Pastor Dean Read - "The Offensive Life" - August 12, 2017

My third sermon in the "Offense" series. Are you a believer in Jesus Christ? Is Jesus your Savior and your LORD? Are you a keeper of His commandments? For Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep my commandments. Do you also keep His Seventh-day Sabbath, or is that offensive to you (no pun intended). If the true Christian's life can be compared to that of a football player, then are you contributing to the winning of the game?

The game is this cosmic battle called the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan. Remember? Revelation 12:17 tells it like this: "And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

Are you engaged in this battle? That means, are you contributing your part in God's remnant Church to the winning of souls and to the growing in grace of other Christians? Are living the offensive life?

You can watch my final sermon in this series via the link  below:

Pastor Dean Read - "The Offensive Life" - August 12, 2017--YouTube Link

Pastor Dean Read - "Offensive Prayer" - July 22, 2017

The second sermon in my "Offense" series. Do you know how to pray offensively? Remember, if the church does not play offense, if we only do defense, we will not win. Evangelism is our game as football is the NFL's game. Football teams win by scoring touchdowns. The Church scores by winning souls to believe in Jesus as Savior and LORD. However, God's people can get stymied by the works of Satan to distract them. They can get so busy playing defense that they never play offense. And prayer should be one of the Church's most effective offensive weapons in this war called "The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan."

Are you engaged in the battle? Do you know how to pray offensively? Watch the sermon via the link below:

Pastor Dean Read - "Offensive Prayer" - July 22, 2017--YouTube Link

Pastor Dean Read - "The Offense of Evangelism" - July 8, 2017

How is evangelism like the good ol American game of football?
In football you have an offense and a defense. The purpose of the offense is to score. The purpose of the defense is to keep the other team from scoring. You don't win unless you score, and each team should be trying to win, and outscore the opponent.

In the battle between Christ and Satan, also known as the Great Controversy, who are the teams?
And what is the score?
Christ's team is His Church on earth, "those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Revelation 12:17 The devil's team is composed of his followers and those who want nothing to do with God and hate or ignore the teachings of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible.

Evangelism is the offense of the God's Church on earth! And prophecy is one of its greatest weapons. Why? The Bible teaches that prophecy is a sign for believers. It is through the revealed prophecies of the Bible, especially those that point directly to Jesus that cause those who are searching to find the truth and believe in Jesus.Thus, Jesus  gave the Great Commission to His Church--"go into all the world, and preach the gospel, and teach them to observe My commandments, and baptize those who are willing to become My disciples. (My paraphrase of Matthew 28:19-20).

The night before Jesus was crucified, after washing the disciple's feet, Jesus made a bold announcement, predicting that He would be betrayed. Jesus said, "I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He." (John 13:19). Yes, Jesus prophesied, but at the same time, He gave His disciples their mission. He said, "I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you." (John 13:15). Take notice of this! For we see Jesus performing His mission to seek and save lost sinners, while at the same time reinforcing believers through prophecy.

Do you want to hear more? You can watch the sermon, the first in a three part series, via the link below:

Pastor Dean Read - "The Offense of Evangelism" - July 8, 2017--YouTube Link

God Is Still Merciful & Gracious

Yes God is still merciful and gracious. Here is a link to one of my short scripture music videos with a message.https://www.facebook.com/deanread/videos/10211735920898752/

It has been awhile since my last blog on this site, as I was in transition to a new pastorate and I had limited access to wireless since most of each week I was living in my 5th-wheel trailer in the Heart of Georgia. Hopefully in this new year of 2017, the LORD will show me a better way, so that I can have wireless access seven days per week and get back to active blogging. In the meantime, I have been occaisionally posting music videos of scripture songs which I have composed, along with a short message. I hope that the word of the LORD will be presented more and more in Spirit and in Truth, and that is my goal, to preach the word. Shalom!

The 4th of July and True Freedom

Replica of Noah's Ark Built in Kentucky

Happy 4th of July to all Americans. Consider that real freedom is found only in Jesus Christ. This replica of Noah's Ark recalls a time (Genesis chapters 6-9) when the LORD God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth provided an ARK of safety to preserve this earth from destruction.

Why did the LORD destroy the earth by the FLOOD? Because sin was so great in the earth, that they were destroying each other. The Bible says, "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."

True freedom is not found in human governments or human laws, which are fickle and always changing to allow more vice, crime and immorality. True freedom can only be found in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who became a man and lived on this earth as a human being, yet, without sin. He is fully God and became fully human, being born of a woman, born to redeem human beings lost in sin. Jesus died on the cross to save the world from sin, not in sin. 

Just like the ARK in Noah's day--it's purpose was to save people from the gross sins being committed on the earth at that time, and to preserve the life of the animal kingdom that God's hand directed to the Ark. Only eight people chose to get on that Ark. the rest of the world perished in the great FLOOD.

Let this 4th of July remind you and awaken you to your only hope of salvation. Jesus Christ and His blood shed for you 2,000 years ago. And He is coming again, for He has promised this in His word. And He will come to redeem those who have believed in Him. Those who want to get away from the sins of this earth. Those who want to stop sinning. Jesus will come in the glory of His Father, and all the holy angels with Him (Matthew 16:27) and He will reward each one according to his works. Those who have hoped in Him will receive new bodies and immortality; but, those who have done evil and turned away from His salvation will not be saved.

In Noah's day, the majority of people on earth loved their sins more than God. They did not believe God, even though Noah preached for 120 years, for that's how long it took to build the Ark. Yet, in mercy God has left a reminder to the whole world of His promise, the RAINBOW. The rainbow tells me that God keeps His promises, and soon salvation will come, and finally sin will be no more. God's plan has always been to eradicate sin from the Universe.

We each have a choice. We have freedom to choose the most wonderful life that God has planned for human beings. Think about it. The Creator of the Universe, who created man on this earth in His own image, in a perfect world, this Creator God has also provided the means of salvation for human beings who were born after sin ruined this world. Jesus Christ is the ARK of salvation.

And, God has given us much time to learn about Him through His word, and through prophets and preachers and teachers that He has sent over time. The Bible says, "Beloved do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world." How can you test them? With the word of God, the Bible and through prayer. That's the only way.

Trouble is not too many people today are familiar enough with the Bible. And that is a choice too. It has been around for longer than 120 years. It is the oldest book in the world. So, no one can say that God has not given them a proper chance to find out if it's true. Again, it comes back to FREEDOM. We all have free choice. Will you choose today to start finding out more about this GOD? After all, what have you got to lose? Time to start looking at that ARK and taking it a little more seriously. God is good and He only wants to save us from our sins. That's why His name is called, JESUS.

Memories of My Family and Easter

March 27, 2016

I am writing this today, on Easter Sunday. Yes, most of the Christian world celebrates this day in honor of  Jesus’ resurrection. Though there is something strangely ironic about Easter to me now, I remember when I was young, how I so looked forward to Easter. I looked forward to it because from a young boy’s perspective, my perspective, it seemed to me like the whole world was happy about Jesus. My world was very small compared to reality. Yet, in the city in which I grew up, Lynwood, California, it surely appeared true. With the coming of Easter came many good things in our local community and especially in our home.

Our home had two parents, Jack and Marge Read, and five children.  Laine was the only girl and the oldest, and the four boys were Steve, Dean, Jeff and Greg. Good thing that Laine was oldest. What’s a girl to do with four brothers to continually pester her? Fortunately, her age, height and her wit commanded a certain respect. Somehow, we all managed to get along most of the time. Most certainly our dad’s old fashioned theory of child education and his methods of discipline had a lot to do with that. Yet, in spite of his corporal punishment practices, he valued most an ability to reason with his children.

However, our family’s greatest asset lived just over a ways and across the street. My dad’s parents were Walt and Vera Read. Grandma (or Gram) and Grandpa is what we called them. Even my dad called them that. And they were his parents!

And you better believe that we all depended on them, and that was true especially for me. I cannot begin to tell you how many times or in how many different ways Gram or Grandpa helped sustain us and hold us together as a family. Our mom did not drive, and dad was a lineman, usually working far distances away, so he was not home during the day.

It was mostly left to Gram who willingly transported us to the many and various types of things five unique children might be involved in. Sports teams, music programs, boy scouts, school functions, etc. Surely, some of you know the blessings of grandparents nearby?

What does this have to do with Easter? Well, it was one of the few times when our home engaged in something religious together. You see, there was no practice of religion in the home of my parents. I did not learn about the love of Jesus from them. It was from my grandma where I first learned that Jesus loves me. Dad had no real use for religion or church. And though my mom was Roman Catholic, she kept her religion private and rarely went to church, except sometimes at Easter. And sometimes at Easter my sister and brothers went to church too. 

But as for me, I regularly attended church with my grandparents. It seemed to me to be the best part of the week, to spend Sunday’s  with Grandma and Grandpa and go to church and learn about Jesus. Yes, it was at the Methodist Church of my Grandparents where I learned that Jesus loves me. God gave me that gift when I was just a young boy.

So, imagine for yourself what it must have been like for me, growing up in my non-religious family to have all of us come together on Easter Sunday and celebrate a religious holiday in honor of Jesus. And after we got home from Church, we would venture over to Grandma’s house and eat together our Easter dinner. Yes, even my dad was there. And I was happy. Somehow, I imagined that even my dad who was so indifferent to Christianity loved Jesus.  

Today, I am blessed to be a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. Now I know even more so, that God is love. I have never lost that gift from Jesus. And now even more so, I celebrate the death and the resurrection of our LORD. Not just on Easter Sunday, but everyday. However, there are still special days of celebration to which I look forward as I once did to Easter Sunday. And those special days happen every week in the Seventh-day Sabbath.  

And there is more. For, Jesus gave us, His Church, a brand new religious ritual called Communion. Yesterday was a double blessing for me as we celebrated Communion in the Griffin Seventh-day Adventist Church on the Lord’s Sabbath Day. This coming Sabbath, April 2 will be another double blessing as we will celebrate Communion in the Thomaston First Seventh-day Adventist Church. Joy of joys for me!

During this religious season of Easter, how much more appropriate then it is to celebrate Communion on the Sabbath Day. We create new memories from the blessings of what God has done and is doing in our lives. I also take time to remember those who are sick, some suffering from cancer in both of these churches. Please remember them all in prayer. For we all are family now.

Even more than what good I had growing up in my biological earthly family, we, the saints are all His family. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. We share a common faith and a common hope. Even the Blessed hope that Jesus will come! Then all the saints, both dead and living will be caught up together with Jesus, the Father and all the holy angels. Soon, we will all eat together the greatest meal of all time, when we eat that Communion meal new with Jesus and the Father in heaven.

Even so, I pray, come Lord Jesus. Amen. 

Worthy Is the Lamb Who Was Slain

God is good! All the time!

He has revealed His mercy and His truth

Through Jesus Christ

And through His word.

He is Creator,

And He is Redeemer.

He is worthy to reveal the truth,

Because He was slain on the cross.

John the Revelator writes it well:

"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain."

He is worthy to redeem His people,

To redeem all who believe in Him

To redeem all who walk in His ways.

The book of Revelation calls His people to come out of Babylon...

To come out of confusion of religion

And disregard for His word and His Law.

Come out of Babylon

And come into His grace.

Through His grace,

You may keep His Law.

Not man's perversion of His law,

But His holy Ten Commandment Law,

And His two greatest commandments:

To Love the Lord your God

With all your heart and with all your soul,

With all your strength and with all your mind.

And to love your neighbor as yourself.

These two greatest are the foundation,

The bedrock of His Ten,

Which He spoke from Mt. Sinai,

And which He Himself wrote

With His own hand on Tables of Stone.

God is calling all who would believe in Him,

Calling them to come out of Babylon and religious confusion.

Calling them to come into His mercy and His truth.

Believe His word. It stands the test.

Jesus died on the cross to guarantee His word is true.

The Bible can be understood and believed.

Yes, Revelation too,

For it is His Testimony,

It is the Testimony of Jesus,

To a dying world.

Now is the time to turn to God,

And the only Savior, Jesus Christ.

He was slain to redeem you.

Is He not worthy for you to believe?

Is He not worthy for you to honor His law?

In these last days, those who are finally saved,

Will be those who honor Him.

The Revelation says of them:

"Here are those who keep

The commandments of God

And the faith of Jesus."

In the judgment they will stand

Clothed in white robes,

Waving palms of victory in their hands.

They are the redeemed from this earth.

What they say in heaven is not about them.

They speak and they sing praises about Him,

For they say and they sing:

"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain."

“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,

The One who is and who was and who is to come,

Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.

The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,

And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,

And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,

And those who fear Your name, small and great,

And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”

Hallelujah! "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"
For Worthy, Yes Worthy,
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

Be with you who read this

And guide you into knowing His truth.

Amen.

My Last and My All--"Come to the Wedding"

I have preached my last sermon at the Brunswick and Camden Seventh-day Adventist churches. It is called, "Come to the Wedding" based on Mathew 22:1-14, the parable of the Wedding Feast.

For the past eight-and-a-half years I have been their pastor, the people of Brunswick and Camden. And I have given them my all. I can say like the Apostle Paul, "For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27).

Leaving is a bittersweet experience as Tracie and I have built some significant relationships with the people of these churches, and we will never forget them. Yet, I know for certain that God has called me to another church district, the Griffin and Thomaston Seventh-day Adventist Churches located right in the heart of Georgia.

I know for certain, because my faith has prevailed through patience to wait on the Lord. I have waited and watched as He has opened what initially appeared to be doubtful doors. So, we are moving from coastal Georgia to the heart of Georgia. And God is working that out for us. Yes, even before we knew how it would work out, many of the usual fears have now fallen. Fears like, would we be able to handle it financially? Could we find an affordable, yet comfortable home? And a few other uncertainties fading as well. Fading to our faith in our Lord who has called us to this life. The life of a pastor and his wife.

     "I remember Your name in the night, O LORD,
      And I keep Your law.
      This has become mine,
      Because I kept Your precepts." (Psalm 119:55-56)

Yes, I meditated on that passage called Zayin in Psalm 119. Because it helped me, God spoke to me about that. He spoke to me in my heart.  And I knew that I needed to preach about Zayin before I left. And so I did. On January 9, 2016 I preached from Zayin about how I, Dean Read study and meditate on God's word. Apparently the LORD thought, and so did I, that would be helpful to the churches.

But, on my last official day as their pastor, I preached "Come to the Wedding." It was my last sermon to them, given on January 16, 2016. Ironic isn't it? For this parable was one of the last sermons Jesus preached, for He spoke it to a skeptical crowd just a day or two before He was crucified.

I did not have time to write it. But God gave it to me in my mind and my heart. I mused over it for the past few weeks, just like I did with Zayin. I believe both these sermons will be a blessing to those who want to hear them, and even those from Brunswick and Camden who may want to hear them again. Therefore, I have shared them here to be downloaded and heard.

The links are above in the text and also below. Make sure you listen with your Bible open and your notepad close by. You will be blessed. Shalom!

Zayin preached at the Camden Church.

Come to the Wedding preached on my last Sabbath to both churches gathered together in Brunswick. This sermon also includes a special music rendition of "In the Garden" sung by Dell Alarcon with his wife Cherry accompanying him. The music, a new melody was written by Jim Moon, a young pastor in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference who shared it with us.

Moving Faith

It has been a while. I have written and preached several sermons, since I last wrote a post on this blog. It is not that I haven't been writing. It's just that I haven't been sharing my thoughts here. And now, I am in the process of moving. Wow! What a process. I have been called to pastor another church district. And this requires us to move to another part of the good ol' State of Georgia. So, in this processing I am also considering what to do with this blog.

What to do? Over eight years of sharing here on this site, mostly from my sermons. And the desire in me to share is strong.  That is from the LORD. Yet, I now have a backlog of sermons which have not been shared outside when I first preached them. I am confident the Lord will guide me, as He always does, and soon I will be writing publicly again.

In the meantime, my wife Tracie and I are trying our best to process through this moving thing. And that requires more faith, because some significant things have yet to be determined. Like, how to find a home that will meet our comfort needs without going broke in the process. No easy task, considering our current home lost much appraisal value since we first bought it in 2007, before the housing bubble burst.

But God is good! My faith is in His will. He will supply all our needs, including a job for Tracie.

Gay Marriage Legal?

The Supreme Court has now overstepped its role in legislating for the entire country that Gay Marriage is now the law of the land.

How do I feel about that? Well, not good at all. God has effectively been forgotten by our national government when morality has been redefined by SCOTUS and by our politcal correct politicians.

I believe in Jesus Christ, and I believe  in the Golden Rule, that I should love my neighbor as myself. But now SCOTUS is telling me that the Golden Rule is not what Jesus taught. For Jesus taught that the Golden Rule begins with and is rooted and grounded in love for God.

And Jesus also taught that those who love God will demonstrate their love in a respect for His laws.

But now "sodomy" has been legalized by political and judicial cowardice. And I fear for the future in America, where my rights are no longer protected to teach my children what God originally ordained in the Garden of Eden. Yes, it was the Creator God who ordained that marriage was meant as a blessing between a man and a woman, as husband and wife, to be fruitful and multiply.

Now obviously two men cannot conceive and bear children. Neither can two women conceive and bear children. When God said "be fruitful and multiply," He meant to bear children.

Yes, I understand that Gay Marriage is not the only thing wrong with marriage today. Yes, there are many problems with marriage, when the divorce rate shows that parents have not been too responsible in regarding God's laws that were meant to protect children.

Children deserve to be raised in the most protective and loving environments. Yet, the reality of this sin-filled world daily demonstrated that  such is frequently not the case. Even in some traditional marriage homes. And certainly, those children who are orphaned, and those who grow up in war torn places have a need to be properly loved, a need that all too frequently goes unfulfilled.

Does the SCOTUS really expect us to believe that forcing Gay Marriage into law will make things better? Does Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majoirity opinion, really expect us to believe that Gay Marriage and thus also  sodomy is a fundamental right, as he penned, "The identification and protection of fundamental rights is an enduring part of the judicial duty to interpret the Constitution."

In truth, the tables have been turned in America. Now, the public schools will further "educate" America's children in the new morality and the new orthodoxy. Anyone who follows God's Biblical laws of marriage will be held in contempt, yes, especially in the public schools and other institutions of our land.

God has been forgotten and the Golden Rule has been modified by humans. Modified to exclude anything that would remind humans of why the world is in a mess in the first place. Something called sin! Now sin has been further legalized in America, to go along with the many other sins like gambling, pornography, covetousness, adultery... and many other sins that are already legal-tender currency in American morality.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his dissenting opinion: "The decision will also have other important consequences. It will be used to vilify Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy."

I am one of those Americans who refuse to assent to the new orthodoxy. And I will maintain my belief in Jesus and His laws and teach others so. Yes, I will do this, I pray, even if one day soon I could find myself accused as a lawbreaker. And if one day I do stand accused, I will plea only what the Apostle Peter and the other Apostles said to their government sponsored accusers: "We must obey God, rather than men."