Reflections and Goals

"Reflections and Goals"
Drew Weaver
Midland SDA Church
January 1, 2011

Reflecting upon this last year, we are one year closer to the coming of Christ, one year nearer eternity,

Are we drawing nearer to God?

Did we do the will of the Father this past year?

Are we preparing to meet our God?

Are we pleading with Christ for purity of heart and mind?

1. 1 John 3:2,3 Matt. 5:48
   A. Test. For the Church Vol. 8 pg 252
"The coming of Christ is nearer than when we first believed. The Great Controversy is nearing its end. The judgements of God are in the land, they speak a solemn warning saying; ' Be ye also ready for at such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh' Matt. 24:44"
   B. Early Writings pg 66, 67
"Get ready, get ready, get ready. Ye must have a greater preparation than ye now have, for the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. Sacrifice all to God. Lay all upon His altar- self, property, and all, a living sacrifice. It will take all to enter glory. Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where no thief can approach or rust corrupt. Ye must be partakers of Christ's sufferings here if ye would be partakers with Him of His glory hereafter."
   C. Test. for the Church, Vol. 5 p. 216
"What are you doing, brethren, in the great work of preparation? those who are uniting with the world are receiving the worldly mold, and preparing for the mark of the beast. Those who are distrustful of self, who are humbling themselves before God and purifying their souls by obeying the truth,- these are receiving the heavenly mold, and preparing for the seal of God in their foreheads. When the decree goes forth, and the stamp is impressed, their character will remain pure and spotless for eternity."

2. What are we doing in the great work of preparation? How do we prepare? Where do we begin? "What shall we do?"
   A. Acts 2:37 / 3:19    Matt. 3:8
   B. Desire of Ages p. 555, 556
" No repentance is genuine that does not work reformation. The righteousness of Christ is not a cloak to cover unconfessed sin; it is a principle of life that transforms the character and controls the conduct. Holiness is wholeness for God; it is the entire surrender of the heart and life to the indwelling of the principles of heaven."
   C. Steps to Christ p. 23
"Repentance includes sin and a turning away from it. We shall not renounce sin unless we see its sinfulness; until we turn away from it in the heart, there will be no real change in the life."

We dont have the ability to repent, Desire of Ages pg 175 " Repentance comes from Christ as truly as does pardon."

3. Where does the change begin?
   A. Counsels on Diet and Foods, pg 35
" Circumstances cannot work reforms. Christianity proposes a reformation in the heart. What Christ works within, will be worked out under the dictation of a converted intellect. The plan of beginning outside and trying to work inward has always failed, and always will fail. God's plan with you is to begin at the very seat of all difficulties, the heart, and then from out of the heart will issue the principles of righteousness; the reformation will be outward as well as inward"
   B. Prov. 23:26
   C. God's Amazing Grace p. 223
"It is by the renewing of the heart that the grace of God works to transform the life. No mere external change is sufficient to bring us into harmony with God. There are many who try to reform by correcting this bad habit or that bad habit and they hope in this way to become Christians, but they are beginning in the wrong place. Our first work is the heart....."
   D. Ps. 139:23,24

Transformation

4. Rom. 12:1,2
   A. Test. for the Church Vol. 4 p. 644
" All that we urge is compliance with the injunctions of God's word. Are we Bible readers and followers of Bible teachings? Will we obey God, or conform to the customs of the world? Will we serve God or mammon? Can we expect to enjoy peace of mind and the approval of God while walking directly contrary to the teachings of His word?"
   B. Messages to Young People pg 354, 355
" As we see the love of fashion and display among those who profess to believe present truth, we sadly ask, will the people of God learn nothing from the history of the past? There are few who understand their own hearts. The vain and trifling lovers of fashion may claim to be followers of Christ; but their dress and conversation show what occupies the mind and engages the affections. Their lives betray their friendship for the world, and it claims them as its own."
   C. God's Amazing Grace. p 223
" Let us not spare ouselves, but carry forward in earnest the work of reform that must be done in our lives. Let us crucify self. Unholy habits will clamor for the mastery, but in the name and through the power of Jesus we may conquer. To him who dayly seeks to keep his heart with all diligence, the promise is given, ' neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord' Romans 8:38,39"

Crucify Self/ Goal

5. Gal. 2:20 John 3:30
   A. Steps to Christ pg 43
"The warfare against self is the greatest battle that was ever fought. The yielding of self, surrendering all to the will of God, requires a struggle; but the soul must submit to God before it can be renewed in holiness."
   B. Christ is formed in you, Desire of Ages pg 667
"The Life of Christ in you produces the same fruit as in Him, living in Christ, adhering to Christ, supported by Christ, drawing nourishment from Christ, you will bear fruit after the similtude of Christ."

Character like Christs/ Goal

6. " It is no longer I who live...." Gal. 2:20
   A. Test. for the Church Vol. 4 p. 657
"Every act of life, however unimportant, has its influence in forming the character. A good character is more precious than worldly possessions, and the work of forming it is the noblest in which men can engage."
   B. Christ's Object Lessons p 331
"Christ has given us no assurance that to attain perfection of character is an easy matter. A noble, all around character is not inherited. It does not come to us by accident. A noble character is earned by individual effort throught the merits and grace of Christ. God gives the talents, the powers of the mind; we form the character. It is formed by hard stern battles with self. Conflict after conflict must be waged against hereditary tendencies. We shall have to criticize ourselves closely, and not allow one unfavorable trait to remain uncorrected."
   C. Micah 7:19
   D. Steps to Christ p 70, 71
"So you are not to look to yourself, not to let the mind dwell upon self, but to look to Christ. Let the mind dwell upon His love, upon the beauty, the perfection, of His character. Christ in His self denial, Christ in His humiliation, Christ in His purity and holiness, Christ in His matchless love- this is the subject for the soul's contemplation. It is by loving Him, copying Him, depending wholly upon Him, that you are to be transformed into His likeness."
   E. Mind, Character, and Personality Vol. 2, p 666
"Your last thought at night, your first thought in the morning, should be of Him in whom is centered your hope of eternal life."

Must Dwell upon Christ

   A. Phillipians 4:8
   B. Education p 225, 257
"Character building is the most important work ever entrusted to human beings; and never before was its diligent study so important as now...."
"A noble character is the result of self-dicipline, of the subjection of the lower to the higher nature- the surrender of self for the service of love to God and man."
   C. Acts of the Apostles p 564
"Prayer is heaven's means of success in the conflict with sin and the development of Christian character. The divine influences that come in answer to the prayer of faith will accomplish in the soul of the suppliant all for which he pleads. For the pardon of sin, for the Holy Spirit, for a Christlike temper, for wisdom and strength to do His work, for any gift He has promised, we may ask; and the promise is, 'Ye shall recieve'"
   E. Selected Messages book 1, p 349
"The grace of Christ and the law of God are inseparable. In Jesus mercy and truth are met together righteousness and peace have kissed each other. In His life and character He not only reveals the character of God, but the possibility of man. He was the representative of God and the exemplar of humanity. He presented to the world what humanity might become when united by faith with divinity."

Time is so short

   A. "While it is called today...." "If ye hear His voice harden not your hearts."
   B. Test. for the Church Vol. 5 p 215 216
" It is now that we must keep ourselves and our children unspotted from the world. It is now that we must wash our robes of character white in the blood of the Lamb. It is now that we must overcome pride, passion, and spiritual slothfulness. It is now that we must awake, and make a determined effort for symmetry of character."

White Robes

   A. Matt. 22:11-13
   B. Rev. 3:18
   C. Test. for the Church Vol. 3 Laodicean Message
"White raiment, which is a spotless character made pure in the blood of the their dear Redeemer."

Spotless Character

   A. My Life Today, p 267
" A character formed according to the divine likeness is the only treasure that we can take from this world to the next. Those who are under the instruction of Christ in this world will take every divine attainment with them to the heavenly mansions. And in heaven we are to continually improve."
   B. Phil. 3:12-14 "not that I have already attained....."

Must press forward toward the mark, " He must increase, I must decrease. " this day/ this year. " Every man that hath this hope in himself purifieth himself even as He is pure." 1 John 3:3