A philosophy in sales says, ?The only reason people buy anything is that they want to.? The most successful salespeople don?t trick or force you into buying things; they help you purchase what you already want to buy. This principle applies to life as well. In general, the only reason any of us do anything is that we want to. Typically, we prefer the immediate results of one behavior. For example, we stay in bed because we want to sleep more than we want to work. We buy those shoes because, at the time, we want them more than we want to save money. We eat the burger because we want it more than a salad.

How badly do you want to understand God? It?s easy to misunderstand things; that takes very little work. You have to want to understand something to actually understand it. If you don?t want to understand, that?s your decision. But if you have a tiny bit of faith that what?s on the other side of the search is more valuable to have than not and you want it, then you, my friend, are on the path to a relationship with your Creator.

God does not compel anyone to love Him and obey His law. He has manifested unutterable love toward man in the plan of redemption. He has poured out the treasures of His wisdom, and has given the most precious gift of heaven that we might be constrained to love Him, and come into harmony with His will. If we refuse such love, and will not have Him to rule over us, we are working our own ruin, and we shall sustain an eternal loss at last. . . .

When the cases of all come in review before God, the question, What did they profess? is never asked, but, What have they done? Have they been doers of the word? Have they lived for themselves? or have they been exercised in works of benevolence, in deeds of kindness, in love, preferring others before themselves, and denying themselves that they might bless others?

If the record shows that this has been their life, that their characters have been marked with tenderness, self-denial, and benevolence, they will receive the blessed assurance and benediction from Christ, ?Well done,? ?Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.??Counsels on Stewardship, pp. 127, 129.

When the sinner came to the sanctuary, he bore the shame, guilt, and condemnation of sin. But when he left the sanctuary after confessing his sins and slaying the sacrifice, he left free. The sin was transferred to the sacrifice and, through the priest, into the sanctuary. Jesus, our dying Lamb, bears guilt of our sin; therefore, the apostle Paul could write in Romans 8:1: ?There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.?

The glorious truth of the gospel is that Jesus, our dying Lamb, bore the guilt of our sins so that we are free from condemnation and righteous in His sight. Through the sacrifice of Christ, we are free from the condemnation of sin. Forgiveness is ours.

From 1848 to 1850, [early Sabbatarian Adventist pioneers] held several dozen Bible conferences. The nature of these conferences caused Adventist historian C. Mervyn Maxwell to dub them the ?Sabbath and Sanctuary Conferences.? In reality, at these meetings, the five pillar doctrines of Sabbatarian Adventism coalesced into an integrated theological package:

1. The second coming of Christ
2. The seventh-day Sabbath
3. The nonimmortality of the soul
4. The priestly ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary
5. The end-time bestowal of the gift of prophecy

Together these five pillar doctrines would become the theological core of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Today, we refer to them as the five S doctrines because each of them begins with the letter S: Second Coming, Sabbath, state of the dead, sanctuary, and spirit of prophecy. Sabbatarian Adventism continued to refine and develop the Adventist theological package, but it never moved away from these five pillar doctrines.

There are today close beside us many who are hungry, naked, and homeless. A neglect to impart of our means to these needy, suffering ones places upon us a burden of guilt which we shall one day fear to meet. All covetousness is condemned as idolatry. All selfish indulgence is an offense in God?s sight.  

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus shows how the two classes represented by these men are estimated in the unseen world. There is no sin in being rich if riches are not acquired by injustice. A rich man is not condemned for having riches, but condemnation rests upon him if the means entrusted to him is spent in selfishness. Far better might he lay up his money beside the throne of God, by using it to do good. Death cannot make any man poor who thus devotes himself to seeking eternal riches. But the man who hoards his treasure for self can not take any of it to heaven. He has proved himself to be an unfaithful steward. During his lifetime he had his good things, but he was forgetful of his obligation to God. He failed of securing the heavenly treasure.

Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay is the man who gains riches by unjust means. When his life is half gone, they will desert him, and in the end he will prove to be a fool. Jeremiah 17:11. Do you hear it?that low whistle? Wait a minute. I know who that is?it?s Mr. Quail. A quail is a bird that is often called a partridge, and by the sounds of today?s verse he?s got a mean streak. It seems Mr. Quail Partridge is a bit of a thief. He?s stolen eggs that another bird laid. But today?s verse also says that things don?t turn out too well for Mr. Partridge. The eggs he stole from another bird will hatch. The children he thought he had will leave him. He?ll be a lonely Mr. Partridge after all.

Our Bible says that being a thief just isn?t worth it. Some people steal because they think they just have to have more things. But those things will leave them. Most people who steal get caught; they lose others? respect; they end up without friends and very lonely. Always be honest. Don?t take what belongs to someone else. God will give you all the blessings you need.

Prayer is not intended to work any change in God; it brings us into harmony with God. It does not take the place of duty. Prayer offered ever so often and ever so earnestly will never be accepted by God in the place of our tithe. Prayer will not pay our debts to God. . . .

The strength acquired in prayer to God will prepare us for our daily duties. The temptations to which we are daily exposed make prayer a necessity. In order that we may be kept by the power of God through faith, the desires of the mind should be continually ascending in silent prayer.

When we are surrounded by influences calculated to lead us away from God, our petitions for help and strength must be unwearied. Unless this is so, we shall never be successful in breaking down pride and overcoming the power of temptation to sinful indulgences which keep us from the Savior. The light of truth, sanctifying the life, will discover to the receiver the sinful passions of the heart which are striving for the mastery, and which make it necessary . . . to stretch every nerve and exert all the powers to resist Satan that he or she may conquer through the merits of Christ.?Messages to Young People, pp. 247, 248.  

We have an advocate at the throne of God, which is encircled by the bow of promise, and we are invited to present our petitions in the name of Christ before the Father. Jesus says: Ask what ye will in My name, and it shall be done unto you. In presenting My name, you bear witness that you belong to Me, that you are My sons and daughters, and the Father will treat you as His own, and love you as He loveth Me.

Your faith in Me will lead you to exercise close, filial affection toward Me and the Father. I am the golden chain by which your heart and soul are bound in love and obedience to My Father. Express to My Father the fact that My name is dear to you, that you respect and love Me, and you may ask what you will. He will pardon your transgressions, and adopt you into His royal family?make you a child of God, a joint heir with His only-begotten Son.  

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.?Maranatha, p. 288.

All we have to do with is this one day. Today we must be faithful to our trust. Today we must love God with all the heart and our neighbor as ourselves. Today we must resist the temptations of the enemy, and through the grace of Christ gain the victory. Thus we shall watch and wait for Christ?s coming.?In Heavenly Places, p. 355.

The second coming of Christ is not based on idle speculation. It is not based on a vain wish or human philosophy. It is based on the unchangeable, reliable, and certain promises of God?s Word. All of history is moving toward one glorious climax?one final destiny. Life is going somewhere, and we are to meet Someone who has the ultimate answer to all of life?s problems. Without this conviction, there is little left to live for.

The Bible writers, as well as Christians in every generation, fervently believed in the promise of Christ?s soon return. His second coming inspired them to persevere in the most difficult times. The following are just a few of the Bible?s promises concerning Christ?s return.

One of the earliest predictions is found in Jude 14: ?Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ?Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints.? ? The psalmist, a thousand years before the first coming of Jesus, prophesies that ?our God shall come, and shall not keep silent? (Psalm 50:3).

The lessons of the ancient sanctuary are for every one of us. The ancient tabernacle is gone, but Jesus, the true sacrifice, the reality that represented, has come. Through His blood, forgiveness, freedom from condemnation, and cleansing are available to all those who follow the same steps, placing their faith in His perfect sacrifice. The guilt of our past sins can be gone. Our hearts can be filled with peace. Jesus offers us forgiveness. The voices of an accusing conscience can be silenced. Here is how you can experience this today:

1. Accept and acknowledge the reality that you are a sinner.
2. Acknowledge and confess your sins to God.
3. Believe and accept the forgiveness He has provided through Jesus.
4. Praise God and thank Him as peace and light come flooding into your soul.

That quiet voice speaking to your soul is the Holy Spirit. Don?t hesitate or wait.

Finding Cain guilty of murder, God now pronounces judgment: ?You are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother?s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth? (Genesis 4:11, 12). Since the earth has been forced to swallow his brother?s blood, it will no longer produce crops for this farmer because sin has also affected the ground. Ironically, Cain is forced to be a wanderer? like a shepherd?and he complains bitterly! He also greatly fears for his life.

Notice the interesting way God?s compassion is illustrated: In Genesis 1, the Creator is called ?God,? Elohim in Hebrew?the God of power. Later, when creating man in Genesis 2, He is called ?the Lord God,? Yahweh Elohim?the God of covenant (personal relationship) and power. But as He deals with Cain in Genesis 4, He?s simply called Yahweh ?the Lord? (the loving, personal God). Trying His best to reach His guilty child, the Lord senses his great fear and promises to protect Cain with a mark or warning to others. God vows to bring a heavy, seven fold judgment upon anyone who dares kill him!

After Cain rejects God?s grace and forgiveness, the Bible says he walks away going from the east (where God lives) to the west, away from the Lord. How sad that Cain begins this story drawing near to God and ends it by permanently leaving His presence. He settles in the land of Nod that has the meaning of ?wandering,? ?flight,? or ?exile.?