HomeARC ML 1533
I AM A STRANGER HERE! DFO 1533 7/3/82
1. (SINGS: "BREAK THOU THE BREAD OF LIFE.") Amen, Lord, do bless it & make it a blessing to any here who need Thy help or healing touch. We thank You for healing us & making us all better, to recover from our hard moving & long trip & any little new things we might pick up down here, Lord. Thank You for how You have brought us through so well & so easily with so little problems. "The Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread & blessed it & brake it & said, Take, eat: This is My body, which is broken for you. As oft as ye do this, ye do it in remembrance of Me."
2. FORGIVE US, LORD, FOR SOMETIMES FORGETTING, but the last couple of Sundays, Lord, sort of slipped by. Help us to remember more often. We hope we don't have to have some sickness to remind us. But we do thank You, Lord, for suffering for us, not only dying, Lord, but suffering in Your body, really bearing real suffering, real hurt, real pain. "Himself bare our sicknesses & bore our sins in His Own body on the tree, by Whose stripes we are healed!" (1Pet.2:24) Thank You for this bread, Thy body broken for us, for our healing. TYJ!
3. "AND AFTER THE SAME MANNER HE TOOK THE CUP, WHEN HE HAD SUPPED, saying, "This cup is the new testament in My blood."--His blood that was shed for the remission of our sins. As oft as we do this, we do show Thy death till You come! TYL! Thank You for Thy Salvation! TYJ!
4. THIS LITTLE CEREMONY TODAY, LORD, SYMBOLISES OUR MESSAGE, THAT YOU'RE THE WHOLE CHRIST FOR THE WHOLE MAN! You meet every need, physical & spiritual. You not only save souls, but You heal bodies too. And You're going to redeem our body completely one of these days, Lord, & give us a whole brand new one. We have experienced a little touch of it, Lord, in healing. Thy healing, Lord, is a little touch of resurrection life, a little bit of Heaven, it's a little bit of redemption, a little bit of redemption of the body.
5. LORD, WE ALREADY HAVE THE SALVATION OF OUR SOULS BY FAITH, but Lord, even our spirits are not yet made perfect. If we receive Thee by faith, Thy Spirit by faith & Thy healing by faith, we already have the Kingdom of God within us. We have this all by faith. We have everything, a little bit of Heaven, Lord, in our bodies & in our hearts as a result of taking this by faith here & now. And yet, Lord, it's not going to be really completely fulfilled until we receive our new Heavenly bodies & "the spirits of just men made perfect." (Heb.12:23) TYL!
6. WE THANK YOU, LORD, FOR THIS SIMPLE LITTLE CEREMONY THAT SYMBOLISES THY WHOLE MESSAGE TO THE WHOLE WORLD, the whole Christ for the whole man--body, soul & spirit! We sit here today, Lord, testifying, we do show Thy death till You come. It's a part of our witness, Lord, to each other & others who may hear this. TYJ! PYL! Hallelujah!
7. THIS IS OUR MESSAGE, LORD, ALL WRAPPED UP IN TWO LITTLE ELEMENTS--BREAD & WINE, BODY & SPIRIT.--Christ for the body, Christ for the spirit.--Christ for our healing, Christ for our salvation. That's the message You gave us, Lord. PYJ! TYL! (Sings:)
"I am a stranger here, within a foreign land,
My home is far away, upon that golden strand!
Ambassador to be, of realms beyond the sea,
I'm here on business for my King!
This is the message that I bring,
A message angels fain would sing!
O be ye reconciled, thus saith my Lord & King,
O be ye reconciled today!"
8. THAT'S A BIG WORD, DAVID, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT IT MEANS TO BE RECONCILED? Well, it's like being justified. And a simple way to remember the word "justified" that always stuck with me since I was a boy was when the preacher illustrated how we're justified by Jesus' blood, it's just-if-I'd never sinned! He cleanses us from all our sins. "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin"--past, present, future. (1Jn.1:7) Just-if-I'd never sinned, justified. Really it means it makes you just, righteous, saved!
9. RECONCILED MEANS YOU HAVE MADE PEACE WITH GOD! To become reconciled to something is to be at peace. If you have an enemy or someone that maybe has it in for you & you make peace with him, you become reconciled with the enemy. I don't have any catch-words to go with that one to explain it, but maybe I might think up one, I don't know! Anyhow, if you make peace you don't have any wrecks.
10. THAT'S SUCH A GOOD SONG FOR US! Maybe we ought to explain it a little more for the children. It's obvious what we are: "I am a stranger here within a foreign land"--but it doesn't just mean this particular country, it means this whole World is a foreign land to us! The whole World is a foreign country to us. We don't really belong here.
11. "MY HOME IS FAR AWAY UPON A GOLDEN STRAND." Do you know what a golden strand is? It means a golden shore. Well, some people have sort of typified it as being "beyond the river," "beyond the sea." It's another world far way, in other words. And we know what it looks like, we know what it's like, because it's in the Bible, & Daddy had a dream about it, isn't that wonderful? We saw it! And what about it is golden, David? What are we talking about, "my home is far away"? (David: Space City!) That's right! What else is it called, Davida? What's another name for it? (Davida: The Heavenly City.) Also? (David: The New Jerusalem!) Very good! Hallelujah! And there's another name for it. Well, maybe we should apply that really to the new atmospheric heavens, but it says the New Heaven & the New Earth, & he saw the New Jerusalem coming down.
12. SO WHAT IS GOLDEN ABOUT IT, TECHI? (Techi: Space City!) Right, that's the right answer! The whole City is like crystal gold! He says it's gold like unto clear glass. (Rev.21:18) The whole city is a crystal! You can't exactly prove by the Bible that it's pyramidical in shape. We know the base is square, but if it's also that high--1500 miles long, 1500 miles wide, 1500 miles high--it would look kind of ridiculous like some of man's buildings if it was a cube, huh? Some people theorise it might even be sort of a dome. What do they call that type of construction that begins with a square? Something about elliptical or geodesic or other, they had a few of them at one of the World's Fairs. It begins with a square bottom and ends up in a dome.--Polydome.
13. WELL, I'M CONVINCED IT'S THE SHAPE OF A PYRAMID for a lot of reasons that I don't have time to go into today! I believe that's why the Egyptians built the pyramids, some of their prophets & seers no doubt saw Space City! It must have been a tremendously impressive vision they had, to inspire the kings to build one here on Earth! They decided they'd build one right here! Of course, their pyramids aren't near what Heaven is like!
14. BUT ACTUALLY A PYRAMID IS, IN A SENSE, THE SHAPE OF A CRYSTAL, RIGHT? Except to have a complete crystal I think you have to have two pyramids, one on top, one on the bottom. I don't know much about crystals, but I have had some revelations about crystals, PTL? (See "Crystal Pyramid!" No.214.) Crystals are marvellous things! Just amazing things! Nearly everything in the World, including molecules, is of crystal structure, either spherical or crystal or pyramidical. Nearly everything the Lord made is one of those principal structures, so I'm convinced that the Heavenly City is pyramidical. But anyhow, PTL! All I know is what I saw, that's all I can tell you! And that's what I saw, a pyramid!
15. SO IT'S GOLDEN CRYSTAL, IT SAYS RIGHT IN THE BIBLE. That's the main thing about the whole city, it's all one great big golden crystal, see-through! I like see-through things! Just think, it's like clear glass! It's a big pyramid like Daddy showed you, & it's made of golden crystal. Isn't that beautiful? Think how pretty that is! It is gorgeous, beyond description, really! (Techi: Are there angels inside of it?) Yes, inside of it & outside of it & angels can go anywhere! But we're going to go anywhere then too! PTL! So that's what this song is about, that golden shore, that golden strand, that Golden City where we're going to go. What's the next part of it?
16. "AMBASSADOR TO BE OF REALMS BEYOND THE SEA!" Who's an ambassador?--We're ambassadors! What does it mean "of realms beyond the sea"? An ambassador represents a country or a leader or a king or a kingdom to another country, so we are ambassadors of what country?--Heaven! To what country? (David: Earth!) Very good, Honey, you sure know all the answers! GBY!--Because he knows the Word! He thinks in terms of the Word, & when he hasn't got an answer he thinks back, "What does it say?" I can just see his little mind clicking! He thinks of some verse of Scripture in the Word! PTL!
17. WE ARE LITERALLY FROM HEAVEN & WE ARE AMBASSADORS TO THIS EARTH! Heaven is our country, it's our City, our Kingdom, & Jesus is our King! We are His ambassadors to this foreign country of this World. Not only are Sri Lanka & India & Europe foreign countries to most of us, Germany is a foreign country, France is a foreign country, Spain is a foreign country, the United States is a foreign country, Canada's a foreign country, no matter where you're from, if you have Jesus & you're His ambassador, you're from His country & even the country you were born in is a foreign country!
18. THIS WHOLE WORLD IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY TO US! We don't really belong here, this is not our home. (Sings:)
"This World is not my home,
I'm just a-passing through
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue!
The Angels beckon me
From Heaven's golden shore,
And I don't feel at home
In this World any more!
O Lord, You know,
I have no friend like You,
If Heaven's not my Home,
Then Lord, what would I do?
The Angels beckon me
From Heaven's golden shore..."
(Weeps.) Hallelujah! TYJ!
19. I DON'T THINK I EVER FELT AT HOME IN THIS WORLD! From the time I was a little boy I always felt like a stranger, always. It always seemed like everything was strange & people were strange, they weren't like my Mother & my Father. School was almost the worst part because it was full of strangers, little ungodly strangers, children of the Worldlings of this World, rough & tough & cursing & ungodly! About the closest thing you could find to Heaven was home or church. It was nice to go to church! Some day you're going to have to go to church so you'll know what a church is like, a good church if you can ever find one! We have Church in the Home right here, don't we?
20. BUT THERE ARE SOME GOOD LITTLE CHURCHES, MAYBE EVEN THIS LITTLE DUTCH MISSION DOWN HERE! If they've come to this country far away from Holland to preach to these dear people, they must love Jesus. I saw the pastor out there in a sarong the other day, he's really become one! He was a little bit sunburned but he was talking to the boys there. So those nice sweet boys who sit out front & say hello to us as we go by are probably Christians & probably go to his little Dutch church there. That took a lot of love for a Dutchman to leave nice beautiful Holland & come down here from that cool country to this pretty warm country! So he must really love the Lord & love people. He left his country to come to this foreign country.
21. WELL, JESUS LEFT HIS HOME TO COME TO THIS FOREIGN COUNTRY, DIDN'T HE? We used to sing a song:
"Out of the Ivory Palaces, into this World of woe,
Only His great eternal Love, made my Saviour go."
But He left His Ivory Palaces--they weren't even just ivory, I don't know where they got the ivory--they were golden! Just think, He was at home in Heaven & He already lived there & knew what it was like, & yet He was willing to come down here. I think all of us have probably had a little taste of it beforehand like Techi did, & like we've seen in several things we've gotten from the Lord, those of us who really belong to the Lord & are His. I don't think those who would never be a child of God would have ever been there.
22. BUT THE LORD LIVED THERE WITH HIS FATHER GOD & HIS MOTHER THE HOLY SPIRIT, & He was willing to leave that beautiful Home to come down to this dirty World, think of that! He probably even got bit by mosquitoes, Davida! He probably even sometimes had the runs, because it says that He was tempted & tested in all things like as we are. (Heb.4:15) Well, how could He have really been tested & tempted in all those things like as we are unless He'd been sick & suffered a lot of those things? And how could He have been the High Priest Who could really represent us, understand us & have compassion on us, unless He had suffered all these same things?--Including the desire of women! PTL! And he had several of them taking care of Him, God bless'm! After all, He never could have understood us if He hadn't experienced all these things. "And yet without sin." PTL! So that's another proof sex is no sin!
23. OH BOY, THE CHURCH HAS GOT THINGS SO MIXED UP, IT'S PITIFUL! Well, here we are to tell'm, & they don't exactly appreciate it any more than they appreciated it when Jesus came to tell'm that they're all screwed up, got the cart before the horse & everything backwards! But at least they have a few little churches like the Dutchman down here who are probably preaching the Gospel. Was their service Sunday or Saturday? It might have been a Saturday, they could be Seventh-day Adventists!
24. GOD BLESS THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS, THEY'RE VERY GOOD PEOPLE, REALLY LOVE THE LORD! They're a little strong on works & keeping the Sabbath, the law & stuff like that, sort of like the Concision, the circumcision, but anyhow, they love Jesus & they preach Christ & they're good missionaries around the World! They really believe in missions, they go everywhere & they litness & witness. They've suffered a lot for the Lord, along with the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses & some of the more active witnessing missionary groups.
25. ANYWAY, PTL! HERE WE ARE! WE'RE AMBASSADORS TO BE, OF REALMS BEYOND THE SEA! What's "realms beyond the sea," Davida? We're from some Realm beyond the sea. (Davida: Heaven.) Right! Heaven! Very good. That was a pretty tough one! The song was probably written by some dear old Englishman who was thinking about the way they sail the seven seas, & of course other countries are always "beyond the sea." Well, Heaven is beyond the sea too, because Space is a big ocean of space! We're hung out here in Space, in nothing, on nothing except the power of God! There's much more space than there is anything else. You read that in "Holy Holes", didn't you? (No. 237) (David: There's more Love than space!) More Love than space, Love that's bigger than the ocean! Bigger, wider than the sea. What's that old song? (Sings:)
26. "WIDE, WIDE AS THE OCEAN, HIGH AS THE HEAVENS ABOVE,
DEEP, DEEP AS THE DEEPEST SEA IS MY SAVIOUR'S LOVE!
I, though so unworthy, still am a child of His care,
And His Word teaches me that His Love reaches me everywhere!"
We used to sing that with motions. It's not "wide, wide is the ocean", it's "wide, wide as the ocean," or you destroy the meaning. It means God's Love. That's a cute little song, huh? Only, as David said, God's Love is even wider than the whole ocean of Space!
27. SO WE ARE AMBASSADORS TO BE, OF REALMS BEYOND THE SEA! We are, in other words, supposed to be Ambassadors of Heaven! We're God's Ambassadors of Heaven! That's our country & we're ambassadors of Heaven in this strange country of this World amongst all these strangers who don't know Jesus. "Ambassadors to be, of realms beyond the sea, I'm here on business for my King!" Who's our King? (David: Jesus!) That's right! And what are we here for?--We're here on business for our King! We're ambassadors to be!
28. I ALWAYS THINK OF THAT STORY ABOUT THE OLD LADY WHOSE SON WAS APPOINTED THE AMBASSADOR TO THE COURT OF ST. JAMES, MEANING HE WAS APPOINTED TO BE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR TO ENGLAND. And that was always considered the greatest ambassadorship in the World. Of all the countries that anybody was sent to, England was the most important, especially in those days, the days of the British Empire. So when they came with the great news that her son had been appointed Ambassador to England she nearly wept. She bowed her head & shook her head. She said, "To think he might have become an ambassador of the Gospel!" In other words, she'd wanted him to be a preacher & a missionary. She just shook her head sadly & said, "To think he might have become an ambassador of the Gospel, & he dwindled down to nothing but an ambassador to England!" Think of that!
29. HE COULD HAVE BEEN AN AMBASSADOR, NOT OF THE UNITED STATES, BUT OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN!--OF THE GREATEST KING OF ALL, THE KING OF KINGS, JESUS! Instead he just became an Ambassador of the United States. That was supposed to be quite a thing to be Ambassador of the United States. They gave you a big embassy almost like a palace in England. Remember we went by it one day when we were there? It's a huge place! How many of you have ever seen the U.S. Embassy in London? It's a palace, an immense palace! They've got soldiers all around having to protect it nowadays because they've got so many enemies.
30. BUT HE BECAME NOTHING BUT AN AMBASSADOR OF THE UNITED STATES TO JUST A LITTLE COUNTRY LIKE ENGLAND.--Nothing but a little old palace on Earth, when he could have been an Ambassador of the King of Kings from the greatest Kingdom there will ever be, to the whole World, & had a Palace forever on High! Did you hear that Davida? Don't get so busy with your bread you can't get the lesson! It's also hard to sing with so much bread in your mouth, but you were trying hard anyhow! So that's what the song means, I'm trying to explain it to you.
31. "THIS IS THE MESSAGE THAT I BRING, A MESSAGE ANGELS FAIN WOULD SING!" "Angels fain would sing" means the angels wish they could sing the same message, but they can't, because they've never known what it is to be saved, because they were never lost. But the Angels themselves never knew what it was to be lost, God's loyal Angels, because they never disobeyed. Well, at least that's what they tell us, sometimes I have some other ideas because we're going to judge Angels! (1Cor.6:3) The preachers always taught that that meant the angels of the Devil who sinned & fell away, but maybe we're going to judge them all as to whether they did a good job or not!
32. IN SOME WAYS WE'RE EVEN MORE IMPORTANT TO GOD THAN THE ANGELS! He didn't send His Son to die for the angels, He sent Him to die for us, right? So apparently they didn't need it. And if He says we're going to judge angels, then who's more important, us or the angels? (David: Us!) Who's more important, the judge on the bench, the judge in the court, or the people down below who are being judged?--The judge! To be judged is when the judge in the court decides on whether you're guilty or innocent, what kind of punishment you deserve or whether you deserve to be set free.
33. GOD IS THE JUDGE, JESUS IS OUR DEFENCE ATTORNEY, OUR ADVOCATE, & WE'RE THE CRIMINALS BECAUSE WE'RE ALL SINNERS! But Jesus went to our defence & He paid the price of our pardon, so God the Judge, His Father, has to set us free! You get into so many things when you're explaining things to children, things we just accept automatically that of course everybody understands. We've still got to go through the Lord's Prayer sometime & explain that, because I wouldn't be surprised that maybe you don't even understand all that. That's quite a lesson!
34. SO THE CHORUS SAYS, "THIS IS THE MESSAGE THAT I BRING, A MESSAGE ANGELS FAIN WOULD SING!"--THEY WISH THEY COULD SING IT! "Fain would sing" is an old English word meaning they desire to sing it, they wish they could sing it, but they can't sing redemption's story. My Mother used to sing that old hymn:
"But when I sing redemption's story, angels fold their wings.
For angels never knew the joy that our salvation brings!"
Think of that! We'll judge angels! We're going to be more important to God than the angels, isn't that amazing? PTL! Well, I didn't mean to get into a whole sermon here this afternoon, but I guess maybe that's for the children so they'll understand.
35. "THIS IS THE MESSAGE THAT I BRING!"--WHAT'S THE MESSAGE WE BRING? (DAVID: SALVATION!) Salvation! "A message angels fain would sing." Now here's the message: "O be ye reconciled"--that means get saved, that's really what it means. Get saved, be reconciled! It means make peace with God. And there's only one way you can make peace with God, & that's through Jesus, right? You can't make peace with God any other way. He won't accept any other kind of a deal, no other terms, just the blood of Jesus that we symbolised here today. That's the only thing He accepts to pardon us from our sins, only the blood of Jesus! (Sings:)
"Only the blood of Jesus! Oh, the blood of Jesus!
Oh, the blood of Jesus..." (Maria: "Can wash us white as snow!")
36. HERE'S MY MEMORY OVER HERE! God bless her! I know if I don't remember it, she'll surely remember it. Thank God I married a little church girl. She's of my generation! The Lord somehow got her in a family that was a generation behind the rest of the World! She was raised a generation later, but by a generation just like the one I was raised with. She knows all the old hymns, the old songs, her folks were about as old-fashioned as mine. Her church was a generation behind, thank God, so that way she understands me & all the songs I know! (Sings:)
"Oh the blood of Jesus! Oh the blood of Jesus!
Oh the blood of Jesus that washes white as snow!"
37. "THERE'S POWER IN THE BLOOD!"--BLOOD POWER! You know, the Blacks, they talk about Black Power, & the Reds, they talk about Red Power, & Godahfi, he talks about Green Power, but we can talk about Blood Power, & that's the most powerful of all! TYL! (Sings: "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus!") And that reminds us of another song about the blood when we said "fount"--which one is it? (Sings: "There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood.")
38. WELL, DID WE FINISH THE LESSON ABOUT THAT SONG? "Angels fain would sing"--for angels never knew the joy that our salvation brings! And how does the chorus go? "Ambassadors to be of realms beyond the sea." We're ambassadors, I wonder why it says "to be"? I guess the Christians are singing in church we're supposed to be, we were meant to be! They keep singing it year after year & they never get around to it! To be! We could sing it:
"Ambassadors we are, of realms beyond afar,
We're here on business for our King!
This is the message that we bring,
A message angels fain would sing!
O be ye reconciled, thus saith my Lord & King,
O be ye reconciled today!"
39. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE RECONCILED, DAVID? (DAVID: TO HAVE PEACE.) To make peace with God, that's right.--To have peace with God. Have you made your peace with God? How do you make peace with God, Davida? (Davida: By being reconciled.) That's a pretty smart answer!--Ha! We've got some smart kids! But what is the only way you can make peace & be reconciled with God? What's the only way He'll forgive us for our sins? We had an illustration of it today when we had communion. There are millions of people praying to God around the World who are not reconciled & they can't make peace with God because they don't know how.
40. WHAT'S THE ONLY WAY WE CAN MAKE PEACE WITH GOD? What's the only thing that He will accept for our pardon? (Davida: Have fellowship?) Well, I know lots of church people who have fellowship that aren't even saved! What's the only way we can make peace with God, David? (David: By Jesus!) By Jesus, of course! Because He is the Prince of Peace & the only One through Whom we can have peace.--The Prince of Peace! And He's the One who's made peace between us & the Father. He made peace through this, His blood. He provided for our healing through the bread, but He made peace through His blood shed for us. He died for us, that's what made peace.
41. SO NOW I THINK YOU KNOW WHAT THE SONG MEANS! We'll have some test questions & I'll go through it & ask each one of you if you know. "I am a stranger here." Why am I a stranger here? (David: Because we're from Heaven.) Exactly right. "I am a stranger here within a foreign land"--what foreign land are we all in? (Davida: Heaven.) No, Heaven's our home, it's not a foreign country to us. That must have been when you were eating the bread awhile ago! This whole World is a foreign country to us! The whole World! "I am a stranger here"--because I'm from the Kingdom of God! "Within a foreign land"--the whole World!
42. "MY HOME IS FAR AWAY"--WHAT'S OUR HOME FAR AWAY, DAVIDA, THERE'S AN EASY ONE FOR YOU! What is our home? (Davida: Heaven!) You got the right answer that time! You're bound to hit it sooner or later! "Our home is far away, upon a golden strand." What is it that's golden, Techi? If our home is in Heaven, why is it golden? Is our Heavenly Home golden? (Techi: Yes!) That's right, that was a pretty easy question. "Golden strand" means someplace far away, another shore, another place across the ocean of space.
43. "AMBASSADOR TO BE"--I'M SUPPOSED TO BE--"OF REALMS BEYOND THE SEA. " I used to get that mixed up when I was a kid, I always figured, well, I'm supposed to be an ambassador to the realms beyond the sea. That it meant to go across the ocean like a missionary to Africa or someplace. But it says "ambassador to be of realms beyond the sea." We come from a realm beyond the sea of Space. We're an ambassador of what country? (David: Heaven!) Of a realm beyond the sea. "Ambassador to be of realms beyond the sea." It should have said maybe "realm" beyond the sea, the Kingdom of God beyond the sea.
44. BUT ANYWAY, WE'RE ALSO AMBASSADORS TO BE TO REALMS BEYOND THE SEA--to all these countries we're in over here across the ocean of space.--Not just across the ocean between us & the United States, or us & Europe, but we're ambassadors that have come the longest trip that any ambassador ever came except Jesus--from Heaven! Across the sea, the ocean of space! What's the realm we came from? (Davida: Heaven!) Right! You got it! If I ask you enough questions that Heaven is the answer, you can finally get it! We're ambassadors to be of realms beyond the sea, we're here on what, Dora, for our King? (Dora: On business!) We're not just here to play, are we? We do play & we have fun, but we are mainly on business. For Whom? (Davida: For our King!) Who's our King? (Davida: You & God & Jesus!) Mostly Jesus, I'm just your little local king, not very important. But the King of Kings, He's our King, my King too!
45. "THIS IS THE MESSAGE THAT I BRING"--WHAT IS THE MESSAGE WE BRING, DAVID? (David: Salvation.) That's right! It's a message who would like to sing, Davida? Remember the song! (Davida: We would like to sing.) We can sing it! But there's somebody who can't sing it, I told you about'm! Class? (Family: Angels!) Angels, that's right. "A message angels fain would sing." That means angels would like to sing. And what's the message? "O be ye reconciled." What does that mean? (David: To make peace.) We've got to try to remember that somehow, we've got to figure out something for that word "reconciled". "To make peace with" is really what it means, reconciled.
46. "O BE YE RECONCILED" TO WHOM? (David: Jesus.) No, that's not what the song says, Jesus is the One Who reconciles us, He is our peace, He's the One who makes the peace. (David: With God.) That's right! Maybe that last line in the original says "be ye reconciled to God" instead of "today", but it's a good idea to be reconciled today. It's an even better idea to be reconciled yesterday or a long time ago, & all of you have been, thank the Lord!
47. WELL, THAT'S THE MESSAGE OF THE COMMUNION, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THAT'S THE WHOLE MESSAGE! PTL! And not only for the salvation of our spirits, but the salvation of our bodies as well! PTL! Everybody happy? Everybody satisfied? PTL! All right, then I guess it's time to pray. Do you understand the Lord's Prayer? Oh my, here comes another sermon! I'd better not preach that one now. Maybe next Communion you can remind me to tell you what the Lord's Prayer means, so you'll really really understand what you're praying! I know you understand it pretty much already, but there might be a few little things that need more explanation. I don't know whether you understand these big words like "trespasses."
48. I LIKE TO SING THE LORD'S PRAYER BECAUSE IT MAKES IT SIMPLER, IT SAYS "FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS." In other words, we owe other people love, don't we? We owe them forgiveness, we owe them love, & if we don't give them love & preach'm the Gospel, we'll have to be forgiven. "As we forgive our debtors." In other words, we should forgive others as they forgive us, right? That's what it means when we sing it. But the fellow who wrote the song, he used the other word. Because in one Gospel it says "trespasses" & in another Gospel it says "debts."
49. AROUND THE RANCH WE USE TO HAVE SIGNS THAT SAID "NO TRESPASSING!" In other words, don't get off into somebody else's territory, you're going the wrong way & you're trespassing, & that's also transgressing. In the song, instead of saying "trespasses", we sing "debts" & "debtors" but it means the same thing. Do you understand? So let's sing it, shall we? I love to sing it! (Sings the Lord's Prayer; Ps.19:14; Nu.6:24-26.) In Jesus' name, amen! (Sings: "God be with you till we meet again.")
50. DAVID, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN "TILL WE MEET AT JESUS' FEET"? Does that mean we're not going to meet again till Jesus comes? (Davida: When we meet together.) Right! Well, you redeemed yourself, Davida, completely! You got the prize answer of the day! Thank God for Mama's prompting! Every time we meet here, we meet at Jesus' feet, don't we? Well, maybe David can explain why. How do we know we meet at Jesus' feet? We know He's coming, but if every time we meet right here we're meeting at Jesus' feet, how do we know that? "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." (Mt.18:20) So Jesus is here every time. We always know He's here, so we're always meeting at His feet, amen?
51. WHAT DOES IT MEAN BY "WE MEET AT HIS FEET?" How did Mary meet Jesus? Remember, Martha was the busy one working around the house, but her sister Mary did what? She sat down where? (David: At His feet!) They probably didn't have much furniture, poor people, & if there was any one chair in the house, they probably gave it to Jesus. So she probably just sat on the floor like the hippies right at His feet, looked up in His face & learned of Jesus! So we sit at His feet. It's an expression we use when someone is a teacher & the others are the students. In a sense, right now you're sitting at my feet, see? My feet are out here right under the table, & you're sitting right near'm, aren't you? You're sitting at my feet! It means you're sitting in front of me somewhere where I can teach you. And I'm sitting at your feet sometimes too! Quite often! PTL! So that's what it means! (Sings: "And God will take care of you.")
52. MARIA CAN REMEMBER WHEN WE ALWAYS USED TO CLOSE EVERY MEETING AT THE CLUB WITH THOSE SONGS, EVERY TIME! Remember? (Sings: "Blest be the tie that binds.") We always used to sing all those old songs in closing. This is why the Episcopalian minister who came & very seriously studied us went back & wrote an article about us saying: "This new religious movement that is arising already has its own liturgy!" We already had our own ceremonies & sang the same songs!
53. LITURGY MEANS THE KIND OF SONGS YOU SING & THE PRAYERS YOU PRAY IN YOUR LITTLE MEETINGS TOGETHER. Only the Catholics & the formal churches have formalised it & they give it a big word they learn in cemetery--seminary, excuse me, Bible College--called liturgy, & it literally means sort of the letters & the words & the songs & the prayers that you use. That's the liturgy of the Church. Right, you Catholics?--All the prayers & the songs & the words you say, even the "Our Fathers" & the "Hail Marys," that's all part of the liturgy. (Family: And the "Glory Be's"!) (Sings:)
"Glory be to the Father, & to the Son & to the Holy Ghost!
As it was in the beginning, is now & ever shall be,
World without end! Amen! Amen!"
54. (DAVIDA: GRANDPA, I'M SO CLOSE TO YOU I CAN REACH YOUR FOOT!) That's right, you're sitting at my feet! She gets the point every now & then! Sitting at your feet means you're sitting so close to Jesus you can reach His feet! That's right! We can touch Jesus, & we've been sitting at His feet this afternoon, so close we can touch Him, & I think we've gotten a little touch from Jesus! What's that song? (Sings:)
55. "OH, LET ME HAVE A LITTLE TALK WITH JESUS,
Let me tell Him all about my troubles,
He will answer my cry, He will answer by & by!
I feel a little fire a'burning, I feel a little prayer wheel turning,
Oh let's have a little touch from Jesus by & by!"
Well, we've had our little touch from Jesus, praise the Lord? Did you feel a little touch from Jesus today? I think He gave us a good lesson today, amen? I certainly know it wasn't mine, I hadn't planned it! I didn't have anything to do with it, all I did was sit here & open my mouth & He filled it!
56. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY THOSE LESSONS & LETTERS ARE SO LONG, I JUST OPEN MY MOUTH & HE FILLS IT! And as long as I keep my mouth open, He keeps pouring it in & pouring it out! The only problem is, I don't know when to shut it, 'cause as long as I keep it open, He keeps fillin' it! He never runs dry! He's a Fountain that flows forever! He pours in & I pour out, praise the Lord! And I think that's enough, I'd better shut it now & let you all take your afternoon off for your study, rest & pray, whatever you want to do.
57. THE LORD MUST HAVE HAD LOTS OF LITTLE CHILDREN PLAYING AROUND HIM, MAKING LOVE TO HIM, WHILE HE WAS PREACHING & TEACHING! "Suffer the little children to come unto Me & forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven!" (Mt.19:14) PTL! We've got a good Scripture for Techi to stand on right here beside Daddy!--Ha! Well, your intention is good, just like the disciples' were, they didn't want the children to bother Jesus & they didn't want to have'm interrupting Him while He was teaching, but He just took'm & used'm as an illustration. He said, "Look, except you be as a little child, you will in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! Suffer the little children to come unto Me & forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven!"
58. SHE KNOWS HER RIGHTS!--SHE EXERCISES THEM TOO! Ahem! (Techi: Can I sit on your lap?) Yes, you can sit on my lap! And Jesus said you're going to sit down with Him in His throne! We'll have separate thrones too, but we're going to sit right with Him in His throne, even as He sits down in His Father's throne. He says, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, & am set down with My Father in His throne." (Rev.3:21) Jesus has sat down with His Father in His Father's throne & we're going to sit down with Jesus in His throne when His Kingdom comes! It's gonna take a pretty big throne, huh?
59. IT MEANS WE'RE GOING TO HAVE THRONES OF POWER LIKE JESUS! We are going to have power! The one who sits on the throne is whom? Anywhere in the World all through history there have been thrones, who was it sat on'm?--Emperors & kings & Caesars. The one who sits on a throne is a king, right? OK, God is the King of everything, right? So He's got a big throne, a very mighty throne of power, & Jesus has sat down with Him in His throne, meaning He shares that power! The throne is a symbol of power, & He has sat down on the right hand of the Father in His throne to share His power. The right hand is usually the powerful hand with most people--except a few lefties we have here, & that's the way the Lord made you, so don't complain--& we're going to sit down with Jesus in His throne & share His power!
60. LOOK AT THE POWER SHE HAS! Just a little child, but she has power to influence her father & sit down with him in his throne & persuade him to do things she wants him to do! That's just how the Lord loves us & just what He's going to do for you & me! He's going to let you sit down with Him in His throne & do whatever you want because you please Him & He loves you & you love Him & you're going to run the World the way you think it ought to be run!--Because you were faithful here & now in running it the way it should be run now! You're learning now to run it! PTL!
61. SO SHE HAS SAT DOWN WITH HER FATHER IN HIS THRONE, WHICH IS A SIGN THAT SHE'S A PRINCESS! So if you sit down with your Father in His throne, you're a prince or a princess & you must be one of His children. So we're all His children & we're all going to sit with Him in His throne. We're all Kings & Priests & Princes & Princesses unto God! The Bible says so, "Kings & Priests unto God!" (Re.5:10) Are you glad you're a princess? A beautiful princess too! And a handsome prince! And a cute little princess!
62. THIS LITTLE PRINCESS REALLY HAS IDEAS OF HER OWN! It's not easy to change her mind, but she usually makes the right decision in the long run, you notice, if you give her time to think about it. She's like a little teenager, she figures she should make the decision & decide on whether you're right or wrong. So she sits awhile & thinks about it, & pretty soon she usually does what you tell her to do 'cause she knows you're right. But she wants to make the decision!
63. WELL, THAT'S THE WAY THE LORD HAS DONE WITH US: HE PUT US HERE IN THIS WORLD TO MAKE THE DECISIONS, TO DO RIGHT OR WRONG. He tells us what's right & what's wrong, & then He doesn't make us do it, does He? He lets us make the decision! PTL! So you're going to sit down with your Father in His throne, just like Techi! That's a sign of her power, her power she has with her father. You've got power with your Heavenly Father too!--Have you influenced Him today?
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
