Coming With Clouds | John Lomacang

Summary

Highlights

• A rainstorm becomes the sermon’s big metaphor: sometimes God uses clouds to wash away the dust in our lives 🚗
• The rainbow in the cloud reminds us that God’s covenant is still standing after the storm 🌈
• The pillar of cloud in Exodus shows that what looks like darkness to the enemy can be light and protection for God’s people 🛡️
• At the cross, even when Jesus felt forsaken, the Father was still present in hidden glory ✝️
• Clouds on the Mount of Transfiguration leave the disciples seeing “only Jesus” 👀
• The closing punchline lands hard: Jesus is coming with clouds because He has always been the God who comes through clouds ☁️

Key Takeaways

• Clouds in life are not always punishment; they can be God’s way of revealing His care and character ☁️
• Faith means trusting God’s vision even when we can’t see the whole path ahead 🙏
• Trials can protect us, purify us, and prepare us for greater spiritual growth 🌧️
• God’s promises, like the rainbow covenant, remain steady even in life’s worst storms 🌈
• Worship is a powerful response when life feels dark and uncertain 🎶
• The goal of every trial is to draw our attention back to Jesus alone ✨

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 07:30: Opening Worship and Song of Christian Witness The meeting opens with a welcome to 3ABN's Fall Camp Meeting/Homecoming 2018, highlighting the theme of covenant identity and introducing Pastor John Lomain's sermon, “Coming with Clouds,” preceded by a special song from Pastor C.A. Murray.
• 07:30 - 17:30: Behold, He Is Coming With Clouds The speaker introduces Revelation 1:7—"Behold, he is coming with clouds"—and uses a personal story of driving through a violent Florida rainstorm to illustrate how clouds and downpours can clear away dust and clutter. He suggests that, similarly, life’s difficult seasons can remove spiritual complacency and prepare people for Jesus’ coming.
• 17:30 - 30:00: Clouds as Evidence of God’s Presence and Protection The speaker argues that clouds are not signs of God’s absence but often evidence of His activity, comparing life’s troubles to clouds that precede rain and reveal God’s reliability. He says believers should respond to hardship with faith, because clouds in Scripture often accompany God’s promises and purposes.
• 30:00 - 42:30: Clouds as Covenantal Signs and Preparation for Glory The speaker explains that in Exodus 14 the pillar of cloud stood between Israel and the Egyptians, showing that clouds can be a form of divine protection: darkness to the enemy but light to God’s people. What looks like God’s distance may actually be His way of blocking evil from having access to us.
• 42:30 - 55:00: Trials, Testing, and Trusting God’s Character The speaker opens by addressing Israel’s complaints in the wilderness, warning that murmuring against God damages His character. He contrasts negativity with gratitude, urging believers to talk about God’s goodness rather than rehearsing their problems or exposing the church’s weaknesses in ways that discourage others and misrepresent God.
• 55:00 - 57:30: Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus in the Midst of Clouds The speaker closes by contrasting the eventual clouds of Jesus’ return with the frequent “clouds” in daily life that reveal His presence. He suggests that hardship, isolation, and personal trial may be moments when God draws someone near to Him alone, as He did with Jesus in the garden, wilderness, and mountain. The message urges listeners to keep their focus on Jesus rather than becoming distracted by the clouds, emphasizing that the one who is coming with clouds is the same One who has always been present and walking with His people.

Coming With Clouds | John Lomacang Transcription

• Segment 1: 00:00 - 02:30 Welcome to 3ABN's fall camp meeting, homecoming 2018. 18 featuring inspired messages from your 3ABN family and featured speaker John Lang. All to prepare your heart for the coming of the Lord. >> Hello and welcome to 3ABN's fall camp meeting, our fall homecoming 2018. Have we been blessed so far? >> Amen. What an incredible blessing. This theme, this camp meeting has been covenant identity. And I know my heart has been blessed and convicted by the messages that have been brought to us by the word of God. And we welcome you at home. Thank you for joining us. Our speaker this hour is my pastor, Pastor John Lomain. He's the pastor of the Thompsonville 7th Day Adventist Church and also director of world evangelism for 3ABN. He's a man of God, a man of the word. And his message today will be coming with clouds. It's not about the second coming. It's instead about how God reveals his character through clouds. Before he speaks to us, Pastor CA Murray will minister a song entitled All Tell the World. After Pastor CA shall have sung, the next voice you will hear is that of our pastor and friend John Lomain. I'll tell the world that I'm a Christian. I'm not ashamed. His name to bear. I'll tell the world
• Segment 2: 02:30 - 05:00 that I'm a Christian and I'll take him with me everywhere. I'll tell the world how Jesus saved me and how he gave me a life brand new. And I know that if you trust him, that all he gave me, he'll give to you. I'll tell the world that he's my savior. No other one could love me. So my life, my all is his forever. And where he leads me, I will go. I'll tell the world Jesus is coming. And it may be near or far away. But we've got to live as if that coming could be tomorrow or today. For when he comes and life is over, for those who love him, there's more to be. Eyes have never seen the wonders that he's preparing for you and me. Go tell the world that you're a Christian and don't be ashamed
• Segment 3: 05:00 - 07:30 his name to bear. Just tell the world that you are a Christian and take him with you everywhere. I'll tell the world how Jesus saved me and how he gave me a life brand new. And I know that if you trust him, that all he gave to me, he'll give to you. I'll tell the world that I'm a Christian and I'm not ashamed. his name to bear. I'll tell the world that I'm a Christian. I'll take him with me anywhere. I'll take him with me anywhere. Amen. Thank you, Pastor CA. That's what the sermon is all about. Telling the world that we are a Christian. I'd like to invite you to bow your heads with me as we invite the presence of God to continue with us. Loving father in heaven, we thank you that you have given us the mission to tell the world that we are Christians. This afternoon, Lord, speak to us in a very real and daily way that we may recognize that we are the ones to proclaim that Jesus is real. And now anoint this message, Father, that you may be glorified. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> Coming with clouds.
• Segment 4: 07:30 - 10:00 I'm going to begin with a scripture in Revelation that really has nothing to do with the second coming of Jesus directly, but has everything to do with getting ready for the second coming of Jesus indirectly. Revelation 1 and verse 7. If you don't have your Bibles, the text will appear on the screen. And we read together, "Behold, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will do what?" >> Will mourn because of him. Even so, amen. It was 1983. My wife and I were moving down to Orlando, Florida. We just got married May 22nd, 1983. And in our quest to move, matter of fact, trials caused us to make that decision. We were going from Orlando down to Miami, Florida. And if you've lived in the south at all, you know that there are no rainstorms like the rainstorms in the south. We were not too far outside of Orlando, maybe about an hour, and before us, we saw a wall that was black. Now, you got to be in Texas or in the Midwest or in the South to understand what I mean. The wall was black and ominous. And we were driving in a 1976 rusted out Toyota Corona that did its best to keep any water out at all. And because we were going and our minds were set on our destination, we knew that we had to meet this cloud that we understood was a representation of the torrential rains that Florida can produce. When we enter that rain cloud, that black ominous wall, the rain began to hit our car like like BB's like like marbles. It began to blast away everything on the outside of our car. We couldn't see. The rain began to come into our vehicle. It
• Segment 5: 07:30 - 10:00 was so dark when I decided to pull over under an overpass. I almost hit a cyclist who had pulled over before me. But it was so dark. The rain was so heavy that we couldn't see.
• Segment 6: 10:00 - 12:30 But when the rains were over, there was not a speck of dust on my car. You couldn't manufacture one. If it was there, it was blown away by the torrential downpour that Florida can produce. And I learned a valuable lesson. It is oftent times through the torrential downpours of life that God employs clouds and rain to remove the dust and the clutter of our lives. >> So today I invite you on a journey with me where clouds are dominant. Go back with me to the heavily overcast moments of your life. Come with me to the gloomy days when coldness and uncertainty even challenged your prayers. Today we're going to discover something that we often forget in moments of prosperity, in moments of much, in moments of a lot of fun and security, when the bank account is stable and the children are behaving well and our marriage is smooth and there are no interruptions in our church relationships. Today we'll discover something that is often obscured the by the prosperity of life. For you see, it is on cloudy days that disappointments penetrate our human army. Isn't that right? Cloudy moments. It is on dark days that we tend to forget that God is never absent. But I thank him for the promise. I will never leave you and I'll never forake >> forsake you. But it's on those dark days we tend to believe that somehow God is absent. It is on stormy days that our deepest dreams and desires seem to begin to fade and we begin to lose grip. I was recently in um Colombia. My wife and I were there and I was looking through somebody's Facebook page that had actually tagged me in a photo and I was painfully introduced by one of the locals there of a young lady that was a good friend of one of those that had gone to school with her and
• Segment 7: 10:00 - 12:30 they said, "Isn't this a nice photo?" They showed my wife and I when we were having dinner that evening with them and they said this young lady took her life
• Segment 8: 12:30 - 15:00 six months ago, jumped off of a bridge in Argentina, could not handle the clouds of life. She had everything going for her. She had made it through college, was in her internship, but somehow the clouds became so intense that she could not handle it and ended her life. And then I kept thumbming down on that page and I saw a beautiful picture of a a tall stately pastor that I recognized. I said, "I know him. I've seen him at ASI." And I read the disheartening story. He took his life because the difficulty of life, he could not handle it. And it is those things that we confront in our lives that sometimes get us to the place where we tend to think that God is absent. It's on stormy days that our deepest dreams begin to fade. But today, today we will rediscover that even in the darkest moments, God's blessings can be realized. >> Even in the darkest events of our lives, let me say this clearly. God is still God. >> But it's not about how God changes because God never changes. But what happens in our lives? For to us clouds often appear as sorrow and suffering and circumstances, the circumstances of our lives that seem to somehow momentarily eclipse who God is and contradict the character of God. However, the Lord showed me as I was reading a devotional, I'll share some of those excerpts with you from July 29th, and one of my second favorite authors by the name of Oswell Chambers, God was revealing me through that July 29th devotional. In our own journey, my wife and I, in our own journey, growing together still after 35 years, God was revealing to me something very pertinent that day when we read that devotion together, which has become the impetus to the birth of this message. But even in the darkest moments and
• Segment 9: 12:30 - 15:00 events of life, God is still God. And I discovered something very powerful and very potent. I want you to really focus on this message today because I believe I preach a lot of sermons, but I believe that this to me is one of the most relevant and significant messages that are going to help you when you leave camp meeting, when the clouds come into your life, cuz they're going to come. They're coming.
• Segment 10: 15:00 - 17:30 And I've learned that God sometimes employs clouds to reveal to us his character. One of the most insightful seasons or reasons why God comes to us with clouds is to remind us and listen to this. We don't follow God because we can see. We follow God because he can see. >> Amen. >> What does Romans 1 and verse 17 say? Look at the text. The just shall live together by what? >> By faith. If you can see everything that God sees, you will be God. You don't need to see everything that God sees. We need to know that God is God. And that is good enough for me. >> Why would you not trust? That's why last night I said in the Bible panel, if you can't trust God, who can you trust? If you have questions about whether or not God is trustworthy, then please don't put a second person on that list until you clear up your misconception about God. Because I can guarantee you the problem is not with God, but with us. It is through clouds that God is retaching us the walk of faith. If there were never any clouds, there would be no need of faith. But they are clouds. One of my favorite hymns in the is there shall be showers of blessing. But it was not until recently that I came to grips with the fact that hear me carefully. Unless there are clouds, there won't be any showers. >> Showers are always preceded by clouds. like a little boy that stood in the midst of a a praying church on one morning. The pastor got together with the congregation somewhere in the southwest where the rain had not come for many months and they were praying for rain. True story. I don't remember where I read it, but it never left my mind. And they were praying for rain. And he said, "This afternoon at 3:00,
• Segment 11: 15:00 - 17:30 we're going to gather together again and wait for the rain." And when they gathered together, that little boy's faith was so confirmed that God was going to respond that when he came back, he had something that nobody
• Segment 12: 17:30 - 20:00 else had. He had an umbrella. And he said to the pastor, "Where's your umbrella?" If you believe that God is going to send the rain, we need a spiritual umbrella to confirm the fact that God's promises are reliable. Amen. >> But so often we pray and our prayers are covered by the brass ceilings of our lack of faith that troubles our hearts of uncertainty. Showers don't fall on cloudless days. Showers are always preceded by clouds. Showers don't produce showers. Clouds do. Without clouds, showers will never appear. Without clouds, the grass will wither and the earth will suffer from thirst. Without clouds, rivers become parched and dried up. Without clouds, flowers will bow their heads in defeat, and the harvest will be delayed. So, I'm getting to the place now I'm getting a little older. I should had a hearty amen from the old people, but then you don't want to admit it. As I get older, I'm realizing that it's not so bad to get older and have some marks of the war that God has brought us through. >> Am I right? >> I mean, it's it's those wars that make Bible study real >> and make church service something you long for, that make prayer meeting an event that nothing will stop you from getting to. Just a few nights ago, we had one of our dear church members through the trials of her own life. God sent two people in her life that she helped and she came late to prayer meeting and we thought and people when she walked in thought late for prayer meeting. But when she told us why she was late, helping lift somebody else's burden, we said that's a good reason to be late. In the Bible, clouds are often and almost always associated with God. Let's walk through some examples in scripture
• Segment 13: 17:30 - 20:00 because we got to move here. Look at Genesis 7:4. It was through clouds that rain introduced God's judgments to a world hardened by sin. Genesis 7 and verse4. Notice what the Bible says. For after seven more days, I will cause it to rain on the earth. How many days? 40 days and 40 nights. and I will destroy
• Segment 14: 20:00 - 22:30 from the face of the earth all living things that I have made. You see, while the gathering clouds spelled doom to the antidolivians to those who did not know God, the clouds became a confirmation to Noah of the validity of God's promises. And I'm beginning to see clouds differently now. There was a time when I would say, "Not another cloud." But after so many clouds and behind them realizing that it is true behind every cloud there is a >> no there is a God. Ah gotcha behind every cloud there's God. The shikina of glory of God was there. Be behind every cloud God was there. So I assure you that it is in the cloudy occurrences of life that the promises of God become more meaningful. Which brings me to my first point. Clouds are a precursor to the promises of God. Say that with me. Clouds are a precursor to the promises of God. Look at Psalm 23 and verse4. You see, when we live by the promises of God, our reaction to to the clouds in our lives, our reaction to the difficulties in our lives ought to be different from those that don't know God. >> Did you hear what I just said? How can a person that knows God and a person that does not know God have the same reaction in the moments of trial? I mean, where would that person who knows not God look? He should look to us. And we are told the revelation of the character of God's love is going to be revealed in his people. But how can a person who does not know God look to somebody who claims to know God if they are both in the same boat and they're both hopeless? But look what the David look what David the Psalmist said. Psalm 23 and verse4. Yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadows of death, I do what? >> I will fear how much evil? No evil. Why? For you are with me. Somebody say that. For you are what? With me. You got to know that. That cannot be a text. That's
• Segment 15: 20:00 - 22:30 got to be a confirmation. That's got to be etched in the experiences of your life. You are with me. God is with me when we don't see him. >> Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. He keeps the enemy away from us with the rod. And the staff, he keeps us from running away. Hooks us while we're running in the wrong direction. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. One of the most beautiful promises of God was
• Segment 16: 22:30 - 25:00 also ratified with clouds. Look at Genesis chapter 9 verse 12 to 15. He's with us in our clouds. Even in the valley of the shadows, he's there. One of the most beautiful promises are also ratified by clouds. Genesis 9 beginning with verse 12. And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations." Verse 13, I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. It shall be when I bring a cloud over the earth. When that cloud is showing up, here's what God is saying. that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud. The beautiful hues of the unchanging colors of the rainbow are revealed in the presence of clouds. And I like the covenant. And I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. The waters, hear the next three words, shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. Can somebody say amen? >> Amen. But here's what I got out of that. Even the severest storms of life cannot cancel God's unchanging covenant. >> Think about your storms. A few days ago, Molly Steinson and I and and uh uh uh my wife and uh another young lady was sitting down. No, I was talk I was trying to think about the other person. Um she's a board member of 3AB and I just got a >> Kalita Kamalita Troy. We were sitting at the table there and pastor CA and others were there at the table and Molly began to walk us through the challenges of her life and she said I will never I will never let the difficulties of life shake my faith. She said I said that and the difficulties of life came and shook my faith. That's when she was a Sunday keeper. That's when she was a pastor of a That's when she was a pastor's wife of a Sunday
• Segment 17: 22:30 - 25:00 pastor, Hal Steinson. God sent the clouds to get her from where they were to where she is. >> They would have never become Seventh Day Adventists had the Lord not allowed clouds to come their way. And she said she went through a list, a retinue of things that fell apart in her life. And so somebody said, "I'm praying for you
• Segment 18: 25:00 - 27:30 through your difficulty." She said, "Which one? But she said, "I would never have become." And Danny said to her, "When everything that you trust in is no longer there, you got to there's a space for you here at 3ABN." And she came here and worked at 3ABN for 5 years before she became an Adventist. >> Cuz we loved her in. >> Sometimes you got to let God be God. >> I don't believe in premature birth. It leads to still birth. God loved her in through the trials of her life. But we have to remember that no clouds, no rain, no rain, no rainbow, no rainbow, no covenant. When we forget God's promises, he sends the clouds. The Bible also reveals another profound truth about God. And this is going to mess your mind up. I'm warning you ahead of time. You're going to shake your head because that's what I did after I read this scripture. a profound truth about God that many of us have never learned. And I'm just saying that because I've been preaching for 31 years. And for whatever reason, this text eluded me. At the end of Nahm 1 verse three, the Bible says, look at this, the clouds are the dust of his feet. Do you know what that says to me? When there are when there's dust in your family, God is walking by. >> God's in the neighborhood. When there's dust in your marriage, God is in the neighborhood. Come on, somebody. >> When there's dust in your job that you cannot get rid of, you don't get rid of the dust because the dust are the clouds. the the clouds are the dust of his feet. God's passing by. It is so good to know that when the clouds and the dust comes into my life from now on, I can have the blessed assurance that God is in the neighborhood. Amen. >> If there's dust in your church, if there are clouds in your mind, if there are
• Segment 19: 25:00 - 27:30 clouds in your job, if there are clouds in your relationship, link it to the presence of God, not the abandonment by God. Because so often that's what happens. Which leads me to the second point. Clouds are a confirmation of the
• Segment 20: 27:30 - 30:00 presence of God. So together, clouds are a what? confirmation of the presence of God. They confirm that God is around. Look at Exodus 33:9 and 10. Some examples, evidence number one, Exodus 33:9 and 10. And it came to pass when Moses entered the tabernacle that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle. Clouds don't stand, God stands. And the Lord talked with Moses. He had to shield his glory lest he consume incinerate Moses. And all the people saw the pillar of clouds standing at the tabernacle door. And all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door. Each man in his tent door. What does that say? God sometimes has to bring clouds to get us back to the place where we worship him. When they saw the cloud, they worshiped him. When they saw the cloud, they worshiped him. When there are clouds in our lives, nothing matters more than our time with God. My wife and I, I could tell you stories about my wife and I. We've been through some stuff. If you've been married more than 20 years, you ought to say amen. Unless one of you is brain dead. Cuz when people tell me they don't have trials, I say one of you is brain dead. One of you have been forbidden to talk. We are both New Yorkers. I mean, we talk. We talk, as they say in New York. And we get real. We get real. We deal with the issues head on. And if I'm trying to be evasive, she yanks my coattail. So she's trying to be vasive. Said, "Where you going? Don't try to avoid it. Let's talk about it." And God sometimes has to do that. Sometimes God has to bring the clouds. And notice they didn't sit down and complain when the presence of God was there. They rose up and they worshiped. Nothing can change your attitude about the difficulty in the clouds in your
• Segment 21: 27:30 - 30:00 life better than choosing to worship God when you can't see him. That's what they did. They worshiped God when they couldn't see him. When the Israelites were freed from slavery, another example in Exodus chapter 14, God used a cloud to protect
• Segment 22: 30:00 - 32:30 them from the pursuing army of the Egyptians. Look at this. Exodus 14:9, 19, and verse 20. And the Lord and the angel of God who went before the camp of Israel moved and went behind them. The angel went from in front and he went to the back. And notice what he did. the pillar and the pillar of cloud. The pillar of what? >> Cloud went before them and stood behind them. Clouds don't stand. God stands. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that one did not come near the other all that night. Woo! Now, I want to get this. Okay, calm down. The clouds were the darkness to the enemy, but it was light to the children of God. Amen. >> I'm so glad to know that when the enemy is pursuing me and I see clouds, it's not the evidence of him of him catching up. It's the evidence of God shutting him down. >> It's the evidence of God blocking because you know what? Some of you have had experiences where you can smell the sneakers of Satan >> running after you. Come on now. >> You can smell him burning rubber in his pursuit to catch up to you. All of a sudden, he runs into a wall called God. A cloud between the Egyptians and the Israelites, a cloud between us and God. Praise him for that because if the devil had unbroken access to us, he would destroy us at his whim. But God knows how to put his brakes on when he doesn't stop running after us. Can somebody say amen? Amen. >> I'm convinced that in eternity when the rest of the story is revealed, God will disclose to us. God will disclose to us that when clouds appeared in our lives, they were not a sign of God's
• Segment 23: 30:00 - 32:30 disapproval, but a sign of God's protection. >> Exodus chapter 14 verse 24, another one. When God freed them, look at what he did. Verse 24 of Exodus 14. Now it came to pass in the morning watch that the Lord
• Segment 24: 32:30 - 35:00 looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud. God just peaked through the clouds at the Egyptians and he troubled the army of the Egyptians. The pulpit is shaking. When we are in trouble and God steps into the picture, he transfers the trouble from us, listen carefully, to the enemy that's pursuing us. Did you get that? They were troubled while the Israelites were having breakfast. The enemy was troubled. He troubled the army of the Egyptians. So, I'm learning now to trust God when I can't see him. God cannot reveal himself sometimes in the way we want him to, but he always reveals himself through clouds. Because if God revealed himself without his glory being veiled, Hebrews 12 and verse 29 says, "For our God is a consuming fire, we couldn't handle the presence of God. We would cease to exist if God came to us without shielding his glory." That's why when Moses asked, "Show me your glory." The Lord said to Moses, "You cannot see my face, for no man can see the face of God and live." So the Lord said to Moses, "Why'd you hide behind that little pebble over there?" It was a rock to Moses, but it was a pebble to somebody who creates unnumbered galaxies. >> Hide behind that pebble. When I passed by, peek. And he peaked. And just that peak made his face light up with such glory that his face had to be veiled from the power and the presence of God. Remember
• Segment 25: 35:00 - 37:30 clouds are a confirmation of the presence of God. The Lord, the servant of the Lord, also revealed to me another beautiful thing. Go to Matthew chapter 27:45. Look at this. Matthew 27:45. At the darkest hour in the life of Jesus. His father was there in the clouds. Look at Matthew 27:45. Because you know what Jesus said? My God, my God, why hast thou >> forsaken me? And sometimes the reason why he said that is because he was expressing in human terms the way we feel in many of our experiences. We feel forsaken, don't we? Don't we feel forsaken sometimes? It's those moments that even 28 or 29 or 30 fundamentals don't do any difference. And so Jesus, the author of salvation in human form, said, "I feel forsaken." But listen, Matthew 27:45. Now from the sixth hour until the 9th hour there was darkness over all the land. But look at this quotation from Desire of Ages. Powerful. Desire of Ages 753, paragraph 4. Here it is. In that thick darkness, God's presence was hidden. He makes darkness his prevail and conceals his glory from human eyes. God and his holy angels were beside the cross. The father was with his son. Yet his presence was not revealed. Had his glory flashed forth from the cloud, every human beholder would have been destroyed. And in that dreadful hour, Christ was not to be comforted. Let me make a point. With his father's presence, he trod the wine press alone, and of the people, there was none with him. Get this. If the Lord allowed his own son not to be comforted in his moments of trial, do not equate that with God abandoning his son. >> What does that mean to us? We have had trials that nothing can comfort us in. Come on now. >> We've had trials that we cried ourselves to sleep.
• Segment 26: 35:00 - 37:30 We've had trials that we stayed in the house for days where we don't want we don't want anybody to see our face because our face will be a billboard of distrust to God because the trials were so great. We've seen family members taken away unscheduled and don't know what to do with it. We said, "God, why you allowed
• Segment 27: 37:30 - 40:00 this to happen?" But God allowed Jesus, his own son, not to be comforted by his presence, but he was there with his holy angels beside the cross. So remember this, the discomfort of our trials do not equal the absence of God. The discomfort of our trials do not equal the absence of God. Which brings me to my third point. Clouds are a preparation for the revelation of the glory of God. Clouds are a what? Preparation for the revelation of the glory of God. 1 Peter 4:12-13. Look at that very quickly with me. 1 Peter 4:12-13. This text ought to have been emailed to every one of us on the day of our birth. Look at what it says. Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you. And this I want to be honest with you. I'm getting closer to the verse 13, but I'm not all the way there yet. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's suffering, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with what kind of joy? >> Excing joy. Sometimes the glory of God is revealed through trials. Now, I'm not yet I have to confess it. Sometimes the devil still comes up with trials that throw me for a loop. Can I get an amen anywhere? >> I'm not yet at the place where I rejoice because I see another trial being delivered to my house. I don't say to my wife, "Woo, new trial." And you don't either, but I'm not belittling that. But I'm but I'm getting closer to the point where I keep saying, "Okay, Lord, you were with me in the last one and the one before that and the one 10 years ago and the one 15 years ago and the one when I first started in ministry. You were there when they tried to torpedo me
• Segment 28: 37:30 - 40:00 out of the ministry in 95. You were there." And I keep going back and God says, "Turn to page two in your book. You were there, too." And because you're the same, you're here today. Paul in Romans 8 and verse 18 says this. For I consider that the suffering of
• Segment 29: 40:00 - 42:30 this present time, what time, my brothers and sisters? This present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed where? In us. In us. In us. Look at this quotation from my favorite book. One of my favorite, my utmost for his highest, the devotion of July 29th. Oswwell Chambers says, "What a what a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bererement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God. And the greatest blessing is not the glory of God revealed to us. Hear me. The greatest blessing is the glory of God revealed in us. The challenge with many of us is we focus so much on the clouds. We forget that God is behind those clouds. >> Look at first Peter 1 verse 6 and 7. Look at the evidence of that. Look at the evidence of that. He says, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, little while, that the genuiness of your faith, being more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by what? fire may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. You see, this is powerful because when clouds come, many of us change our view of God. I've heard people say, "It's like the devil doesn't exist in some Christians lives." Why did God take? Why did God allow? Why did God do why didn't God? And so God is some kind of dispenser machine that we only expect warm water out of. And the devil sits around and said, "That's right. Talk to God again." But look at Numbers 21:5. Look at what happened to the Israelites. And we are no different. Numbers 21:5.
• Segment 30: 42:30 - 45:00 And the people spoke against God and Moses in their wilderness when they didn't have what they had in Egypt. And the people spoke against God and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our souls loathe this worthless bread. That's why some of us Anyway, let me not go there. Some of us Some of us ain't going to eat healthy until unhealthy food is no longer around. But the focus of this text is complaining against God. And the servant of the Lord makes it so beautiful. Look at Signs of the Times, December 4th, 1884. Look at this quotation. Powerful, powerful, relevant. Do not compare notes to see how sorrowful a story you can tell. Can I just stop right there? There is enough to talk about without raising one dull. That's unhappy strain. When we are willing to come as little children conscious of our own weakness and willing to be instructed by the divine teacher, our hearts will be filled with the love of Jesus. And we shall long to speak of his matchless worth. We shall cease to talk of self. >> Our trials will look so small that we shall forget to mention them. We have many blessings. Let us cultivate gratitude. Cultivate what? >> And talk of the goodness of God >> because it's not important to know where the clouds are coming from, but it's important not to damage God's character. Yeah. I believe more people will be Christians if if it weren't for the stuff we talk about around our family tables. Some of our members in our family would want to join our church if we wasn't so down on everything in the church. If we didn't talk about the GC president and what's happening in our schools and earing our dirty laundry because we
• Segment 31: 42:30 - 45:00 didn't feel good that day and Facebook and and damaging God's character almost irreversibly. People hear us talk in certain ways that say if that's how he or she talks and they claim to know God, I am not going to become what they are cuz it's worse than what I am.
• Segment 32: 45:00 - 47:30 Look at this quote again. My utmost forest highest. July 29th. Until we come face to face with the deepest, darkest fact of life without damaging our view of God's character, we do not yet know him. Is that powerful? You see, if you know somebody, no matter what somebody is saying to you, you will refuse to damage that person's character because you'll say, "I know him. I know her." And right now, you know what's going on in Congress? I ain't even going there. But everything happening in America and around the world is about character. What more demand is there than the character of God to be upheld without damaging it among God's people? In this hour when character is on trial, we must be like Job. In Job 13:15, Job said, "Though he slay me," come on, let's say it together, "Yet will I trust him." And this quotation continues in my utmost forest highest. I tell you, it's in my personal devotions that God speaks to me. My wife and I sometimes we pause in our bed after reading a devotion. We just look at each other and talk about where we came from and and pray and thank God for where he's leading us. Listen to what Oswwell Chambers said. There is a connection between the strange providential circumstances allowed by God and what we know of him. And we have to learn to interpret the mysteries of life in the light of our knowledge of God. That means when we don't understand something, we say, "But that's not God." So what do we know about God? Quickly, Isaiah 41:10, what do we know about God? Here's what Isaiah the prophet said. He says, "Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right arm." Can we get an amen? >> That's what we know about God. He says,
• Segment 33: 45:00 - 47:30 "I'm with you. Don't be dismayed. I'm your God. And what other God can you have other than that God?" Isaiah 43:2, notice what he says. When those difficult trials come, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. Amen, somebody.
• Segment 34: 47:30 - 50:00 >> When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, >> nor shall the flames scorch you. I got suits with the smell of smoke on it, but I'm still here. >> Thank you, Jesus. And I could look through my wardrobe. I could turn to bulletins that are still left in my Bible and remember when God was there. And he said to Joshua in Joshua 1:9, and I like this, he didn't say, "Have I not suggested to you?" Look at what he said to Joshua. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong." Come on together. Let's read it. Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you. What? Wherever you go. >> Amen. >> And we know that. >> Every country we touch, God is with us. We were down in New Guinea at an Adventist college in the jungle. And I never forgot that because after I did about 13 sermons and counsel during the day, sermon in the morning, sermon in the evening for nine days, was that maybe 18 or 17, whatever. Preach my brains out when I come home. People say, "How was your vacation? I just want to hit them with an old pair of sneakers." But here we are in the jungle and people are can't don't even have money to get food to eat and we're giving people stuff to help them make make it from their trials one to the other. And and I remember when we left the campus while we were taken back to the airport, the the people that were taking us back, one of the instructors and the financial management, he said, "I want to tell you about the success of this week." I said, "Okay." He said, "Every time we have a week of prayer or any kind of revival, Satan always manifests himself through somebody. There's always a display of demon possession on this campus because
• Segment 35: 47:30 - 50:00 many people among this campus, some of them are sent by the government, they're not Adventists, they're not even Christians. They have demon practices in their family. He said, "It is always displayed among every one of these weeks of prayers." But he said, "This is the first time it never happened." >> Because my wife and I, we go to bed praying in our Bible. We wake up praying
• Segment 36: 50:00 - 52:30 in our Bibles. We don't walk out that door before we pray. And if nobody else prays for me, my wife holds my hand and say, "They may have prayed for you, but let me pray for you again." And not one event of Satan's dis Satan's displeasure was revealed on that campus. Which brings me to my last point. Clouds are employed by God to get us to focus only on Jesus, not on ourselves. Look at Mark chapter 9 7 and 8. On the Mount of Transfiguration, an experience of the revelation of the second coming of Jesus, the Lord invited three of his closest companions, Peter, James, and John. And he said, "Stay awake." And they couldn't stay awake as you as you struggle with your hay stacks. Stay awake. And they couldn't. And I understand they couldn't stay away for Jesus. So, I don't feel bad. And when the cloud was there, look at verses seven and 8 of Mark 9. And a cloud came and overshadowed them. That's Moses and Elijah and Jesus. And a voice came out of the cloud saying, "This is my beloved son. Hear him." Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves. Now, what does this text have to do with anything? When the clouds come in your life, just like it came into their experience, and they turn around to look to find out what's going on, I'm praying like they experience that you also when you look around your life in the cloudy, unquestionable, challenging moments of your faith that you see no one but Jesus. Did you get that? Because if you don't, it's only going to
• Segment 37: 52:30 - 55:00 get darker until you get to the place where there is no one anymore but Jesus alone. They saw no one but only >> Jesus. And I believe one of the reasons why there's some clouds that have to come into the lives of us, many of us, is because we're still looking at everybody else when the clouds comes. We're blaming that person for the cloud and that person for the cloud and that set of circumstances for the cloud. We don't know that God is sending the cloud to get us to look to Jesus. Look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. My brothers and my sisters, there's a quote in Ellen White's writings. It's not on the screen, but I'm going to reveal it very quickly. The last rays of merciful light from Christ object lessons, page 415, paragraph 5. The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world is a revelation of his character of love. The children of God ought to manifest his glory in their own life and character. They are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them. >> And how could that happen? Why would you need the grace of God? because the trials of life are coming. The difficulties of life are coming. And you know what I'm so glad about right now as we're sitting here? I am so glad that the Lord has not sent me an email saying, "You have 62,000 more trials on the way. >> I'm glad I don't I'm glad I don't know how many is coming." But I do know this. He will never allow anything to be placed on my shoulder that he cannot bear for me. >> Amen. Right? >> So, when you are tempted to complain, when you're attempted to murmur, when you don't understand what's going on and it doesn't make sense, when you're standing by the bedside of a loved one
• Segment 38: 52:30 - 55:00 whom the doctors have exhausted their resources, but there are no answers. When your children turn their backs and walk out into the unknown world and begin to meander in the maze of corruption. When your marriage is challenged and your job has just been pulled from under you the day before Christmas. When your car breaks down on the way to the most important event of your life
• Segment 39: 55:00 - 57:30 and you get a news from the doctor that now you have a terminal illness and nobody's there to pray for you and the pastor forgets to visit you. It may be that God just wants you all to himself. to talk to you by himself. He wants to draw near to you without any distractions like he took Jesus into the garden, into the wilderness, into the mountain, just he and his father so that the greatest trial ahead of him he was willing to bear for us. So I end with a question. First a statement then a question. You see, this message is not about the eventual clouds that will one day welcome the return of Jesus. It is about the frequent clouds that daily introduce to us the presence of Jesus. Can I say that again? It is not about the eventual clouds that will one day reveal the return of Jesus. But it is about the frequent clouds that reintroduce us to the person of Jesus. And I was in the back with Seth and with Ben and and the Lord gave me a closing statement that made the hair on my arms raise my shirt about four inches. Because I said, 'Lord, how do I end a sermon like this? He says, "This is what you need to say." Why is Jesus coming back with clouds? Why is he coming with clouds? Because he always has. >> Amen. >> He always has. He always has. And he walks with me. And he talks with me and he tells me that I am his own. And the joy we share as we tar there none other has ever known. My brothers, my sisters, those watching this program, the clouds are coming. Behold, he is coming with clouds and every eye will see him. Keep your eyes on the God who controls the clouds and don't become enamored and overshadowed by the clouds themselves.