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Sermonettes and Split Sermons Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock (1 Peter 5:2-3). Below is a small selection of our Sabbath Sermonettes and Split Sermon archive messages. Contact us, should you require full access. James 5 Dr. Burrus Smith 00:00 / 34:04 Split Sermon - Lessons from King Josiah LDUB Gerhard J. Coetzer. 00:00 / 32:19 Galatians 2:20 Mike Downing 00:00 / 11:38 Heed Your Spiritual RADAR Gerhard J Coetzer 00:00 / 10:38 Why One Doubts Mike Downing 00:00 / 12:19

Prophetic Questions Question 1: Who is the Antichrist? The following leaders have been set forth as possible candidates for the Antichrist. Question #2: Who are the two witnesses? The following video will answer this question. Question #3: Are we in the end times? The following video will answer this question.

Who Are We? The Church of God was prophesied to scatter - Daniel 12:7 The Vigilant Church of God is a group of people who believe Jesus Christ raised up an apostle in the 20th century to lead the Philadelphia era of God's Church. That man was Herbert W. Armstrong. In Matt. 28:19-20, Christ gave the commission to preach the gospel to all nations, to His original apostles, not to the Church. When He gave that commission to the apostles, the Church had not yet been born. Christ gave this great commission to the apostles 10 days before the spirit begotten Church of God even existed. Jesus Christ gave that same commission to His end-time, last apostle, Herbert W. Armstrong. Christ spelled it out in clear words in Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end come” (emphasis ours). Christ also laid the original foundation of the Church by the original apostles, along with the prophets of the old testament, as the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:20. Down through the centuries and through great persecution, much, even most, of that foundation became lost. As Christ always places truth in the Church through apostles, so in this end-time, He raised up an apostle to restore that same, original foundation of truth. The commission that Christ gave to his end-time and last apostle, Mr. Armstrong was, two-fold: To preach the gospel of the kingdom to all nations as a witness and to restore the complete, original foundation (the truth) to the Church. Mr. Armstrong faithfully completed the job he was given to do. Matthew 24:14 is a prophecy that has now been fulfilled. Christ said that it would be done, Mr. Armstrong said that he had done it, and many of us saw it being done. Please view the video "The Gospel Has Been Preached" Accomplishing that two-fold commission was the work (of an apostle) in the Philadelphia era of God's Church. It was the work of God and Jesus Christ did that work. Mr. Armstrong often said this is not the private work of Herbert W. Armstrong, this is God's work and Christ is doing it. He said he was the only man that Christ was using. Mr. Armstrong always gave all the credit to Jesus Christ. That was the assigned work of the Philadelphia era and once the job was accomplished, God allowed the apostle, Mr. Armstrong, to die after faithfully serving the Church of God for more than 5 decades. That ended the Philadelphia era, and thus Jesus Christ closed the door to that work. It is Jesus Christ who actually does the work of God and we saw that the work that He did in the 6th era was taking the gospel to all nations as a witness. When that job was done He closed that door and that era ended. So the next era began, which is the 7th and final era and Christ called it Laodicea. What is the work that we find Christ doing in this era ? Rev.3:20 says “Behold I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Read verses 19-21. The work that Jesus Christ is now doing, in this Laodicean era, is knocking on the hearts of each person who has the Spirit of God dwelling in him/her to open and allow them in to feed them. Though this era thinks it still has the OPEN DOOR OF PHILADELPHIA, it has in actual fact closed the door to Christ! Rev. 3:20 shows that Christ is outside of His Church, not inside. He is calling on them to repent and return to the full truth that He, Christ, had placed in the Church during the previous era, the Philadelphia era. Christ is now measuring His Church, as described in Rev. 11:1-2. The Vigilant Church of God promotes the work Jesus Christ did and is doing through Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong. We believe he was used in the spirit and power of Elijah, to restore the TRUTH and raised up the Philadelphia Work (Revelation 3:7-13). We understand completely that Mr. Armstrong was merely a man whom Christ used as His tool to do that work and we, like Mr. Armstrong give all the credit to Jesus Christ and God the Father. Isaiah 2:22 says “Cease ye from man, whos breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?” We are also totally aware of Jeremiah 17:5 “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.” Therefore we trust Jesus Christ and His judgment, by respecting the leader that He chose to use. The work of KNOCKING AND MEASURING is the work that Jesus Christ is doing in this final era and the Vigilant Church of God is committed to being a tool as a Messenger in the Hand of Christ, as He does this Work. Therefore, we as a small group are committed to the message of the knock of Christ and holding fast to the faith once delivered. First to the original apostles and finally, to this end-time apostle (Herbert W. Armstrong). We are holding fast to all of the truth of Revelation 3:11, set in the Church by Jesus Christ through His final apostle, Herbert W. Armstrong. The work of preaching the gospel to the world and the Ezekiel work to Israel has been completed. Mr. Armstrong fulfilled those commissions. Listen to Mr. Armstrong saying, "The Work will be finished when I die." For more information, contact Vigilant Church of God at our CONTACT PAGE. "The Knock" sermon by Mr. Ellery Burgess The Knock of Christ - Mr. Ellery Burgess 00:00 / 00:00

Explore our in-depth churches of god bible study resources to gain insights into God's word. Discover the truth with churches of god bible study. Bible Studies Below is a small sample of our Bible Studies. To access the full collection, contact us The Book of James "Study to show yourself approved" "Study to show yourself approved" "Study to show yourself approved" "Study to show yourself approved" The Armor of God The Armor of God - Part 1 The Armor of God - Part 2 The Breast Plate of Righteousness - Part 1 The Belt of Truth - Part 2 12 Rules for Bible Study Pray for guidance Be willing to accept correction Prove all things Realize the Bible never contradicts itself Be sure to read the Bible as it is written Check the context carefully, that is read all the scriptures around the verse in question Get all the scriptures "let God be true and every man a liar" Don't put vague scriptures first Use several translations Don't establish doctrine with Bible helps Mark your Bible Why is the Bible the most misunderstood book in all history? The most twisted, distorted, maligned, misrepresented and lied-about book there is? Because people refuse to believe it means exactly what it says! This second installment explains twelve simple, basic rules to help you understand the plain truth of God's Word! Do YOU understand the Bible when you read it? Or, have you not even bothered to study your Bible because you felt it was out-of-date? Because the old English is difficult to understand? Or because you felt the Bible was supposed to be mysterious? You Can Understand! The Bible is the instruction book of the One who created you. It is His instruction TO YOU, explaining clearly and plainly how you can have a happy, filled-with-interest, abundant and successful life! God's Word reveals the purpose for your being! It explains the REASON for human suffering. It explains WHEN and WHY and HOW GOD IS going to intervene to relieve that suffering! It therefore ought to be the one book everyone should understand! But why has it been so grievously misunderstood? Because almost no one, it seems, has been willing to apply the twelve rules of Bible study. The First Six Rules To summarize, briefly, before going on to the seventh rule of Bible study, here are the first six rules: Rule 1 — Pray for guidance. Rule 2 — Be willing to accept correction. Rule 3 — Prove all things. Rule 4 — Realize the Bible never contradicts itself. Rule 5— Be sure to read the Bible exactly as it is written. Rule 6 — Check the context carefully — that is, read all the scriptures around any particular verse in question. This brings us to rule number seven. Up In last month's PLAIN TRUTH, the first six of the twelve simple, basic rules of Bible study were explained thoroughly. If you are a new reader and missed this first article because you were not on The PLAIN TRUTH mailing list last month, just write and ask for the August issue of The PLAIN TRUTH — it will be sent to you just as freely as you received this issue. Click on image for detailed first six rules. Click on Image for the last six rules. Bible Study Plain Truth Aug 1964_0033, _0034, _0043 and _0044 Rule 7 Get All the Scriptures No one scripture can OF ITSELF, taken OUT OF CONTEXT, be used to establish the Truth. "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any PRIVATE interpretation" (II Pet. 1:20 ). God has put His Bible together in a very unusual manner. He has written it so that men could study it intricately in its original languages, poring over its pages for their entire lifetime — AND YET NEVER COME TO A KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH. Many people have memorized great sections of the Bible and yet not come to realize what those sections mean. You must take the whole Bible in its entire context, getting ALL OF THE SCRIPTURES in that Bible ON ANY ONE SUBJECT BEFORE you can come to the knowledge of that particular subject from God's point of view. "Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little...." That is how the converted mind is to study the Bible. Yet, when the unconverted study God's Word a little here and a little there they are STILL NOT ABLE TO UNDERSTAND the Message of God's Truth because they do not have His Holy Spirit guiding them. That Holy Spirit — the very mind and understanding of God — is the power that inspired those words in the first place, and WITHOUT THAT SPIRIT TO INSPIRE THE UNDERSTANDING, THE DOOR TO THE WORD OF GOD REMAINS SHUT! (The Holy Spirit is given ONLY to those who OBEY God — Acts 5:32 .) Continuing from Isaiah: "... But the word of the Lord WAS unto them {those who DISOBEY} precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken" (Isa. 28:9-10 , 13 ). Oftentimes people think that the Bible is CONTRADICTING itself when actually all it is doing is SUPPLEMENTING itself. A good example of this is found in Matthew 27:37 as compared to Luke 23:38 . Here Matthew and Luke APPEAR to contradict one another in their statements as to what was written on the sign affixed to the stake upon which Jesus Christ was crucified. Now while you're going through this article, just take time to GET YOUR BIBLE and USE this example to PROVE that getting ALL of the scriptures on any one subject WILL give you God's understanding on it. In order to find out WHAT was written on that sign, WHO wrote it, and HOW MANY languages it was written in, you will need to put at least four scriptures together, not just two. So turn first to Matthew 27:37 , and WRITE DOWN what the Bible says was written on that sign. Then, GO RIGHT ON to Mark l5:26 and write beneath what you have written what MARK says was written on that sign. Then do the same with Luke 23:38 and also John 19:19 . Put them all together and you will see what was written on that sign. If ONE of these scriptures were left out you would not know that it was PILATE who did the writing. If TWO of these scriptures were left out you would not know that the writing was originally done in THREE LANGUAGES. These four bits of information, each from a different author, supply us with a complete record of what was written there originally. No one scripture contradicts the other — each only serves to complement and round out the information of the other. Click on Image for the last six rules. Bible Study Plain Truth Sept 1964_0014, _0015 & _0018 Up Rule 8 Let the Bible Interpret the Bible So many people write in to The WORLD TOMORROW and comment how much they enjoy MR. ARMSTRONG'S INTERPRETATION of the Bible. Over and over again you will hear Mr. Armstrong explain to the radio audience that it is NOT HIS INTERPRETATION that is being heard over The WORLD TOMORROW, BUT ONLY PLAIN BIBLE TRUTH! In your edition of the King James Bible the book of Revelation will probably be entitled, "The Revelation of ST. JOHN THE DIVINE." This is an excellent example of MAN'S INTERPRETATION. Now in order for you to understand WHAT the book of Revelation IS — WHOSE revelation it is, TO WHOM it was written and WHAT it is about — all you have to do is read the first few verses of THE BOOK ITSELF! In fact the very first words of the very first verse DIRECTLY CONTRADICT MAN'S INTERPRETATION of the Bible with the plain Bible statement that this book is, THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST!" (Rev. 1:1 .) Romans 3:4 is a good clear principle to live by in this EIGHTH rule of Bible study — "... let GOD be true, but every man a liar." This book of Revelation has long been an enigma to the people of the world — GOD SAYS it is a book of REVELATION. THE WORLD SAYS it is a book of HIDDEN MYSTERY. PEOPLE have come up with many weird interpretations for the book of Revelation — yet the book of Revelation is VIVID in its own clear description and needs no interpretation! Continue in Revelation 1: As you read in verse 12 that John saw seven GOLDEN CANDLESTICKS, you don't have to WONDER what these seven golden candlesticks are — all you have to do is READ ON until you come, in the CONTEXT, to verse 20 and that verse tells you plainly that the seven candlesticks ARE the seven churches. In verse 16 it states that John saw SEVEN STARS in the hand of the Son of man. There is no need to go into great, eloquent illustrations of what the seven stars are, because again verse 20 reveals the plain Bible truth — no interpretation necessary — that the seven stars ARE the angels of the seven churches. And so it goes through the rest of the Bible. All you have to do is be patient and search God's Word and you will come up with God's clear answers to the muddled questions of mankind. Up Rule 9 Don't Put Vague Scriptures First Perhaps a better general statement of this NINTH RULE of Bible study would be: NEVER ESTABLISH A DOCTRINE BY A VAGUE OR DIFFICULT-TO-BE-UNDERSTOOD SCRIPTURE. Too many people ASSUME that the vision which Peter had regarding the unclean beasts lowered to him on a sheet affirms that God "cleansed" unclean meat. Because they TAKE OUT OF CONTEXT a verse, unclean of itself, that says, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common" (Acts 10:15 ). However, all they need to do is read on TWO MORE VERSES and verse 17 very plainly says that PETER HIMSELF DOUBTED what the vision meant when he saw it — he didn't jump to any conclusions, but vague-scripture quoters are eager to! Further reading in the same chapter will explain what Peter finally came to understand about the vision — read verse 28: "God hath showed me {by means of this vision} that I SHOULD NOT CALL ANY MAN COMMON OR UNCLEAN." Don't overlook TENTH rule. Up Rule 10 Use Several Translations In Matthew 27:46 Jesus Christ, while hanging on the stake before He died, used the ARAMAIC translation of the first verse of Psalm 22. Even though the original Word of God was inspired in the Hebrew or the Greek, God has allowed it to be translated into nearly every language spoken by mankind. If we were going to be particular about which language we used or which translation, then we would all have to learn Hebrew and Greek and study the Bible in its original languages. The King James Version was written 353 years ago. In the time since, the English language has undergone many changes. Sometimes those texts which are vague and unclear in the King James can be cleared up very easily by just reading a MORE MODERN TRANSLATION, such as the Moffatt or the Revised Standard Version. There is one thing to note about the King James translation and that is regarding italics. This word ITALIC is written in italics. Words that look like this in your King James Version are NOT in the original languages but are SUPPLIED by the translators. So everywhere in the King James Version where you notice words in italics they are supplied to help you understand the meaning of the sentence. However, since the translators were carnally minded, they did not always supply the words correctly. So some of these words in italics are incorrect and do not help but rather hinder your understanding. On the other hand, NOT ALL OF THE WORDS WHICH ARE SUPPLIED by the translators are in italics. Take I John 5:7 for instance, where the reference to three who bear witness in heaven is a completely erroneous reference inserted by a monk-copyist in the Middle Ages. The fact is this particular verse appears only in the King James Version and is in NONE of the other translations of the Bible. Often these difficulties will be cleared up by merely reading another translation and comparing it to the King James. Any questions arising after a thorough reading through several translations of any one verse will be few, and can be handled by studying further in Bible helps. If there are WORDS that you have difficulty in understanding, remember not only to look them up in an English dictionary such as Webster's, but if possible in A BIBLE DICTIONARY OR IN STRONG'S CONCORDANCE so that you can see what the meaning of the word in the original is. Sometimes people will look up a word in a modern dictionary and find a definition that is not at all the SENSE of the word as used in the King James Version. Take for example the word "conversation" in I Peter 3. Conversation to us today means talking between two people. A modern dictionary will give this definition. However, in the time of King James this particular word meant THE ENTIRE CONDUCT of a person and that is the meaning in the BIBLEusage of this word. In order to understand it then, you need to understand the meaning of the ORIGINAL word, and not just the meaning in a modern dictionary. But this leads to our ELEVENTH rule. Up Rule 11 Don't Establish Doctrine With "Bible Helps" "Clarke's Commentary" and the commentary by Jamieson, Fausset and Brown are good reference works — as is Halley's "Pocket Bible Handbook". Sometimes in the back of Bibles there will be sections called "Bible Helps." Even the marginal references in your Bible, which SOMETIMES prove to be very helpful, are often misleading. These "helps" often turn out to be the insidious instruction of Satan himself and they may lead you astray. Therefore, all of these Bible helps should be used ONLY to establish historical or grammatical facts related to the Bible and MUST NOT be used TO ESTABLISH DOCTRINE OR TO INTERPRET THE MEANING OF THE BIBLE ITSELF. The chain reference in my Bible in the center of the two columns at Revelation 1:10 says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day..." and by the Lord's day there is a little "z". In the column by the "z" there are two scriptural references — one to Acts 20:7 and the other to I Corinthians 16:2 which both refer to the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK but have nothing to do with the Lord's day which is explained in the rest of the book of Revelation. Yet to find out what the BIBLE says about what day Jesus Christ is Lord of, read Mark 2:27-28 ! "And he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: therefore THE SON OF MAN IS LORD ALSO OF THE SABBATH." So, with Bible helps you must remember to use them only for technical facts and not for interpretative facts. And now, rule TWELVE: Up Rule 12 Mark Your Bible! Perhaps you have thought the Bible should not be marked. But realize that what is HOLY about the Bible is not the paper, ink and leather out of which it is made, but the WORDS OF TRUTH the SPIRITUAL FACTS! Any PHYSICAL tool you can employ — such as marking with a pen or colored pencils — to help you remember and apply the spiritual truths in your life, is right with God! He expects you to USE His written Word to worship HIM — not physical paper ant ink! Sometimes we hold back from marking the Bible and think that we'll do it later — especially when we're listening to a point that we need to remember about a particular scripture — but we never seem to get around to it. It's always so difficult to get out the pencil and ruler, and have our hands clean. So I have found over years of experience that the best way to mark the Bible is to JUST MARK IT! When you find out for instance that the word "conversation" in I Peter 3:1 ought to be "conduct," the thing you need to do is to IMMEDIATELY WRITE DOWN "conduct" in the margin and draw a little line and circle the word "conversation" in the verse. This way you will always remember. Use These Rules Apply these twelve rules diligently, and your Bible study will be both interesting and rewarding. And if you are not already one of the nearly SEVENTY THOUSAND students of the "Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course " — Click Link for it NOW! Don't put it off! This course is designed to help you study YOUR BIBLE. It employs all of these twelve rules of Bible study — it can help YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND YOUR BIBLE as you never have before. This course is entirely free of any cost to you! You'll always be glad you did! Up

Sermon Archive Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock (1 Peter 5:2-3). Below is a small selection of our Sabbath Sermon messages. Contact us should you require full access. Watch - Ellery Burgess 00:00 / 00:00 A Bond Slave - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 The Binding power of the AIR - Michael Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Acts 3 and the Gospel - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 LOT'S WIFE LOOKED BACK - MICHAEL VENISH 00:00 / 00:00 Be Illuminated by God's Word - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 UN MYSTERY OF THE AGES - GERHARD COETZER 00:00 / 00:00 Beware of Worldly Wisdom - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Time to CHANGE not FEAR - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Government - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Drunkards of Isaiah 28 - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Two Witnesses - M Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Suffer As Good Soldiers - G. Coetzer 00:00 / 00:00 Human Nature the Hidden Enemy - Dr. Burrus Smith 00:00 / 00:00 What is Important? - M. Downing 00:00 / 00:00 The Sabbath Day Is Much More - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Thus Says The Eternal - G. Coetzer 00:00 / 00:00 Salvation And You - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Put Your Trust in the Living God - D. Smith 00:00 / 00:00 Faith x 2 - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Physical Salvation for the Jews - B. Smith 00:00 / 00:00 God Declares Who We Are - M. Downing 00:00 / 00:00 It's Not AbouT Growth... But HIS Likeness - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Passover, Crucifixion and Resurrection Timeline - G. Coetzer 00:00 / 00:00 Blessed Is He - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Becoming Moses - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 In Those Days - G. Coetzer 00:00 / 00:00 Satan and Sin Before Man - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Becoming Moses - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Lessons From King Josiah - G. Coetzer 00:00 / 00:00 Are We Preparing - J. Schiphorst 00:00 / 00:00 What Christ Did For US - M. Downing 00:00 / 00:00 God's Benefits Include Truth - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Our Children Refresh The Earth - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 A Royal Key - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Trust - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 What Is Better? - G. Coetzer 00:00 / 00:00 Reaffirming The Wonder Of Salvation - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 To Revive The Humble And Contrite Ones - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Resist Discouragement - G. Coetzer 00:00 / 00:00 The Knowledg Of The Real Jesus - M. Vnish 00:00 / 00:00 A Power Inherent - Michael Venish 00:00 / 00:00 Loyalty, A Zeal For God - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 At One - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 The Day Of Christ - M. Venish 00:00 / 00:00 The Tale Of Two Brides - B. Smith 00:00 / 00:00 Visit our Vigilant Radio Podcast at Spotify