children, our bosses at work, and all these things create depression and they overwhelm us, they discourage us, they make us pessimistic. We feel downtrodden and we can get upset easily and it makes a lot of people very unstable. These are the times we are living in. All these things are distractions. John [Ritenbaugh] has talked about distraction and he told us do not get distracted by what is going on in the world. It creates problems for you and me. You know how unstable many people are now.

My youngest daughter is a school principal (I have mentioned that before) and everybody that works there has to answer to her. And a number of her employees meltdown regularly. These are grown ups, they melt down. They have a hard time dealing with the kids with their own problems and with what is going on the world. JB at his work has to deal with the public and JB says all the time how unstable people are. We talk about it almost every week.

Just a few weeks ago a woman brought her vehicle into his automotive shop and she literally broke down and started bawling at the counter because the cost to repair her car was going to be $10,000. I would probably cry about that too! JB had compassion on this lady and he told her to bring her car to his house and he could fix it for her for $6,000. JB said this took some of the sting out of the repair bill for her. But she was very unstable mentally even after he said that and she continued to cry. Even the owners of companies, politicians, people in high positions are melting down now and have become very unstable.

I think that most of us would agree when I tell you that we are living at the end of the age and life is going to get harder. Now, I am not trying to scare us but we have to prepare ourselves spiritually for what is coming. I do not know what this means in terms of years. I have no idea but God gives us a couple of warnings in the Bible.

Matthew 24:13 "But he who endures to the end shall be saved."

John Ritenbaugh has said a number of times that we must "keep on keeping on" and not get distracted by all the craziness that is going on all around us all the time. God tells us we must endure until the end. In verse 4 of Matthew 24, Jesus tells us "Take heed that no one deceives you." He is telling us that there will be ministers and people that will come up with all kinds of crazy things that are not part of the Word of God. This is going on right now in the greater churches of God. In verse 5, Jesus tells us, "Many shall come in My name saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many." This should make the hairs on the back of our neck stand straight up because God is talking to us—you and me.

In verse 6 Christ tells us, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled." I think this is now happening with America running like scared rabbits from Afghanistan and leaving millions of dollars of equipment behind. I think Israel or America has now lost the pride of our power just like the Bible says and I think we will see more wars and more rumors of wars.

In verse 7 Christ tells us, "There will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places." I have another short article on food shortages. I do not know if this will happen either. This comes from neonatal.com and I do not know where they are based at. Here is the article.

The media is refusing to report that America is headed for major food shortages as Russia's invasion of the Ukraine impacts global supply chains. The world is rapidly moving toward a food crisis that could affect millions of people. Major shortages are already being reported by farmers and the spillover of the crisis could soon spark agricultural mayhem in the United States. Another major problem for the farmers is access to fertilizers as Russia has banned exports of the nutrients needed to produce fertilizers. It's not whether or not there will be food crises, it's how big these crises will be.

In verse 9 of Matthew 24 Christ tells us, "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake." It is going to take some major endurance and a lot of help from God for us to stay strong in the faith once delivered when these things come about, brethren. In verse 10 Christ tells us, "Then will many be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another." In verse 12 Christ tells us, "The love of many shall grow cold." This is what this sermon is all about. The love of God's people waxing cold and falling by the wayside.

Christ tells us in Matthew 24, talking about us, God's firstfruits, "If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect," me and you. This is how bad things are going to get for us. Christ is telling us in the Olivet prophecy what to expect at the end of the age and the times we are now living in. We are now living in very unstable times.

Jude 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

I am going to ask you a question. What is the faith once delivered? There is one congregation in the greater churches of God that does not believe in or keep third tithe. I have a hard time believing this now. I have mentioned this before.

In this part of the faith once delivered, let us turn to I Samuel 8, verse 5. In this verse, the Israelites are asking their leaders to give them a king so they could be like the other nations of the world. Big mistake for the Israelites. In verse 9, God agrees to give Israel a king. And then in verse 11, God tells the Israelites what they are asking for. God says, your king, your politicians will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots. And in verse 12, he says, your politicians will appoint captains over thousands and captains over fifties, and he will set them to work his fields and plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make war instruments for his chariots.

In verse 13, your king and your politicians will take your daughters to be confectioners, cooks, and bakers. Verse 14, he will take your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves, even the best of them, and give them to his servants and his buddies. And in verse 15, your king and your politicians will take one tenth of your seed and give it to his officers and to his servants, to his buddies. In verse 16, your kings and your politicians will take your men servants and your maid servants and your finest young men and your donkeys and put them to work for him.

Is this not exactly what is going on in America day by day right now with our leaders and our politicians living in America at this time? Our tax burden has become heavier and heavier as each year passes by.

And then in verse 17, he says, your king and your politicians will take one tenth of your sheep and you will become his servant. Verse 18, you will cry out in that day because your king and your politicians which you chose and you elected will make your life more difficult as time goes on and the Eternal will not hear your cry in that day.

Now does it say anywhere in Scripture that because your government will tax you and make your life more difficult that you and I do not have to pay third tithe or that we can do away with any of God's laws? God is telling us in I Samuel that by having a king all these things that I just read will be added to us, in addition to God's laws. And yet people within God's church believe third tithe is now taken care of by the government. That is crazy thinking.

We all know that different people and groups of people in the greater churches of God have swallowed hook, line, and sinker the sacred names doctrine. Where do people come up with all these crazy ideas? I would like to know.

God is called by many names in the Bible. He is called Abba, which means father, He is called the Alpha and the Omega, which means the beginning and the end. God is also called Arik Yomin, which means Ancient of Days. He is called Christos, which means the Anointed One. He is called El Chual, which means the God who gave you birth. He is called El Dia, which means the God of knowledge. He is called El Elian, which means the God Most High. He is called El Olam, which means the everlasting God. He is called El Roi, which means the God who sees. He is called El Shaddai, which means God Almighty. He is called Elohim, which means the Creator, and He is also called Jehovah and YHVH, which means the Self-Existent One. He is also called Adonai, which means Eternal or Master.

Now that is enough of the names that the Eternal goes by because there are a lot more names but we do not have time to go through them all.

God reveals Himself to us through many different names in the Bible. He reveals Himself to us by all of these names. No single name can describe all that God is. In fact, God uses each and every one of His names to reveal a different part of His character to us shown in Scripture. Each of the names have great significance. So how do brethren come up with the sacred names baloney? God has many names, you and I can look this up for ourselves.

Then there is the New Moons doctrine which goes through the churches every couple of years. The new moon is mentioned in the Bible, but the reason that we do not keep the new moons and we cannot keep them is because there is no altar for us to sacrifice on and there is no temple. So the new moons doctrine is done away with really. I mean, it just does not apply to us. It does not mean that you cannot have dinner or something and observe the new moons.

There are a few people this last year in the Portland area in the greater churches of God that kept the Feast of Tabernacles one month later than the rest of the churches of God. All kinds of crazy ideas and thinking circulate through the churches of God all the time.

The latest one that I have heard is that Christ was created. Can you imagine that?

I John 2:21-23 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; but he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

All we have to do to disprove this nonsense is read and study the faith once delivered—the Bible. The Bible is the faith once delivered, brethren.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness."

God is saying in this verse, "Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." Our is plural. Our can be two persons or it can be 1,000 persons or a million, but it is always more than one. God did not say, Let Me make man in My image.

John 10:30 "I and My Father are one."

All we have to do when all this nonsense comes along in the churches is go to the faith once delivered—the Bible—and get the correct answers. It is not difficult.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

This scripture right here should be enough to prove to us that Jesus Christ is God or He is part of the God Family. Now, some of the early Christians manufactured the idea that Jesus was not God. These early Christians believed He was just a man, yet they were here and saw many miracles. They believed that Jesus had not come from God and was not part of the God Family, yet Christ worked many miracles that are recorded in the Bible that no created being could possibly do.

Now I am going to give us a few scriptures where these miracles are stated.

John 11:43, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Can you I raise anybody from the dead? John 8:19-20, the miracle of the fish and loaves; John 2:1-11, water made to wine; Mark 4:39, Christ quieted the wind and everything grew calm; Luke 8:26-28, Christ rebuked the demons that were in the man and they entered the swine; and Luke 7:22-23, Jesus healed the blind, the cripples, the lepers were cured, the deaf could hear, and dead men were raised to life. If any of you created human beings listening to this split sermon can do any of these things, I would love to see it. Please send them to me.

Where in the world do we come up with these crazy ideas?

Do you know what the faith once delivered is (I have already mentioned it)? It is the Word of God, it is the Bible all the way from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation. 22:21 and every word in between. That is the faith once delivered that God tells us to keep. Are you and I living by the faith once delivered? Or are you and I living in the world at least part of the time?

II Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

We must stay focused on the faith once delivered. Do not be distracted in these crazy times we live in. And we must endure until the end.

I Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.

Brethren, you and I have known many, many people that have left the faith once delivered. These people let the world get the best of them and they got distracted. These people quit living by the faith once delivered. These people stopped enduring and they gave up. They quit. There are great rewards for us if we keep the faith once delivered and endure until the end. But there are also penalties involved for us if we do not keep the faith once delivered and we do not endure until the end.

II Peter 2:21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

The world news, not the American news, is talking about major food shortages, even famines in some parts of the world between now and 2024. Now, I mentioned in my last sermon that 2022 is going to be much tougher on us this year than 2021 was. Well 2023 is going to get much worse for the whole world than 2022 was, and 2022 is only three months old. 2022 is already much more difficult for us than 2021 because of inflation, which is costing us all a lot of money in high food prices, shortages of commodities, high gasoline prices, and the war in the Ukraine. Are you and I going to be able to keep the faith once delivered and to endure until the end?

Matthew 24:13 "But he who endures to the end shall be saved."

The two things that are very critical to us in the times we are now living in at the end of the age are: We must keep the faith once delivered and we must endure until the end. Neither of these things that God describes to us in the Bible are going to be easy. Our main focus must be on Christ, the Bible, and what we can do to serve God better. Our focus should not be on the crazy world we now live in and our lot in life, no matter what is going on in our lives. You and I must have the faith to endure until the end and keep the faith.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

God will be with us! We have nothing to fear. He will take care of us, He will guide us and direct us through these very trying times as long as we keep the faith once delivered and keep on keeping on.

How much endurance do you have when times get hard and very difficult? Maybe we will lack food for a time. Maybe we will not have enough heating oil, gas, or electricity to heat our homes. Will we falter and lose faith when we are hungry and cold? Or will we keep on keeping on?

I am going to use one example of endurance from a man and a woman that I went to church with in the Worldwide Church of God many, many years ago. Mr. Ritenbaugh and Dolores Reid will remember these people. Their names were Frank and Betty Flanagan.

Now Betty was severely crippled (both of these people have died since), she could walk but her legs were like clubs, very, very stiff. She had open sores that oozed all over her legs all the time. Her hands were gnarled up and she could not grab or hold on to anything. This woman was sick for many, many years. Early on in her illness she would do what she could around the house, which was not much. Then she would go sit down in the living room. Think of this: Once she sat down, it did not matter what time it was, 10:00 or 11:00, she could not get back up until Frank came home from work at 5:00 p.m. If she had to go to the bathroom, she could not go; if she was hungry, she could not get anything to eat.

Later on in her illness they were able to buy a chair that would stand Betty up if she sat down so she could move around within the house once again. She was so grateful for that chair. She mentioned it a number of times to me. Now Frank bought her one of those mechanical arms so she could pick things off the floor because when she dropped stuff on the floor, which was quite often, but because of her hand, it was stuck wherever it landed until Frank came home from work. Betty had a real hard time using the mechanical arms because her hands did not work and her fingers were stiff. Betty's neck was so stiff that she could not turn her head from side to side. She could only keep it straight.

Now, my family and I always went to dinner at the Feast with the Flanagan's. And you know what Betty would say? She would say that that was the highlight of her year. Can you imagine! Just going out to dinner with another family as being the highlight of someone's year? I cannot imagine that. One of the highlights of her life once a month was waiting for the Plain Truth magazine. That gave her great joy. What gave Betty joy from day to day was getting the mail. How many of you like to get your mail? I do not like it much. It is nothing but more bills. That is how handicapped she was though.

Frank and Betty would not eat any food Sabbath morning (and they were old), only have a cup of coffee, because they did not want to fall asleep at church. This is how committed they were to God's laws. They were always at the Feast of Tabernacles, even with Betty's condition, and they always kept Passover services at the allotted time. Betty really did not have much of a life for many, many years. She could not play golf, she could not go fishing, she could not drive a car, she could not go shopping, she could not do anything. All she could do was move from her bedroom to the living room and she was in constant pain on top of that. But Betty always had a smile on her face. If you just looked at her face, you would think that she was just fine.

What a great example of endurance she and Frank, her husband, were for many, many years. And this is the kind of endurance that you and I are going to need to have, brethren.

II Timothy 1:13-14 Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

Betty and Frank did what these verses say, they were committed to God, God's laws, and God's church, no matter what they were enduring.

Acts 14:22 Strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God."

II Timothy 2:3 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Now the next three verses should encourage us greatly. I do not want to discourage us, brethren, about what is coming. God is with us and He loves us and He is going to take care of us.

Revelation 21:7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

II Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Is this not what it is all about? Is this not what we desire and want, brethren? And we must keep the faith once delivered and endure until the end. This is critical to our salvation. And it is going to be tough. But God is with us and He loves us. We must endure to the end. If we can do this, our reward and our crown will be unbelievable.

Now, I want to just mention something here that I was thinking about as I was giving this message. We have all probably taught our kids to ride a two-wheeler bike (or our grandkids). And how does that work? We put our kid on the bike, we push him down the sidewalk. He goes back and forth. He is all wobbly and he falls over and we go and we pick him up. We dust him off, we hug him, we kiss him. We tell him we love him, we tell him you can do this, get back on the bike and pretty soon you will be riding with the other kids.

You know, they can already ride a two-wheeler and we push them and do it all over again and they fall over again and we pick them up and we hug them, we take care of them. Is this not exactly what God does with us? Brethren, He is going to be with us in these times we are living in. So do not be discouraged. Keep the faith once delivered.

KM/aws/drm