"I would be foolish tonight to tell you that I have lived my life as a man who felt the crushing weight of eternity. I find
myself with so much junk, so much luggage, so much unneeded baggage,
hindering, pulling me down, holding back, that I, like so many others,
have become intoxicated with Babylon. I have been spoiled and softened
by the multitude of beautiful blessings in my life. And, I will confess
to you that sacrifice does not come easily for me.""Oh, generation of blessed Apostolics! Oh, Tampa Bay! What generation has been so blessed as us? We did detest the lucid, lukewarmness of the Laodicean, but there are far too many striking similarities between that blessed and lethargic church, and the church that I am a part of today, for me to feel very comfortable. There is somewhat of Ephesus in us. We have lost our first love."
"We are driven by our desire for things on this earth. I want to learn how to live like a man who feels the crushing weight of eternity!"
"The Bible is a book about redemption. The Bible is a book about eternity. the Bible is a book about forever, and He is more interesting in your eternity than He is about what's going on here tonight."
"I've seen people living like they were going to live in this world forever. They are not building treasures in heaven; they're building empires on this earth. They are more worried about their stock portfolio than they are how much their church has given to missions. That is not the will of God."
"The old prophet said to Israel, "God wanted to bless you and show the nations of the world this is what happens when you live a righteous life." God wants to bless His people! And we are blessed!"
"God employed five words in Genesis 1:16 to explain to us "he made the stars also." There are more stars in space than there are grains of sands on all the seashores in the world. There are 100 million galaxies. Gut all God said was, "and he made the stars also." But He took Moses to the top of the mount and used 50 chapters to tell them how to build a tent made out of badger skins. If man would have written the Bible, we would have used 50 chapters to tell about the galaxies and five words to tell about a temporary tabernacle in the wilderness. But the difference, you must understand, is that the Bible is not a book about astronomy. The Bible is a book about redemption. It didn't cost God anything to create the stars, but to save our souls, He had to come to this earth and die. He had to come to this earth and suffer."
"The Bible is a book about redemption, about eternity, about forever. God is more interested in your eternity than He is about what's going on right here in your life tonight. Jesus Christ died so that you could spend eternity with Him!"
"God
didn't bless you to horde. He judged a man who built bigger barns and
said, "Take thine alms and rest." He judged him and called
him a fool and said, "Tonight thy soul is required of thee, and then
whose shall all these things be?" Then He said to His disciples,
"You'd better put your treasure in heaven." The man was not
judged because he had a great crop; God gave him the crop. He was judged
because he took the seed and put it in the barn instead of putting it in
the field and feeding the world. Wake up, blessed Apostolics!"Rev. Jerry Dean, UPCI General Conference 2007
Taken from Celebrate!, UPCI FM Publication; Used with permission from Jerry Dean.