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Sermon Audio by Date

Pre 1978
Bricket Wood Message
Sermon – Bricket Wood, UK (May 1974)

This Sermon was given shortly after some senior ministers left the Church in 1974 in England. Mr Armstrong deals with the vital role of God’s Government and how a major part of our job today is to be sure we remain firmly beneath it. If we do, then and only then will we also qualify to administer that identical, loving Government in the coming Kingdom of God.

Warning to the Church
Sermon

This sermon was given after Mr Armstrong had recovered from total heart failure. He warns that the Church was in mortal danger of falling into a Laodicean attitude and calls for fasting and heartfelt prayer. He tells all of us to wake up, and put some life back into the Church and speaks directly to many ministers sitting in the audience at Pasadena who he said disagreed with him and were instead promoting their own false ideas – particularly intellectualism. The parallels with the state of the Church today is spine-chilling.

Creation and The Gospel
Sermon (May 13, 1978)

Begins: “Well, greetings everybody once again this afternoon; and to all of you people up in Canada listening at Vancouver…” This sermon was given after the bible study Creation and Prehistory which starts from the very beginning, and goes through the entire story of the Scriptures.

1979
Why the Holy Days?
Sermon (October 13, 1979) – Last Great Day

“…God has CUT THE WORLD OFF, except those that the Father calls. But there is this judgment coming; and they’re going to have it easier than we do, when their time comes…”

1980
Times and Seasons
Sermon (March 15, 1980)

This sermon was given from Tucson, and deals with an overview of prophecy particularly Matt 24 and Rev 4. Mr Armstrong also comments extensively on how he brings the gospel message to the leaders in communist countries, using the two broad ways of life: Give, and Get.

The Plan Of God
Sermon (September 25, 1980) – Feast of Tabernacles

This sermon was the first transmission to link multiple Feast sites in the USA, Canada and UK. When you consider how today we do something similar with nothing more than a telephone line and a laptop via the internet, it indicates how much some things in the world have changed. However, the basic message why we are here on this earth, and the very purpose of human life remains just as relevant today as it has ever been.

1981
The Church in Prophecy
Sermon

This sermon is preceded by a snippet of Mr Armstrong’s comments concerning Zerubbabel building the Temple together with a small amount of music. It was sent to the Church for general distribution sometime during 1981. The sermon contains an overview of the Church in prophecy though the prophesied shattering we have recently experienced was not understood at the time.

How You and I Came to Be Here
Sermon – Melbourne, Australia

This sermon deals with the way God has always placed His Truth within His Church through apostles. This Way this Government flows down from God through Christ through the apostle sent with that Truth to a people specifically drawn and selected to be part of His Church at this time.

Building The Temple
Sermon – Seattle, USA (February 14, 1981)

This sermon does not just examine the fact that God is now building His Temple spiritually, prior to the return of Christ, but that Mr Armstrong personally was the one that God was (and is still today) using to do so. The sermon is particularly long (2h 15m). Although the audio quality is good throughout most of the file, our apologies for the fact that in two sections it is poor: the first 3 mins, and the last 20 mins.

Revelation 12
Sermon (April 18, 1981) – Night To Be Observed

This sermon was the first message Mr Armstrong gave to the Church after he had returned from Tucson to again live full time in Pasadena. In this message, he shows the condition of the True Church through the ages in relation to Satan as found within Revelation 12 and other prophecies. He also voices his own firm belief that Satan had just been cast down to the earth – and it was this unseen event that gave rise to the receivership takeover in the late 70’s. The use of the state by Satan to persecute the True Church is shown to be something that has continued throughout history. It is clear that with Satan cast down, we should not be surprised if such persecution happen in our time.

What If Adam Had Not Sinned?
Sermon (June 13, 1981)

Begins: Brethren: after speaking here on last Sabbath, I spoke to a group of virtually 3,000 or 2,800 of our people up at Stockton, on the Day of Pentecost…” Mr Armstrong then mentions an incident in the Philippines, where unity in the Church needed to improve. He shows how the only way true unity can be achieved is to focus on Jesus Christ, the True Head of God’s Church, and do things God’s Way. This Way is also The Way the entire world would have gone had Adam taken instead the Tree of Life!

Jesus Christ Our High Priest
Sermon (July 1981)

This sermon covers many topics, eventually going into the first chapter of Hebrews. It talks about how God reveals truth to us through our High Priest Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God.

HWA Speaks to the Brethren
Sermon (July 4, 1981)

Greetings everybody. Nice to be back here again. Last week I was up at Orr Minnesota speaking to many of our young juniors up there… I would like to just be able to talk to you a little bit today… All my life I have had to try to avoid getting sidetracked and jumping off onto some other thought that would flash through my mind as I go along, but to stay right on the subject. Well, I have been doing that lately, but today I just wanted to say what comes to my mind. That’s what I am doing. And I just want to talk to you, as one of you, and we need a time to talk like that and be together, because we are all one in Christ…

Forum: Why Ambassador College?
Sermon (August 21, 1981)

Good Morning everybody. Welcome to the second beginning of Ambassador College at Big Sandy Texas. Well you know it reminds me of starting in Pasadena in 1947. We had four students… now it had to be a different kind of college than any other. why did it need to be a liberal arts college? Why not just a bible college to educate people for the ministry? “recapture the true values” You know I grabbed at that. That has become the slogan of Ambassador College “recapture the true values”. People do not have a sense of value in the world anymore. They have a false sense of values. And I had a chance to start a college that would recapture the TRUE values…

Endure to the End
Sermon (September 26, 1981)

Given just a few days before the day of Trumpets, this sermon first goes right back to the beginning, putting what Mr Armstrong has to say into the context of the big picture. And what he has to say is that statistically, 33% of those listening to him would not be in the Church in 10 years. (how true that was except it was nearer 90%). But the antidote is to take our calling seriously, to overcome Satan’s world, to grow in grace and knowledge doing it all through the power of God, received through prayer and to endure, to the end.

The Meaning of Tabernacles
Sermon (October 13, 1981) – Feast of Tabernacles

This sermon was given on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles in 1981 exactly one week to the day after Anwar Sadat was murdered in Egypt. Mr Armstrong comments on the assassination and goes on to describe the Plan of God as this world’s only source of true peace.

Why The Church?
Sermon (October 17, 1981)

I would like to ask this afternoon, and also to answer “why the Church?” Why should there be “the Church?” There are churches all over the western world they are attended every Sunday by a good section of the population do most people realise why there should be a church? Or do they just take it for granted…

The Sabbath Question
Sermon (October 23, 1981)

This Sermon deals with how we should be keeping the Sabbath holy. It examines a number of aspects including: The need to assemble on the Sabbath; Proper dress for services; Is it OK to go to a restaurant on the Sabbath? Driving long distances on the Sabbath; Making the Sabbath a delight; The need to have a balanced approach.

The Holy Spirit
Sermon (November 1981)

Mr Armstrong stresses the vast difference between the natural and Spirit led mind. Without a mind that is Spirit led we will not make it and unless that new mind continually grows through prayer throughout life, our Spirit Life will miscarry.

What God Expects of Us
Sermon (November 7, 1981)

Begins: “Greetings everybody, nice to be with you again. And as was announced it’s going to be the last chance for about 3 weeks…” This sermon was given during the time when the Church was getting back on track, and makeup had just been recognised as not part of “The Way” God wants for us. Mr Armstrong deals extensively with this topic and several similar areas in this sermon. (Quoting from )

Getting Back on Track
Sermon (December 1981)

It is particularly illuminating to hear what Mr Armstrong says in this sermon. It shows how “off Track” the corporate Churches of God have drifted today. Mr Armstrong explains how so many want their own way instead of God’s revealed Way; He covers the fact we live in a unique time in world history; how he is the apostle sent by God; why makeup takes women away from God’s Way; how so many want to be like the world; and how Christ through him led the Church. (Note: And should be today but is prophesied to be on the outside knocking Rev 3:20)

What is Sin?
Sermon (December 5, 1981)

Mr Armstrong deals specifically with the makeup issue and why makeup simply cannot be accepted within the True Church. The reason this is so, revolves around a correct understanding of just what sin is. The principle and attitude we are to have as God’s people is the all important aspect.

1982
Passover Examination
Sermon (March 4, 1982)

Mr Armstrong encourages us all to correctly examine ourselves prior to Passover. He talks about the bread for our healing, and the wine for forgiveness of spiritual sin, and then goes on to show how the area we all need to examine prior to taking the Passover, is our level of true repentance. He points out that even some evangelists had not at that time truly repented – but merely accepted the truth as part of their own righteousness.

What Is Christ Doing
Sermon (April 24, 1982)

This Sermon deals with how Christ precedes us into the Kingdom of God as our High Priest. It is one of the “Back on Track” sermons given by Mr Armstrong and covers the requirement of all of us to live “The Way” of God if we are also to rule with Christ in the future. The beginning of Hebrews and Romans 8 are covered in some detail. At the end of the sermon, Mr Armstrong brings out that being “on Track” implies we keep moving, driving ourselves, as the Track is something on which we travel.

Inter Racial Marriage
Sermon (May 1982)

This sermon is particularly applicable today where there is a good deal of controversy within society about race and “multi-culturalism”. God’s view of segregation is explained, and Mr Armstrong shows how the world’s current approach of ethnic integration is utterly off-Track to God’s true perspective on the subject.

Why Only a Few Chosen Now?
Sermon (June 5, 1982)

Mr Armstrong speaks for longer than normal (1hr 52mins). He deals specifically with the purpose of our calling that we are to be the teachers of tomorrow and places the whole subject into its rightful context of the entire Plan and Purpose of God.

The Unthinkable Will Happen
Sermon (June 19, 1982)

This sermon re-emphasises the inevitable direction the world is prophesied to go just before Christ returns. Only when man has reached the end of his rope, will he finally be ready to listen to his God.

The Purpose Here Below
Sermon (October 9, 1982) – Last great Day

“…That purpose is in two phases you might say. First was the physical stage, beginning with Adam. That is still going on. That is this world. The second is the spiritual stage, beginning with Jesus Christ and the Church. That too is still going on. And that is God’s REAL creation, the spiritual creation: “the world tomorrow” another civilization, another world that will follow this world…”

Aversion Therapy
Sermon (October 16, 1982)

“…And we’ve got to become so sick, so fed up with this world, we never want any more of it again! That’s God’s purpose… But once we have gone through this experience (once we have learned from our experience and we’ve gone through this aversion therapy and we get fed up enough with this world and we don’t want anymore of it), God will make us in a condition of spirit where we can’t sin. God speed that day!…”

United States of Europe is Coming!
Sermon (November 27, 1982)

This sermon examines the imminent rise of a United States of Europe, not the EEC as it was then, leading to the Mark of the Beast, and the destruction of the English-speaking Peoples.

The Mark of the Beast
Sermon (December 11, 1982)

This sermon examines the subject of the mark of the beast. Though given in 1982, the subject is even more valuable today, as the urgency Mr Armstrong had at that time shortly before his death applies even more to us today. Mr Armstrong goes step by step through the subject, towards the conclusion that imposition of Sunday observance over the Sabbath is once again to be imposed by the Holy Roman Empire under the direction of the Pope.

1983
Spiritual Health Checkup
Sermon (April 1983)

We are told to examine ourselves this time of year prior to the Passover and this sermon from Mr Armstrong puts the entire subject into its true perspective. The background is the very Plan of God and the true reason for the existence of both the Church of God and of those within it.

Hungering for God’s Righteousness
Sermon (June 11, 1983)

This sermon was given when the Church was being put back on Track and deals extensively with the makeup issue and how some would only agree to change if they were backed into a corner by scripture. Mr. Armstrong points out that sin involves much more than breaking the letter of the law. It involves an attitude that flows contrary to God’s Life Style. We must instead hunger and thirst for that Life Style That Way the very righteousness of God.

Transition From Sardis to Laodicea
Sermon (June 24, 1983)

“…What I want to give you is the history of the transition of the Church between the Sardis era and the Philadelphia era… Brethren I want you to know, there was no just sudden ending of the one and beginning of the other. There was a transition, when one gradually over a period of some few years merged from the one into the other…”

Are you really a Christian?
Sermon (July 9, 1983)

Mr Armstrong makes plain, that baptism in water though required does not make someone a Christian. It is the baptism (immersion) by one Spirit that places someone into the body of God’s One True Church (1Cor 12:13), giving us a totally different purpose, attitude and direction in life. This Spirit is the essential ingredient to create within us God’s mind and attitude as children of God. Increasing this character of God must continue throughout our human lives.

Success Based on God’s Law (Origins)
Sermon (July 30, 1983)

This sermon shows how Satan’s world is based on a series of wrong premises, and to understand correctly, we must first understand origins. He particularly looks at the seven laws of success, showing how they need to be applied within the context of God’s Law and with God’s Holy Spirit to produce true success.

What Is a Christian?
Sermon (August 27, 1983)

Although this tape is dated 27 Aug 85, this was not a Sabbath. So it is probably from 27 Aug 1983 which was. In it Mr Armstrong launches straight into the subject, and shows how a Christian is defined as someone who is led by the Spirit of God (Rom 8:14) and all that that simple phrase really entails.

50th Anniversary of the Eugene Church
Sermon (September 24, 1983) – Feast of Tabernacles

This sermon was given on the Sabbath during the Feast of Tabernacles in 1983 at the Eugene Church in Oregon which was celebrating its 50th anniversary. Several former teens were there, then well into their 60s. In addition to talking about those early years, Mr Armstrong talks extensively on Why the Church of God exists, and how the Truth of God was revealed. This is an exceedingly long message with much useful information, but unfortunately the very end of the sermon is missing, and the recording ends abruptly after just under 2 hours.

The Trunk of the Tree
Sermon (October 1983)

In this sermon, Mr Armstrong gives a complete overview having just returned from the Feast and lays out the Plan of God, revealed by Jesus Christ, that we all must hold onto as our foundation the very Trunk of the Tree. He also states, God says, “Mark those that are causing division, and offenses, contrary to the doctrine that we’ve been taught through Christ, and avoid them.” There are just two ways we can avoid them, one is that if we all get out, we leave the Church and leave them in. The other is if we put them out… If only God’s people had listened and acted on this instruction when Worldwide first began departing from the foundation Christ laid!

The Value of Human Life
Sermon (October 1983)

This Sermon examines both the way the human frame is worth less than people in the world imagine, yet at the same time illustrates how it’s potential is infinitely more valuable than they imagine. Towards the end of the tape Mr Armstrong deals with the subject of abortion and also at what moment the spirit in man enters into a human being.

Mission of the Philadelphia Church Era
Sermon (December 17, 1983)

In this sermon Mr. Armstrong spoke about the mission of the the Church in 1983, and stresses how the Bible has been primarily written for the Philadelphia era today. He also shows how a number of vital truths have been restored to the Church during our time. In this context he examines how one was prophesied to come in the power and spirit of Elijah during the end-time in which we currently find ourselves, and makes very clear that such scriptures were being fulfilled by what God accomplished through him.

Foundation of a New World
Sermon (December 31, 1983)

“The doomsday clock has just been set up by the atomic scientists from 4 to 3 minutes before midnight…” This is how Mr Armstrong begins his sermon, and goes on to show how the foundations of this world actually guarantee its destruction. And yet the churches believe they have to save the world now in the present chaos. But this is not God’s Way. The Way of God is to allow the entire structure of today’s society to come crashing down, and be replaced by The World Tomorrow a totally new structure resting firmly on correct, entirely new foundations.

1984
Unity
Sermon (February 4, 1984)

In this sermon, Mr Armstrong talks of God’s Way to unity via His Spirit both in the World Tomorrow, and within the Church. He also makes the profound statement (that had we listened and acted on it swiftly when the leaders within Worldwide apostasized we may not have had to go through much of the trauma we did!) “…Turn back to Romans, the last chapter of Romans, sixteenth chapter and verse 17… God says mark them and avoid them! Now there are two ways we can avoid them and only two that I know: One is if we leave them in the church and we all go out and we are no longer in the church, the other is that we put them out and we stay in. Now brethren I think we prefer to stay in, and so our choice is going to be to put them out!…”

Prophecy
Sermon (July 7, 1984)

This sermon is a very basic, but complete, sermon on prophecy. In it, Mr Armstrong takes us from pre-history right up to the Kingdom of God giving a complete overview of the subject. This overview includes the prophesies of the gentile kingdoms. Much other useful information is also contained. This is the first of two sermons on prophecy given about a month apart.

Prophecy
Sermon (August 10, 1984)

Like the previous sermon, that was given a month before, this sermon is also a very basic, but complete, sermon on prophecy. But in this case Mr Armstrong divides the subject into: The World; Ephraim and Manasseh; And the Church. However, he runs out of time before being able to adequately deal with prophecies that relate to the Church.

1985
Rely On God
Sermon – Pasadena (April 4, 1985) – First Day of Unleavened Bread

This Sermon examines the history of why the Church of God keeps these days. It shows how we must continually grow out of sin by putting on God’s righteousness.

Coming Out of Sin
Sermon (April 12, 1985) – Last Day of Unleavened Bread

This Sermon begins with Mr Armstrong talking of his brother’s music, and how more Psalms still wait to be learned by the Church than appear in the purple hymnal at present. In the sermon itself, Mr Armstrong talks of how within the modern world there is more opportunity to sin than ever before because of the inventions of the TV, movies, printing press and the like.

Why the Firstfruits?
Sermon (May 26, 1985) – Pentecost

This was the last sermon given by Mr Armstrong on the Day of Pentecost. He sounds exasperated at times, insisting that many there including ministers simply were not “getting it”. Sermons were being given that indicated the minister believed that we are called now purely because God loves us and wants us to be in the kingdom for personal salvation. But Mr Armstrong emphasises, we are called now to be teachers prepared for the World Tomorrow. If it were not for this vital role ahead of us, there would be no reason to call us separately as the firstfruits.

HWA’s Final Sermon
Sermon (September 16, 1985) – Feast of Trumpets

This sermon was the last live message preached by Mr Armstrong before his death a few months later. Although given on the Day of Trumpets, the subject matter is timeless and places our existence into the framework of God’s overall Plan and the soon coming return of Jesus Christ to this earth. As always, the importance of correctly understanding the two trees figures just as strongly as ever within it…

How Good And How Pleasant
Sermon (September 29, 1985) – Feast of tabernacles

This is one of the last messages Mr Armstrong gave. Recorded shortly before the Feast in 1985, he talks of how God opened his mind to the truth of the Holy Days, and their importance to us today particularly Tabernacles. This is then followed by the opening message originally given in 1984, but also played in 1985 to give a full 1 1/2 hour opening night service.