"We are standing on the threshold of the crisis of the ages. In quick succession the judgments of God will follow one another--fire, and flood, and earthquake, with war and bloodshed. We are not to be surprised at this time by events both great and decisive; for the angel of mercy cannot remain much longer to shelter the impenitent." Prophets and Kings, p. 278.

"The crisis is stealing gradually upon us. The sun shines in the heavens, passing over its usual round, and the heavens still declare the glory of God. Men are still eating and drinking, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage. Merchants are still buying and selling. Men are jostling one against another, contending for the highest place. Pleasure lovers are still crowding to theaters, horse races, gambling halls. The highest excitement prevails, yet probation's hour is fast closing, and every case is about to be eternally decided. Satan sees that his time is short. He has set all his agencies at work that men may be deceived, deluded, occupied, and entranced until the day of probation shall be ended, and the door of mercy forever shut." Southern Watchman, Oct. 3, 1905.

"Transgression has almost reached its limit. Confusion fills the world, and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings. The end is very near. We who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise." Testimonies, Vol. 8, p. 28.

"In this time of prevailing iniquity we may know that the last great crisis is at hand. When the defiance of God's law is almost universal, when His people are oppressed and afflicted by their fellow men, the Lord will interpose." Christ's Object Lessons, p. 178.

"The restraining Spirit of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, fire and flood, disasters by sea and land, follow each other in quick succession. Science seeks to explain all these. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, are attributed to any other than the true cause. Men cannot discern the sentinel angels restraining the four winds that they shall not blow until the servants of God are sealed; but when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there shall be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture." Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 408.

Not long ago I had an experience that has made a profound impact on my spiritual life. The experience had a name. It was Hurricane Frances. Florida suffered through four hurricanes in less than a month's time. The first one was given the name Charley. I can't talk about that one, except its aftermath, because I was out of town when it struck.

These days the people in the weather centers do us a service in that they can now advise us that a storm is coming. The problem is that, though they start projecting its path more than a week in advance, they cannot tell for sure where it will land until about three days before, and then there are variables that can change things drastically.

This series of sermons is entitled A Storm is Coming. Though each sermon will have its own emphasis, there are three points that I pray you will remember:

1. A spiritual storm is coming. Even now its feeder bands have arrived.
2. We learned in the hurricane that the structures and trees that were weak were not made stronger; they were, in fact, destroyed.
3. When the storm came in all its fury, it was too late to get ready.

This experience with the hurricane has reminded me that our church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, was raised up by God for one purpose, and that was to prepare a generation of His people to pass through the close of probation and then the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.

I am troubled, however, that we have somehow neglected, and in some places even repudiated, the mandate that God has given us.

We do well to remind ourselves that as Seventh-day Adventists we are part of the reformed faith. I am proud to be able to tell someone who might ask that much of our doctrine is based on the truths that God revealed to the Reformation fathers.

By the way, if someone ever asks you what the Seventh-day Adventist Church believes about who is the Antichrist, just tell them that we believe what the reformers believed. The reformers taught that the Antichrist was already in existence in their time, and that it was the Papacy, and that our church teaches the same thing.

Listen to another interesting detail. Did you know that there was a time, and it has been in my lifetime, when Christians who were Baptists, Methodists, Nazarenes, Church of God, and others were known because they didn't smoke, drink, dance, or go to movies. The point is the Adventist Church didn't invent Christian standards of behavior; it simply continued those which were in existence and which were understood by many Christians, even of other denominations, as necessary to protect the Christ-centered life. I am sorry to say that many of the modern denominations that were once known for their holiness emphasis have somehow lost it along the way.

Though we are part of the great line of the reformed faith, our church has been called by God to go to the next level and to be the cutting edge of the faith delivered to the saints. Let me explain what I mean. Please listen closely. We are going to go around a curve and I don't want anyone to fall off.

I am going to continue by asking a question. If Paul were alive today in the 21st century, would he be preaching what he did in the 1st century? Let me say it again in another way. Is the gospel in the 21st century the same as it was in the 1st century?

Now tighten your seat belt. I believe the answer to both questions is No. Now I am going to go slow, because here is where a person could fall off. Paul's emphasis in the 1st century was Christ and Him crucified. His focus was to establish that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah of which the prophets had spoken. I believe that Paul was successful in getting that truth across because God primarily used him to establish the Christian church.

In the 21st century the emphasis of Paul continues to be the foundation of our faith, but now there is an additional emphasis that is present truth and which must be included in any credible preaching of the gospel, and that is that the hour of God's judgment has come.

Sadly, there are many among us these days who have pretty well thrown out the concept of the investigative judgment. As you know, the investigative judgment is a process that began in 1844 in which God goes over the records of those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life to demonstrate to the ten thousand times ten thousand who stand before Him that those through the ages who have committed themselves to Jesus had let the gospel do its work. This judgment began first with the righteous dead and soon, and none know how soon, it will pass to the living.

I remember when the shift in emphasis came in respect to understanding the importance of the investigative judgment. Preachers here and there began to present the idea that the words 'the hour of God's judgment is come' really meant, not that we were on trial, but that God was on trial. That makes it sound as if it is God who is on trial, and He is going to need our vote if His kingdom is going to survive. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Friend, the judgment is not to decide will God survive, but will we survive. This generation somehow got the impression that God's rule is dependant on whether we will support Him or not, and that every few years there must be a kind of universal plebiscite that will give Him the right to continue as God.

There can be no doubt that when the judgment is over, the Judge of all the earth will have been seen to have done right, but the issue that we must get through our hard hearts is that we must all stand one day before the judgment seat of Christ. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" 2 Corinthians 5:10.

Please listen to me now. God's purpose in establishing this church was to be a means to an end. It was not to be just another church or denomination, but it was to be a medium through which a message would be preached to the last generation.

Unfortunately, through the years that which was to be a means to an end has somehow become an end in itself. I say that because we are suddenly hearing less and less about what we used to refer to as 'the truth' and 'the message.' The emphasis used to be to preach the message; now the emphasis seems to be on planting churches.

Stay with me now. Across the land, in our seminary and worker's meetings, we are inviting our brethren from the evangelical churches to come and teach us how to raise up churches. By the way, the so-called church growth experts who are supposed to be teaching us are usually founders or members of community churches. I don't know if you know what a community church is, but it will usually have two characteristics: One is that it is not connected with any denomination, and the other is that its doctrines are generic.

Now I don't mean to be disrespectful, but who are these people to teach a denomination, which, though being very small, has preached the gospel in nearly the whole world and has churches, schools, and hospitals to prove it. It is beyond me. Excuse me, but who are they to teach us how to plant churches?

I am sure you are aware that community churches are usually congregational, which means that what you see is what you get. They are not connected with a denomination, or if so, only loosely. They are located on a corner or a campus and have the luxury of deciding how much of the Bible they want to believe and practice. They are usually led by some charismatic founder whose word is law.

Their goal is church growth. They measure their success by how many people they preach to each week, and some of them preach to as many as twenty thousand. Their style is more often than not charismatic, which means that in practice they are more interested in what God tells them personally than what He has revealed in His Word. For this reason they emphasize speaking in tongues, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and in recent years they claim that God is raising up prophets and apostles among them.

These dear people have learned that the principles used by Madison Avenue to sell products can be adapted to sell a gospel. I say sell a gospel because the true gospel cannot be bought or sold. Nevertheless, they are using Madison Avenue marketing principals to build and fill megachurches.

As a result of the apparent success of these churches, which are apples, our church, which is oranges, has decided if we are going to have success, we should begin to implement their methods.

The result has been, now that we are using these churches as templates for our music, they are telling us how we should pray, how we should worship and how we should do evangelism. As a result we are hearing less and less in our church about the truth and the message, and we are beginning to hear more and more about what are referred to as the principles of church growth.

We invited the Charismatics to tell us how to do our business, and not only have we learned their methods, but we are more and more reflecting their doctrines. The more we use them as models, in practice we are becoming less and less Adventist and more and more generic.

Listen, friend, our founding fathers and mothers were Pentecostal Methodists and Baptists and members of other denominations. We have been there and done that. A hundred and fifty years ago God raised up a people from among them with a message, and when we in the 21st century began to play church and to play down the message, we have betrayed our mission.

Hang on now, because we are going around another curve. Please don't fall off. Some years ago, a well-loved evangelist named Fordyce Detamore began to do evangelism in a new way. Up to that time becoming a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church was a life-changing process. Of course, along the way there would be those as always who would fall away. It was happening in the time of the Apostle Paul and it has been happening ever since.

Well, anyway, Evangelist Detamore came up with the idea that he would have a special series of meetings that was especially directed to the backsliders. After all, it was reasoned, they already knew the doctrines. It would therefore only be a matter of reminding them of their faith and encouraging them to return to church.

Thus, the three-week campaign was brought into being. It has since been streamlined until now a three-week campaign may be three weeks all right, but with only three meetings a week. These meetings are often called "reaping meetings." It should come as no surprise then that the attrition rate for this kind of meeting is significant. Of course, when this happens the pastor blames the evangelist for baptizing the people too soon and the evangelist blames the pastor and the church members for not following up.

Friend, come on now. I believe it is safe to say, with all things being equal, that we can make church members in three weeks but it is extremely difficult to make a Seventh-day Adventist in three weeks. God raised up this church to be a special people with a special task, and experience has demonstrated that it is generally hard to do that as a crash course.

I have seen advertisements for foreign language courses. These advertisements claim they will teach you to speak a foreign language like a diplomat in three weeks. There may be some exceptions, but though you can begin to learn a language in three weeks, a person can't actually learn to speak a foreign language in three weeks.

There are those who say that if a person will give his or her heart to Jesus then everything else will happen automatically. I must disagree with that. Otherwise, why did Jesus say, "Teaching them to observe whatsoever things I have commanded you."

There are those who may disagree, but the thing that makes us Seventh-day Adventists and drives our emphasis on holy living is our doctrines. Unfortunately, in many places these days our doctrines are being dumbed-down or not being preached at all.

I once participated in an evangelistic campaign in an eastern European country. There were 90 in the first baptismal class. The baptism was conducted on a Sabbath. The only problem was that the Sabbath truth was not presented to those who were going to be baptized until the Friday night before their baptism. Those people who were now going to become members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church had not had the opportunity to keep their first Sabbath.

It would probably be safe to say that there are many who are becoming members of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination these days who have little, if any, real knowledge of what it means to be a Seventh-day Adventist. But someone says, "Not to worry; it will all come later." The only problem is, how can that happen when giving Adventist sermons in Adventist churches are, these days, increasingly being frowned upon?

I am extremely concerned that we have decided to make the Sunday-keeping, congregational churches our role models, and as a result they and we will pay a price.

I say they will pay a price, because in spite of the fact that they are as sincere as they can be, they are shot through with false doctrine that will make them vulnerable to be deceived.

All we can see is that they are growing bigger and bigger while we seem to have, in this country at least, stagnated.

We are impressed when we hear them say that their goal is to save the lost and all that matters is that a person loves Jesus. We feel like we have been 'trumped' and we hardly know what to say.

Friend, I fear for these dear brothers and sisters in Christ because, while they are preaching to save the lost, the false doctrines that they believe and teach could well cause them to be lost themselves.

It is not just a matter of not keeping the fourth commandment or believing in the immortality of the soul, but now, as if to add insult to injury, the enemy of souls has foisted off on them the doctrine of the secret rapture which will, if not corrected, make those who hold to this error totally blind to what the devil will seek to do against believers at the close of probation.

The doctrine of the secret rapture makes null and void all that Adventists teach about last day events. This doctrine is having a collateral effect upon even some of our ministers who are now beginning to have their doubts about last days events, which were until now made clear to us in the book, Great Controversy.

Friends, Jesus loves those who are members of other denominations, and there is no doubt that they love Him, but the Word of God calls their belief systems "Babylon," which means confusion.

Make no mistake about it. God raised up this church in these last days and gave it the Spirit of Prophecy--and we are talking here about the ministry of Ellen White--to keep us from being confused like the rest. The Spirit of Prophecy is a God-inspired commentary of Scripture especially for the context of these last days. The person who throws out the Spirit of Prophecy or seeks to denigrate it will themselves become confused and is putting their salvation at risk.

More and more often I am hearing those among us say that we shouldn't preach the doctrines of our church, but we should preach the gospel. What this amounts to is that we should stop giving the message that God gave to this church to prepare a living people to meet a living God, and that we should began to preach like Billy Graham, Chuck Swindoll, or Bill Hybels.

While at best these men can lead a soul to Christ, they have nothing to offer that will prepare a living generation to meet a living God. With all due respect, they have become blind leaders of the blind.

Make no mistake about it. Jesus cannot and will not translate alive to heaven a church that is not obedient to His will, and that includes all of the Ten Commandments.

I said at the beginning that we used to preach about the coming of Jesus and especially about being ready for the close of probation. Unfortunately, we don't do much about it anymore. There may be several reasons for this. One might be that we were for so many years given to setting dates, and some continue to do so even now.

Not long ago I received a paper that proposed that between the years 2004-2006:

1. We must go to war with Iran.
2. The 7th and last Pope will be elected.
3. The National and International Sunday Laws will be enforced.

Isn't this a form of time setting? After a time we become immune to our own spiritual adrenalin. Jesus made it clear that the purpose for signs was not so much to know in advance what was going to happen as it was that, when something would happen, we would recognize that we were on the track.

Another reason that we may have stopped preaching about the close of probation and the coming of Jesus is that we really don't care if He comes or not. This would be for two reasons: One being that when you have a good job, the kids are behaving and you just got a raise, the coming of Jesus is not exactly seen as being necessary.

Another reason would be the thinking that was reflected in a survey that I took some years ago. I asked the people the question, "When Jesus comes will you be ready?" The overwhelming majority answered either that they didn't know or that they hoped that they would. This means that down deep inside we are afraid, and when a person is afraid of something they don't exactly look forward to it happening to them.

The title of this sermon has been, "Is Our Preaching Relevant?" Somehow we have convinced ourselves that if we don't believe in something, it isn't true. Now you can make Santa Claus go away by not believing in him. But we can't make the investigative judgment go away by saying that we don't believe in it. You know there are a lot of people who are living in a fatal state of denial. For some reason we have psyched ourselves into thinking that if you believe in something, it is, and if you don't believe in it, it isn't. It may be that way with Santa Claus, but it doesn't work in things having to do with the Almighty. God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, and whether we believe it or not is really not important as to whether it happens or not, but it will be a life and death issue to us and could even eternally affect those we love.

Friend, there is nothing more important in our lives than to prepare for the judgment of the living and for the appearing the second time of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We are probably more likely to picture Jesus as He was when He was here on earth--just a poor man of the lower classes who put up with just about anything and everything, and who desperately needs for us to give Him our love and support.

Though He truly longs for our love and loyalty, He has finished stage one in which He died and was resurrected for our sins. He is now engaged in stage two in which He is making up the number of those who will be saved, and then He will be ready for the next stage, which will be to come in glory.

I am often reminded of the scene there in Caiaphas's court. Beaten and battered, spit upon and reviled, and facing His eminent crucifixion, He reminded them that the next time they saw Him it would not be that way. He said, "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." Matthew 26:64.

We must not forget that the Scripture pictures Jesus not only as a bloody sacrifice for sin, but as coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Listen to this:

"Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about half the size of a man's hand. It is the cloud which surrounds the Savior and which seems in the distance to be shrouded in darkness. The people of God know this to be the sign of the Son of man. In solemn silence they gaze upon it as it draws nearer the earth, becoming lighter and more glorious, until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory like consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of the covenant. Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror.

"Not now a "Man of Sorrows," to drink the bitter cup of shame and woe, He comes, victor in heaven and earth, to judge the living and the dead. "Faithful and True," "in righteousness He doth judge and make war." And "the armies which were in heaven" (Revelation 19:11, 14) follow Him. With anthems of celestial melody the holy angels, a vast, unnumbered throng, attend Him on His way. The firmament seems filled with radiant forms--"ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." No human pen can portray the scene; no mortal mind is adequate to conceive its splendor. "His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. And His brightness was as the light." Habakkuk 3:3,4.

"As the living cloud comes still nearer, every eye beholds the Prince of life. No crown of thorns now mars that sacred head; but a diadem of glory rests on His holy brow. His countenance outshines the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun. "And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords." Revelation 19:16.

"Before His presence "all faces are turned into paleness;" upon the rejecters of God's mercy falls the terror of eternal despair. "The heart melteth, and the knees smite together, . . . and the faces of them all gather blackness." Jeremiah 30:6; Nahum 2:10. The righteous cry with trembling: "Who shall be able to stand?" The angels' song is hushed, and there is a period of awful silence. Then the voice of Jesus is heard, saying: "My grace is sufficient for you." The faces of the righteous are lighted up, and joy fills every heart. And the angels strike a note higher and sing again as they draw still nearer to the earth.

"The King of kings descends upon the cloud, wrapped in flaming fire. The heavens are rolled together as a scroll, the earth trembles before Him, and every mountain and island is moved out of its place. "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people." Psalm 50:3,4.

"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Revelation 6:15-17.

"The derisive jests have ceased. Lying lips are hushed into silence. The clash of arms, the tumult of battle, "with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood" (Isaiah 9:5), is stilled. Nought now is heard but the voice of prayer and the sound of weeping and lamentation. The cry bursts forth from lips so lately scoffing: "The great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" The wicked pray to be buried beneath the rocks of the mountains rather than meet the face of Him whom they have despised and rejected." Great Controversy, pp. 641-642.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the 21st century, unless we are telling the world about a soon-coming King, we are not preaching a relevant gospel and we run the risk of genuine Christians not being prepared for that wonderful and terrible day. At that point what we are preaching is irrelevant. When Noah was building the ark, the relevant message was stop what you are doing and prepare to get in the ark.

The hymn writer F.E. Belden has penned the words that tell us to where we have arrived in the 21st century, and painted a picture that sets the priority for not only our preaching as a church, but for our very lives as well.

The judgment has set, the books have been opened;
How shall we stand in that great day
When every thought, and word, and action,
God, the righteous Judge, shall weigh?

The work is begun with those who are sleeping,
Soon will the living here be tried,
Out of the books of God's remembrance,
His decision to abide.

O, how shall we stand that moment of searching,
When all our sins those books reveal?
When from that court, each case decided,
Shall be granted no appeal?

How shall we stand in that great day?
How shall we stand in that great day?
Shall we be found before Him wanting?
Or with our sins all washed away?

The time has come for us to bring our lives into reality. The reality is that the judgment is on right now, and soon--but no one knows how soon--it will be over and Jesus will utter those awful yet beautiful words recorded in Revelation 22: 10-14:

"And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

"And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

"Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."

Friend, Jesus is ready, through the Holy Spirit, to get you ready for His coming. It is His number one priority. Won't you reach out to Him today and make His priority yours? While there is still time, if necessary, stop whatever else you are doing and seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and His righteousness, and the promise is that everything that really matters in your life will be added unto you.