COG Sermons
Ron Dart 1994 Sermons
| 9442 Is Life Worth Living? Given all the despair of Job and Solomon, is life worth living? Or is it vanity? Euthanasia, assisted suicide, selective abortion, population reduction, prolonging life. Nearly everyone says their own life is worth living, but Dart asks the question of those who think others are so disabled, aged, or suffering that maybe their life isn’t worth living. It is one thing to decide to end your own life, but quite another to decide to end another’s. What will happen if an impersonal government gets involved in such decisions? Simply to ask the question “Is Life Worth Living?” assumes life has no purpose. But it very much does and is very much worth living, as Dart shows from the scriptures. |
| 9469 The Law and the Covenants |
| 94-01-02 Predictions for 1994 It is not wrong to criticize our government -- Herbert Armstrong’s repeated proclamation of the coming kingdom of God implies our current government is not right. Jesus and the prophets similarly criticized government. Dart strikes a parallel between ancient Israel’s desire for a king and our onerous government. He proceeds to comment on the economy, healthcare, and welfare; and he issues a strong criticism of the U.S. society with the primary cause being the neglect of God. With reference to Deuteronomy 28, this country’s blessings have been abundant, but now the cursings are coming upon us. Subjects: abortion, homelessness, kidnapping, prayer in school. While the message is quite negative, it ends with great hope and encouragement. |
| 94-01-08 Is There No Sin? How shamed would you be if your sins were exposed? Then why shame others? Dart discusses grace, mercy, works, election, justification. He Emphasizes that none of us is any better than any other. Obedience is required for salvation, yet we are saved by grace, not works. Why did God choose you and apparently assign some to be a vessel of wrath? After God gave you mercy and grace, that your shame will be hidden, why do you not do the same for others? |
| 94-03-19 A Prescription For Passover Ron Dart has given many sermons on the Passover. This may be the best. He explains Passover timing and the symbolism of the timing. Discusses the meanings of The Lord's Supper, The Christian Passover, the Jewish Passover. We know about the blood, but what about the body? The bread and wine are NOT New Testament symbols for the Old Testament dinner, but rather New Testament symbols for the Old Testament sacrifice of the Lamb. Passover on the 15th? 3PM on the 14th? Early on the 14th? What does "as often as you do it" mean? What about eating it unworthily? Dart credits Herbert Armstrong with helping Dart to understand why the body. Why did Jesus have to suffer? Discussion of the type of the suffering servant that the Jews see in Isaiah 53 and its parallel to the movie "Schindler's List." Of course, for the Christian, Christ was the antitype fulfillment of the Isaiah suffering servant. |
| 94-04-03 To The Work The church was almost obsessive about "The Work" when Ron Dart joined in 1958. The Apostle Paul believed that what he did made a difference in the number of people that would be saved. There is very much more to doing the work than preaching the gospel. Paul didn't hesitate to risk life and limb for the work. Dart essentially gives a tribute to Paul, that it might inspire all of us. Like Oskar Schindler, we can save some, we can't save all, could we have saved more? Also, What was the seed that eventually led to the failure of the Worldwide Church of God to do the work? It was not failed prophecy, as problematic as that was. |
| 94-04-30 Death and Resurrection (apologies for poor audio) The struggles and pains of this life are but a prelude to, and preparation for, the abundant life that awaits us. Dart addresses many aspects of the resurrection: wave-sheaf offering, first day of the weeks, first of the firstfruits, how we are saved by His life – His resurrection, and calls it “The most important day in the history of mankind.” The heart and core of the gospel. A thorough analysis of 1st Corinthians 15, including doctrines of “no resurrection” and “baptism for the dead.” |
| 94-07-02 A Better World “The government of man, apart from God, is what has made this world a mess.” There is a better government coming. People will seek it. The fundamental law will be the law of God. Old Jerusalem became a “whore” at the height of its prosperity, and Dart laments what American has become since he was a child and the cause of the decline of both. Dart the fires the imagination with our role in the future government, as the forgiven and the redeemed. |
| 94-07-23 The Aborted Generation Long before the current controversy, Dart speaks of the evil of making "practical" use of aborted baby parts, of "harvesting" for various uses. The bigger issue is, of course, abortion. The heart of a generation has been cut out. What has been lost? Will there be no consequences, even apart from God? Economic, ethical, long-term? Is it too late? He reflects on Jeremiah's lament for a once-vibrant, now-silent city. Dart talks most soberly about the future of a people that kills its children by the millions. |
| 94-10-15 Frozen in Time Dart talks of Herbert W Armstrong's legacy and groups that claim it as their own today. How can that be done when HWA changed so much over the decades. Dart learned many things from HWA, the two most significant being: 1) The law of God was not abolished, and, 2) Man is destined to become god. However, WCG's claim to have the truth inhibited further growth. Its arrogance paralleled the self-righteous Pharisee, stunted growth, and kept the church "frozen in time". The discomfort Dart experienced in when he left in 1978 led to growth in understanding. Students of WCG history will want to listen to this sermon. |
| 94-11-05 An End to Violence Is poverty the cause of crime? Evil can look ordinary and reasons for it can be trivial. Dart shows that violence is the main reason God opts for destruction (before flood, Sodom, Israel, and perhaps us today?). Who is responsible for this escalation of violence in our society? Who will get punished? Is there any escape? |
| 94-11-12 Blessing of the Children Stories illustrating the role of children in worship and praise. The importance of children to the church. The responsibility of parents and the church to children. Laying on of hands, blessing, birthright examples from the Old Testament and New Testament and today. |
| 94-12-10 Anointing the Sick Dart discusses James 5’s distinction between an affliction and sickness. Neither Jesus nor the disciples healed everyone – were they not able or was it by choice? The significance of oil. The definition of sanctify, sacred, holy. The pool of Bethesda. What is the role of belief? Persistence? Sin? Intercessory prayer? Why Christ suffered. We are a community of faith and our prayers for each other are very important. |
| 1994 A Conversation With God How do we pray? Dart goes over Jesus’ John 17 prayer in great detail, analyzing what prayer is, the parts of it, and why those parts are important. Are we too narrow in our prayers? Too brief? Too lengthy? Prayer is far more than a series of requests. It is a conversation. |
| 1994 Can Man Become God? It sounds blasphemous. But is it? Dart explores the different ways the Bible uses the word "God", and as long as we are not talking about the One Supreme Being in the universe, then the answer is an amazing yes! Dart gives a thorough, Biblical explanation of this doctrine. Family, inheritance, angels, salvation, glorification, born again. The Father and the Son: A God who has a God? Dart frames human life and all of its pain and suffering with the fantastic and unavoidable answer to the question of "why man?". |
| 1994 Christ's Power |
| 1994 FOT Oklahoma 9-21-94 Will God dwell with men? Will men dwell with God? Dart shows how the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles can and does change over time and culture. The Feast is a confession that we are strangers and pilgrims. We are temporary, in the flesh, decaying, and yet have a promise. Dart explores, in depth, the John 3 born again doctrine, probably in response to the Tkachian apostasy that was then taking place in the Worldwide Church of God. Born again is not a metaphor, not symbolic, but literal in that we must become something more than the flesh, that we can dwell with Him as He is, not as we are. Baptism is not born again. To us, the flesh is everything, but to God, the flesh is an impediment. |
