06 Feb 2021 - Croydon SDA Church Live Worship

[Music] [Music] welcome to croydon sca church where you're excited that you have chosen to worship with us online today we are a church driven by jesus's mission a mission to save transform and restore lives we want you to know that you are valued so stay with us participate and be blessed also don't forget to subscribe to this channel and visit our website [Music] if www.croydonadventist.org little word of mine may make a dark life brighter if any little song of mine may make a sad heart lighter god help me speak the helping word and sweeten it away the singing and drop it in some lonely veil to set the echoes ringing if any little love of mine who may make a hard life sweeter if any little care of mine may make a friend's [Music] me life the helping world and sweeten it with a singing and drop it in some lonely veils [Music] of mine [Music] give me love and care and strength we live for him by landing god help me speak the helping word and sweeten it with a singing and drop it in some lonely vein to set the echoes ringing god help me speak the helping word [Music] to set the echo's [Music] in christ alone my hope is found he is light my strength my song this cornerstone this solid ground [Music] fell through the fiercest drowned storm [Music] my comforter [Music] in christ alone [Music] this gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones he came to say till on that cross as jesus died the wrath of god was satisfied for every sin on him was laid here in the death of christ i lived [Music] there in the ground is [Music] glorious day up from the grave he rose again and as he stands in victory since curse has lost its grip on me for i am his and he is no guilt in life no fear in death this is the power of christ in me from life's first cry to jesus commands my destiny no power of hell no scheme of man can [Music] or calls me home [Music] here [Music] [Applause] now [Music] me good [Music] [Laughter] foreign [Music] [Laughter] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh two [Music] [Music] okay [Applause] [Music] [Music] happy sabbath to you welcome to another croydon seventh adventist church sabbath school study this morning it's indeed an awesome pleasure and privilege to be here with you again on another day that the lord created and the lord blessed it's sabbath it means stop it means rest it's a holy day so we're going to take our time this morning and we're going to go through scripture and relax as we do so but i want you if possible to call one of your friends and say look join us for bible study because that's what sabbath school really is get your bible get your quarterly let's gather round and and have a good holy ghost time my name is neil nunez for those of you who don't know me too well i'm sitting in for our regular host elder johnny saul so what are we studying this morning well it's a very important topic we're talking this morning about playing god we're talking this morning about pride we're also talking about judgment what we're going to try to do is not to spend so much time in history we really want to bring this alive for us today and to see how we can make this applicable to our own lives we've got a panel standing by we have a pastor standing by and we hope you'll join us for what will prove to be somewhat of a challenging but beneficial study right after this [Music] [Laughter] [Music] oh always i have sent the lord before [Music] always [Music] always i have sent the lord before [Music] oh [Music] there are pleasures forevermore [Music] [Music] [Music] there is one thing that i desire it is forevermore always [Applause] always i send the lord [Music] before [Music] my friends always [Music] please [Music] we shall [Music] i set him before me [Music] so that i [Music] let us bow our heads as we pray dear kind the eternal heavenly father a glory and honor to your high and holy name as we come together now to study your word we ask that your holy spirit will open our understanding to teach us your ways that we will be drawn closer to you be with us now as we study together may your name be glorified we pray in jesus name amen amen pastor thank you sir very much indeedy we're going to come straight back to you pastor because this morning what's very important is that we hear from you and that we we interact together and share our thoughts questions we promise we don't have all the answers but just remind us of how our friends at home and elsewhere can get in touch okay so those of you who may not have access to a cyber school lesson quarterly a hard copy you can download it from the website at dot sabbath school so if you go to that website saboth.school thank you and you will be able to follow the lessons study there also would like to welcome those that are listening online you can listen online at adventist radio london and life radio as they are broadcasting this morning so if you would like to communicate with us through any of these mediums you can talk to us or send your comments in via live stream or youtube or whatsapp you can access the live stream and the youtube through the croydon sda website as well and the whatsapp number that you can communicate to us on is zero seven seven one zero six one five five six seven and we'll be sure to look for your comments um there those are listening on adventist radio london you can interact with us through the usual way by text by texting the word hope then leave a space and send it to 8 2 8 8 two two two eight standard network charges apply or you can convert to us by email at studio adventist radio dot london for those listeners who are coming through life radio you may send your emails to studio at life radio dot co dot uk and your whatsapp messages will go to zero seven three one one four zero nine four zero nine please communicate with us interact with us and let us study the word of god together and of course they're the usual ways for those of you who are watching us via youtube just go to youtube type in croydon adventist or croydon 7 juventus and uh join us in the chat already it's a bit active pastor i noticed people joined us even before we started yes that people are joining us from right across various places where do we have some friends from this morning and we've got uh carmen senon you've greeted sends greetings all the way from trinidad and welcome to you coming trinidad and vega indeed we have candice maynard good morning and happy sabbath to you from barbados we also have a clear tale break rate also from barbados welcome good to have you with us and we have malik campbell from montreal canada so thank you very much for for joining with us and i'm sure there were others that will come through from around the world and we look forward to your comments and we also have angela green from spanish town jamaica you are most welcome and may god bless you all as we study the word together i'm just looking at my watch here because i think in spanish town jamaica it's ten past five in the morning so we thank you for the sacrifice of getting up so early to join us on a sabbath morning i saw somebody there from saint vincent you're all very very welcome if you prefer you can join us on live stream or a general live stream and we welcome all of those uh karen franklin elaine and authors who are on live streams so here is the thing just before we get to our panel the the the lesson study this week the title simply is playing god the question for those at home uh for those listening to us in adventist radio london on life radio uk or wherever else you're listening to us are watching us from here's the question in what way might we be playing god in our own lives again the question and i want you to begin to feedback so we we can tease this out a little bit as we talk about the topic this morning in what way might we be playing god in our very own lives let's say good morning to our panel and we have brother leon we have brother peter we have sister rose this morning uh brother leon thank you so much for being with us leon please give us a snapshot of what this whole sabbath school quarterly is about this week this lesson study that we're doing leon yes good morning and happy sabbath um really looking at it from a bird's eye view your perspective it's talking about pride and exhortation coming from various parts of the bible coming from satan king nebuchadnezzar and really the fight between being selfless and being selfish very good leon thank you so very much uh brother elder peter burton we're going to ask if you could tell us a little bit more about the title playing god what that means good morning allah great to be with you this year and playing god throughout history we have seen people who have been but in fact still are so filled with pride that they mock god they might think it's okay to judge people on matters of salvation and i'll stress that it's on matters of salvation because sometimes people are in a position where they need to be judging people for work etc but we may come on to that um but judging people on the matters of salvation is the responsibility of god they may involve themselves in worshiping something or someone other than god or even acting as if they are god or thinking that they're better than god all of those sorts of things come to my mind when i think of playing god all right elder peter thank you so very much for your response it's a very good one uh brother leon thank you as well why don't we get a little bit into the the study this morning we're jumping off from isaiah uh chapter 13 and uh we're going to sister rose in a moment but let me just remind you uh what the question for you at home so far is that we want you to respond to which we're coming to uh next with pastor giving your feedback in what ways might we be playing god in our own life and if you want to add what are the dangers there um good morning sister rose talk to us about isaiah chapter 13. if you would give us a little summary of what's going on there what this whole judgment message is all about good morning and happy sabbat everybody it's nice to be here for the first time this year isaiah 13 talking about god's eradication of evil pride and haughtiness it describes man's punishment for their sins and consequences of sin um and if we look at isaiah 24 we see where it further expands the destruction of the earth it was telling us about what is going to happen because of man sin and in specific looking at babylon and how babylon is going to be falling because of their heartiness and their pride and their sin against god right thank you so very much so when we look for example in isaiah um chapter 13 it talks about as you said god punishing sin and and um and so on verse 11 says i will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their inequity so we are to understand sister rose that what's going on here is god being tired of babylon's sin just talk a little bit more about that for us yes it is telling us that you know man might think that they can behave in a certain way and get away with it for a long time but if we look at you know god is telling us that there is going to be a time when he's going to call us stop to all that we are doing even a second peter 2 2 it tells us that that god didn't even spare the angels that sinned but cast them down into darkness and that there's going to be eventual judgment so there is a time when god will call us accountable for our sins and our sins for sinful actions thank you so much sister rose pastor any comments so far from those of our friends who are online um yes some comments are coming through um from juliet wainwright makes the following comment just like ahaz we play god when we rely on our own strength and the strength of others to accomplish things we need to remember that our god is the god of the impossible elaine james writes not following the guidelines that our father has given us in his word there are so many examples sabbath to sunday marriage your majesty be ye not unequally yoked together um so that's from elaine james so there's some few more coming through and keep your comments coming because we we love your interaction and that helps us with the study um as we go forward and as the comments come through um oh let's see one form is from rosevania since being in the medical field we always find ourselves thinking we can do something extra for the sick most times not stopping to ask god for help it's unconscious and therefore very dangerous right i noticed some other comments as well is that somebody from brazil mentioning there if we could go down i think there are a few more on youtube coming in we just want to take some time to make sure we reflect as many of the thoughts coming in as possible but we will come back to that here is something um that we're going to go back to in the the sabbath school lesson mentioned a point and i really want you to pay attention to this point as we discuss what playing god means this week and this is the whole summation of the lesson you know among other things we'll take a look at the origin of pride and self-exaltation as elder peter had had rightly said there so we're really talking about those who are from on a position of pride trying to play god as it were any other thoughts pastor before we go back to the panel uh well this is the pride is a is a is a very serious topic actually and and what would be interesting to do is to look at how pride is described from the biblical point of view because we have concepts of pride but then you know god has a particular or particular views on on pride that we need to deal with and get to grips with yes going back to the comments online um if the brother moambi makes a comment in regards to playing god these people draw near to me he quotes with their mouths and honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me the worship of me is but rules taught by men there he is a quoting isaiah 29 13. suzanne abdullah tula writes when we see our sins in others we try to play god okay all right thank you so very much we're going to jump off a little bit more into the lesson now um thanks again to all of you who are joining us from quebec and brazil and other such places we really um enjoy your company remember this week we're going to discuss about three topics really we're talking about playing god we're talking about pride we're talking about judgment and so let's go back to our panel very briefly sister rose elder peter and brother leon i understand that god punishes sin but when i'm having my bible study with some of the people that i study my bible with they have a particular problem with certain verses about how god punishes sin so let's look in the scripture i'll read and then i'll ask you a question here we're still in isaiah we're still in chapter 13 for those of you listening on the radio if possible i'd like you to join me in isaiah 13 for those of you at home if you can open your bibles to isaiah 13. let's jump to verse 15 for example and i'll read a few verses from verse 15 of isaiah chapter 13 everyone who is found will be thrust through with the sword obviously or spare and everyone who is captured will fall by the sword their children will be cut up to pieces before their eyes their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished that's old times speak for raped behold i will stir up the medes against them who will not regard silver and as for gold there will they will not delight in it verse 18 the bows will dash their young men to pieces elder peter let me start with you how do you reconcile this sort of punishment with the notion that god is love and for those of you at home i really want you to comment in this as well how do you make sense of god being love but god also committing or permitting what we call atrocity elder peter talk to us sure um what comes to my mind initially is is exodus chapter 15 verse 26 it says if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the lord thy god and we'll do that which is right in his sight and we'll give her to his commandments and keep all his statutes i will put none of these diseases upon thee which i have brought upon the egyptians for i am the lord that he left thee now that sounds like if we're doing the right thing at all times then we don't deserve to be punished um but we're all sinful beings we're born in sin we're shaping inequity and as a result none of us have the have the right to remain here really so when we see people um being punished and it looks as though they're totally innocent there's there's not total innocence there at all um it doesn't mean to say that people are deserving of the of the destruction that comes on them at all times but the lord says in revelation 14 verse 13 um let me find that i heard a voice from heaven saying to me right blessed are the dead which die in the lord from henceforth yea says the spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them so when we consider this this current pandemic for instance there are people who are dying that people may think they don't deserve to die but they're dying all the same it doesn't mean they're more sinful than those of us who are still alive but the promise is there in revelation 14 blessed are those who die in in the lord because when we consider it as christians our life here is just the beginning of eternity and our life will continue into eternity when christ returns so when we die here whether it be at the age of 1 or 100 then we're still going to just close our eyes and the next time we'll still be waking up to god's face all right thank you for that question thank you for that elder peter that's a great starting point um sister rose uh brother leon we're coming to you next but sister rose let me hear you um when we look in isaiah jeremiah if you want to ezekiel kings chronicles wherever you look you see a degree of punishment being meted out in this case it's it's about the babylonians right how do we reconcile or make sense of god being love but so much atrocity being allowed by god or being permitted by god or committed by god um shed some light for our sister rose sister rose i think you're on mute you might want to unmute there all right thank you you there now we're still not hearing you sister rose we are furiously pressing buttons here ah there you are yes so um you know it's a i'm going to start off with romans 6 23 that for the gift for the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life yes jesus our lord um when we look at babylon and all those other countries that were mentioned then these were nations would already harden their hearts to god they had no interest in god's salvation or what he was offering and so they they were already in a state where they're already even killing themselves so their man is already at war with himself and destroying themselves but as peter said there are also people and we we can say quote good people because we know we've all seen and come short who who also die and i think as peter has explained we as christians and we we know that we we are all going to face death unless we live until god comes so that is you know is an unfortunate thing and it brings sorrow and pain but it is something that we should expect you know it it's like we we get god's message we hear this the wages of sin is death but we do not want to accept the consequences of sin and this is the consequences of sin because adam and eve sin this what we are reaping from that okay thank you so much brother leon add a little bit more light for us and then we will we'll go to our audience yeah i definitely have to agree with on sister raising that one in terms of the wages of sins death romans 6 23 but god really is he's just following his rules that he made for us um and because god is an all-loving god if he he couldn't have destroyed sin at the beginning um to be all loving that to give us as humans a choice the same analogy that people use when it comes to obeying god we can't obey god like a robot otherwise it wouldn't be sincere love so with this whole scenario of sin coexisting in the world that we live in with um god it's difficult but complex to understand how god works with us even though we live in a world of sin this is simply done with the power of choice that he's given to us he's given us choice through allowing us to do whatever we want but we still have to uh live with the consequences of it so say for example brushing your teeth we have all have a choice to brush our teeth whether you like it or not but if you don't brush your teeth the consequences of that is bad breath bad over odor um teeth breaking down or damaging but if you're to simply follow that rule brushing your teeth daily recommended twice a day um you'll be able to still have your teeth and be able to use them as properly as you can great all right thank you so very much let's go to our audience now we've seen some beautiful comments um coming in some very scholarly comments as well um my pastor um we're going to reflect in a moment on the fact that this is a judgment against babylon and and what that means and what that says to us but what i'm trying to tease out you see in adventist circles we sort of ask adventist questions and give adventist answers but out there in the wider community there are people who will just ask you a straight question you know what i mean and that's what we want to to get at this morning if god is so loving why are we seeing such death and destruction let's hear what our friends are saying yeah and there's there's one question that that came through from andrew morgan who asked is innocent people should not be punished that is not justice okay exclamation mark okay we're gonna andrew morgan let me put that down because i'll address that in a in a moment but let's let's go on and uh there was a comment coming in from ken burton from the live stream first he states by saying we need to also understand hebrew rhetoric and then he goes on to say there is what is known as heigo high geographic hyperbole if i'm saying this all right here the language is very strong and also a lot of the language which looks active is actually passive where it says god did it he allowed it and so this is an important question to understand because it is the basis of the argument of christopher hitchens richard dawkins and many of us would have heard of their argumentation and the prominent atheists who are pulling away even many christians fair point for your point let's any other comments coming in does he one different is that elaine elaine james there on on live stream as well uh yep she's saying the saying if you won't hear you will feel applies when we do not obey god's promises are conditional obey and be free disobey and pay the consequences whatever that may be and then brother mumbi says that the ancient nations were doomed to a disastrous end because they walked away from god's instructions the same will apply to us if we well disregard god's statutes and more so if we well neglect his grace and we notice some more from youtube as well let's see what our youtube friends are saying in the sabbath school uh so susan replies uh sounds like harsh words coming from our god who loves us but we live in a sinful world so we are all exposed to its wickedness but really that type of punishment is set or keep us on the right path and the gift of life writes the wages of sin is death as we are all sinners is it wrong to pray and command life and healing over our bodies or do we say god knows best then walk away so there's an interesting question there for us to to tackle all right so and many more questions coming in many more answers coming in we're going to take some time a bit later on to um to to deal with with some of what uh you are saying but it you know ken burton talks about we live in a dispensation where a man like is it richard dawkins i think who wrote the book god is not great and in this book he argues about the whole notion of atrocities and so on and that's what he uses um did we read pastor brother muambi's response on live stream did we hear what he had to say yes we did um god's punishment and the ancient sounds horrific but uh you know let me just say yes that son um he says while god's god's uh punishment on the ancient nations sounds horrific god is pleading with us i have loved you with an everlasting love i have drawn you with unfailing kindness and he's quoting there jeremiah 31 3 right i'm not sure that we've answered the questions that we've posed and i'm never going to ask a question that we can't answer peter back to you peter talk to me a little bit elder peter about the fact that the timing as well of this um this prophecy because this was before babylon was a great nation was it not this was a time when assyria was the one in charge yet god gives a prophecy about babylon is there anything particularly significant there elder i think that what is significant about that is that god knows what's going to to be happening and when it's going to happen because he's he's the author of life and basically if if he knows the end from the beginning he's the one that puts things into place so he can give his messages to people like the prophets to explain to us this is what's going to be taking place the prophecy about babylon being destroyed was quite a few years before it even actually happened um and further on in the chapters of isaiah i won't go into any detail about them because we'll be coming to them we hope during the quarter that there's actually a named person who will be taking over when babylon is destroyed itself and when god speaks so specifically in amos it says he doesn't do anything before he reveals it to his servants the prophets we see here that god knows what he is going to be be doing and so it's not a surprise to him even though it may be a surprise to us but one one one interesting thing that comes to mind even in the discussion that we've just been having yes is that um god has a standard and he says in isaiah 13 i will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity and i'll cause the arrogancy of the prouds to cease and lay low the haughtiness of the terrible and those those sins i was wondering why those sins are specifically mentioned instead of sins like murder or adultery or stealing or lying the thing is that those things like murder adultery theft lying they're specific acts but when we consider things like arrogance and pride those are all about attitudes that bring about all sorts of sinful acts so those things do have to be addressed and god does need to address them and so the way he's planning to do it he reveals it to us and we need to know how to unlock those revelations through studying off his word fantastic answer thank you so much elder let's wrap up the question that we just asked let's hear some more youtube we'll draw a line on the radar and then move forward because some lots of answers are coming in value they're coming through yeah master thomas says um but we are not to believe that he that's god condones our sins ahaz even nebuchadnezzar was given the time to repent repentance not sought then the wages of sin is imminent um bib galloway writes but did not god love his son and yet allowed him to suffer what some others are going through today so yeah there's a lot coming through so keep your comments coming there's a question from lorna parchment it says how do we explain the holocaust and slavery where all these people disobeying god where all these people disobeying god where they face why they face such suffering i like what joby is that jb health on live stream said i think that makes um that's a very good uh explainer there let's just read that and and then we we move forward a little bit can you see yeah that's right yeah starting with jeremiah yes he says jeremiah isaiah and ezekiel are a catalogue of god pleading for his people live in the ways he has ordained his many many years of patience are ignored by prideful arrogant nations and then destruction um so that's and there was a point that i saw um i'm trying to see if i can find it where the comment was it was basically about jesus that god his own son died on the cross and he's making reference that he was innocent because one of the questions is why is it that the innocent ones should suffer also is this not where's the justice in that was the question we posed earlier and then one of the comments there was that well jesus god's own son died on the cross in the most cruel way in fact the most cruel way known to man actually um but yet he was innocent yeah so there's something there for us to right thank you so thank you so very much pastor let's let's let's bring a line into this i like what um brother mohammed said when on on his reflection on this god is sovereign god's ways is not our ways and if god seemed cruel then it could be that we are trying to pass judgment on god but i like how elder peter burton pointed us to verse 11 of chapter 13 of isaiah i will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity and i will halt the arrogance and and the proud and lay them low the question is should god not have punished babylon for what babylon did to his people and to so many other people and i notice in scripture as well that exactly the punishment that on babylon was really what babylon used to do to other folks we had we also have to be careful of looking at this through historically to modern eyes when in in in truth and actual fact one of the things that points to the answer to this thing that we're grappling with is this prophecy was given hundreds of years before babylon was the big nation in fact if an assyrian were to be reading this this is here we're like what what do you mean we are the superpower here but but god gives this so much warning that by the time babylon comes on the scene if they would have seen this as jb health i think said there would have been time to repent yes so in his justice god necessarily must meet out uh judgment upon those um who go against israel flagrantly yes as elder peter burton said there um sister rose before i just come in do you have a point can i just come in let me hear you let me hear sister rose when you mentioned about judging and and and bringing on the judgments that they themselves have done to others and we find the scriptural reference for that but jesus mentions that in in his sermon on the mount in matthew 7 where he says verse 1 judge not that ye be not judged for what judgments ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye meet it shall be measured to you again and so what you do to others and how you judge us is how we judge others that same criteria that we used will be used um against us and that god were showing these things way in advance talking about babylon before its time showing the sovereignty of god that only god could know those things yes in the future and yet that gives opportunity actually as you rightly said for us to change so that future doesn't have to be we have a choice to respond to what god has made known ahead of time fantastic we're going to move on sister rose did you want to come in here on something before i before we move on a bit yes with the whole issue about um the innocent being punished um if i can just bring a thing thin like joint venture in modern law joint ventures said that individuals can be jointly convicted of a crime of another if it is spell they foresaw that the other party was likely to commit that crime so galatians six ones it tells us frederick if any man is overtaken by any trespass you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness considering yourself less you also be tempted so what when i'm looking at joint bench and people are saying about the inner center being punished that happens if we sit back and we see the sin and we we remain in that and we do little or nothing about it even although we ourselves are worshiping and following god's law we are at risk of being caught up in that that is why our duty as christians is to share god's word thank you so need to be careful it seems difficult when people are looking at it and saying you know that we are not you know the innocent is being is being punished but we need to remember that we are a brother's keeper lest we two are punished for their sins thank you brother leon talk to me about the fact that in a nation or we saw that even in genesis and exodus and the joshua story that you can have innocent people suffer for actions that have nothing to do with them so when a prophecy goes out about collective punishment uh my dear brother amankwa leon tell me what should be the response of the so-called innocent when we see a judgment message comes out that looks pretty grim talk to me a little bit more briefly when it's a like a classroom collective punishment you should understand that uh the punishment may not be directly to that person of the person's ancestry or in the past or somehow they just got caught up in that position however even in their own situation they might have done something wrong or something done something bad but at the end of the day we as humans collectively as a punishment we have it's not really a punishment but it's we've had sin in us by default because of adobe so no one in this world is per se innocent because we have sin already innate in us once we acknowledge that that's when we can go to god for guidance and provision because he is the ultimate source of truth life and peace and without him nothing can be um restored back to his balance that he intended right thank you so much elder peter any scriptures you can give us i i think a few are coming to mind you know be diligent to make your calling an election sure that that when you see a judgment message we don't necessarily all have to be caught up in it especially when you think of the last days your thoughts as sister rose said we can sometimes be guilty by association you speak of um scriptures and i think of um luke chapter 13 where there were some who were talking about the the blood of pilate being mixed with their sacrifices and luke 13 verse 2 says jesus answered do you think that these galileans were worse sinners than all the other galileans because they suffered this way i tell you no but unless you repent you two will all perish or those 18 who died when the tower of siloam fell on them do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in jerusalem i tell you no but unless you repent you too will all perish and otherwise he got the man who was born blind in john chapter nine verses one to three says as he passed by he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind jesus answered it was not that this man sinned or his parents but that the works of god might be displayed in them so there are texts that declare that you know all have sinned and fallen short of god's glory in romans 3 23 so um in that regard the collective or as the term that leon use of the the classroom thing as he's into the word classroom i thought there are times in school where the whole class is punished because of what one person has done now i've always disliked that because i didn't think it was fair and if i was in a class and i was having to stay in that break time because of something that someone else in the class had done then i wouldn't feel that's justice at all nevertheless there are times that people in the class have seen what this person has done and they're keeping their mouths shut are we today seeing the wrongs that are going on and keeping our mouths shut and therefore we are complicit with them and they're requiring of that punishment too because we're not doing something about the wrongs that are happening so sometimes we're not innocent in that regard even though we may seem innocent in other ways okay thank you so much we're going to come to your pastor in just a moment but i have to answer a question here that i saw posed on um on youtube earlier where somebody asked if god how can god be love but isaiah 45 verse 7 talks about god doing evil it depends on which version of the bible you read remember that when the bible was translated into english in the sick late 1600s 1700s and so on that words had several meanings at the time so if you look at isaiah 45 verse 7 i form the the light i create darkness i make peace and create calamity the word there is not evil it's um it's calamity that god can allow uh disastrous things to indeed happen not in a word evil as it were as a word let me hear pastor and then we jump onto another subject yes um there's a comment coming from a oneness is it is there really a thing as innocence and this is picking up on what leon said all have sinned but here's an interesting point from um oko um he quotes uh refers reference to jeremiah in chapter 12 and it says actually ask god why the wickedness of some who seem to be prospering too should affect everyone else and god actually answers and david had the same cry how how is it that you know the wicked prosper and his enemies are all against him and the interesting thing what david said um his response was but then when i went into the house of the lord and i understood the enemy yes yes any more thoughts coming in the livestream on youtube um on youtube we have the gift of life so we must take heed listen why we still can hear and god's been sending out warnings but some do not listen yes as troubled times step in the cry for help begins but the warning came a long time ago so that's an interesting and that's a fair point because we god gives us lots of time in the bible because it's written in a condensed fashion it looks like the punishments are immediate they are not there are times when god will wait 250 years before and people are crying out for help lord why don't you deliver us from the wicked and then judgment comes upon us i wonder what the response should be for us when the lord comes you know because revelation talks about a judgment that is to come are we using the time to get ready and to prepare ourselves and make a recording an election sure let's see some more comments if possible from live stream amanda um simone writes our thoughts are not god's thoughts quoting isaiah 55 8-9 job's treatment was called punishment by his friends and they were called by god to be those of little faith speaking without knowledge so that a whole example of job is an interesting one because he was an innocent man in fact he was said to have been perfect but yet he went through all these things so there's something there that is very significant there's a battle that is going on between good and evil that in the spiritual realm that we are not necessarily seeing with our eyes but we are experiencing in our lives that's the example um of job so that is something we need to come back to and and explore some more um franklin writes it seems that all nations had or has a probation period god uses the words that their cup is not yet full fantastic we have lots more comments coming in from trinidad and tobago and other places but we must hasten on because we want to address the three topics that are relevant this morning so we've talked about people playing god the nation playing guard that nation being babylon thinking that they are the best big thing and they will tell you when to come when to go when to live when to die and when to conquer god's people but that message in isaiah 13 was also a message of comfort to god's people you see this nation i will deal with this nation eventually so uh don't lose heart let's rush swiftly on to isaiah chapter 14. it was a very broad lesson this morning we really couldn't deal with all the varying aspects let's talk about pride we want to take some time now to look in detail at what pride is um isaiah chapter 14. why don't we jump to isaac chapter 14 verse 12 and um elder peter get ready i'm going to come to you to do a little bit of explainer on this in a moment for those at home for those at home please tell me what you notice about pride or what were the elements of satan's downfall according to isaiah chapter 14. let's go let's say that again what were the elements of pride and satan's downfall in isaiah chapter 14. we want to take some time and understand what pride is what vanity is and how we might be innocently or unwittingly falling victim to what's going on here so what is pride how do we see it being manifested in satan's downfall that's what i really want you to think about now as you comment on youtube on live stream and on whatsapp as well so let's go how are you falling from heaven or lucifer son of the morning how are you cut down to the ground you who weaken the nations for you have said in your heart i will ascend into heaven i will exalt my throne above the stars of god i will also sit in the mount of the congregation and the father side of the north i will ascend above the heights of the cloud i will be like the most high yet you shall be brought down to sheol to the pit tell me peter how do we know for a fact that this is talking about satan and not some earthly king right um isaiah is what we call a two-track prophecy when isaiah speaks he speaks to the people of his day but it also refers to the time of christ within his first advent or first coming but there are elements of the book that also refer to the first coming that can be linked to the second coming and i presume we'll be coming on to those in further lessons so in terms of this two-track prophecy with those verses that you've just read there they can be associated with a king of babylon it seems however when we think of the babylonian kings they have their own gods which they try to avoid offending so the person in these two texts wants to be the god of gods and when we ask the question who else wanted to be god then the answer is simply satan who wanted to be god hence the reason we know he's talking about him and not applied to the king of babylon great thank you so very much so brother leon we're going to come to you shortly sister rose and i want you to expound a little bit more on what are the elements of pride that you are seeing what are some of the things that the reason why satan was brought low and for those commenting please make sure to comment as well because we're coming to pastor next so brother leon sister rose and then it's you at home let's go to uh peter thank you so much for that ezekiel chapter 28 and if you look at verse 12 for example you see a similar reading so we're looking at the scripture and then we're going to break the scripture down some more um son of man take up a lamentation against the king of tyre say to him thus says the lord god could this be about the king of tower well let's read on and we'll find out you were the seat of perfection seal of perfection full of wisdom perfect in beauty well i i don't think any king earthly would be called seal of perfection could they uh you were in eden the garden of god that's further light uh you were every precious stone was your covering the saudis topaz diamond barrel onyx jasper sapphire uh turquoise emerald gold the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created you were an anointed cherub who covered i establish you you are on the holy mountain of god you walk back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones perfect in your ways from the days you were created till iniquity was found in you okay tell me a little bit more now brother leon about what you notice about the elements of satan's downfall the elements of pride that's coming forth so in the beginning god created um satan as lucifer lucifer meaning the morning star and in comparison to the other angels he did have a lot of privileges like with the stones um the titles and even access to the different parts of heaven or the universe that he was allowed to go to on top of that he was able to be or commune with god on levels that angels weren't able to and having these aspects around him allowed him to see that he was different compared to the other angels on top of that he wanted more he wanted more to be able to compete with the lord because he felt that he didn't have enough that he should have got in the beginning um on top of that as well it's very interesting to see the fact that he was around this he was around um pure pure things he was around good things so for iniquity to be found in him it had to be of the self so therefore we can really postulate that lucifer was um an angel that wanted more and more and was all about the self okay he wanted more and more all about self you noticed leon you said that he was in a perfect environment cherub he was literally beside god covering and shielding god's glory and somehow sin entered in that rose talk to me again rose i think you might be on mute there uh yes just on that yes and if we look at when we are looking at satan's sin and we are as you have already said it was all down to pride proud about who he was and what he can do and if you could say it all began with that word i i will this and i will that and i will ascend and so it became very much a self-centered approach to everything he was just looking at himself and what was there and how he felt that he could take over what god already had and so it's about how we then begin to look at who we are what we have and how we have achieved them because if like satan we then start to think that all those are because of us then that is when we start to fall into the sin of pride because we are not acknowledging god and how god has played a part or how god has made us who we are um um that's quite profound my dear friend sister rose let's come now to our audience friends uh pastor i imagine lots of comments coming in live stream youtube yeah they're coming through um the question was posed earlier by muhammad um i'm wondering how much does god discipline nations and countries today does god still punish nations like he did in the ancient days so he's going back to the old point that we were making right and then um here's a question which kind of helps and then we'll move on to where we are right now a comment came in on youtube we said the military uses corporate corrective training to adjust the learning ability of the force one mind one focus one goal so there is a modern comparison to to that corporate uh training okay and his margaret matt writes pride is exalting yourself in lucifer's case he was exalting himself above god he wanted to rule the earth and be worshipped and alana responds with so there's self-exaltation i'm making some notes as we go along and keep going and seeking worship right allanah pride is exalted or exaltation of self and haughtiness of heart rejection of mercy and grace and we have uh ken burton writes um pride is the root of all sin it's the putting oneself first self-exaltation and in turn putting others down all ten commandments are either about putting one's desires first god and others second that's interesting and i noticed the youtube thing is blowing up so yeah there's a a lot coming struggling to keep up with all the views coming in which is which is good um oneness has something to say there i i see on this screen over here he says pride is basically using or seeing things from our own perspective which is full of self and is completely distorted and lorna writes deep pleasure at your own achievements consciousness of your own dignity and then lawrence writes pride is a disregard of god's ultimate authority and margaret responds again saying when we think of ourselves as higher than others deserving more than others then we are exhibiting pride okay franklin on live stream as well from trinidad and tobago had another response pride is the idea that i am above any one person or law lucifer allowed these ideas because of his beauty and power he wanted to be god so some very interesting thoughts coming through the question at home is why does god hate pride so much i think ken burton answered it in the sense that it's the seat of all other sins they all jump off from that i notice the time is coming up where we're going to lose our listeners on maybe adventist radio london shortly we only have 25 seconds to go uh we really want to thank you so much for joining us this morning if you are in fact uh leaving us we started off by talking about how god can project and tell the future to nations who are not yet even greatly established how god can warn of great punishment to come and how the individuals in these nations must take heed and how pride is destructive if i may really quickly there is a subtle element to this that we have not yet really touched on but we need to think about it because pride can be very very subtle as well it's not just the big and ground daze men off well well let me come on to that that's a very interesting point i'm going to ask you that question next so let's let's encapsulate what we've seen so far uh leon rose peter we're coming back to you very shortly but we notice here that satan was corrupted because of his beauty that's quite interesting we noticed that self is the word that kept coming back we notice as well that there was self exaltation we notice worship let's use another word for worship self adoration wanted to be adored wanted self to be respected want itself to be the center want itself to be um what else did i write here yeah this whole notion of well i'm above this and i'm above that um do we see that reflected in today's life do we do we live in a self-centered society this is one of one of the things i want you to feed back to me now let's talk about the question you posed but i'm going to pose it to the panel and hopefully our friends at home can respond and then i come back to you pastor how do you know the difference between ambition let me use that word and pride how do you know the difference how do you strike the balance between ambition and pride how do you know the difference between self-actualization isn't that the word is that the inward these days self-actualization self-fulfillment and pride are they the same how can i strike that boundary because you know we live in the age of the selfie we live in the age of face book we live in the age of instagram it's all about the i and the me and you know looking after number one very briefly panel so we have a short time left talk to me peter uh first how do we strike that balance okay um as i've been hearing the comments that were that were raised there when talking about pride two things came to my mind the first was was my dad he used to say what is pride centered around let me think of center what is the center of the word pride what is a central letter the middle of pride the letter is i so it's all about centering on me i and when i was hearing other things i'm just thinking of the outgoing or outgoing president of the united states so many of those things could be cast against him it was all about me me me i am above everybody else no one can touch me i am invincible if something goes against me then it's them that are wrong apart from me that is wrong and when we think of the um even the television and the internet people are just storming the place glorifying celebrities you have you have programs called what pop idol you're trying to make people into idols people don't realize that the connotation behind the word idol why are you wanting to follow people and boost them up people with instagram thinking that they're not perfect committing suicide because they don't look like these these perfect people that they see on on online and thinking that that is reality and it's not reality these people have done all sorts of things to themselves so people are just focusing that spotlight inwards and themselves instead of outwards in terms of helping other people and upwards instead of focusing on god so yes it is good to be ambitious because if we're not then we'll be lazy and the bible itself talks about laziness and doing nothing and sluggards and so forth so you need to be ambitious to the degree that you are fulfilling your purpose in life through helping others and being able to keep a roof over your head of course but the minute that that starts to be all about me and less about god and others then that's when you're stepping into the realm all right thank you thank you so very much uh sister rose give me 30 seconds the difference between and how you strike the balance i'm just going to say psalms 10 2-4 that tells us that the wicked in his pride persecutes the poor both of his past desires blesses the greedy and renounce the lord therefore the proud does not seek god and god is in none of his thoughts so when we say how do we strike the balance between ambition and pride look at that when these things start to creep into your characteristics when you start to oppress others when you start to boast of who you are and what you're doing then that is telling you that you are beginning to creep over into look at what lucifer did how he started to talk about himself and then he started to use others and influence others thank you so much mr rose just say that scripture again psalm what did you say let's just make a note of it um 10 2 to 4. psalm 10 2-4 thank you brother leslie 40 seconds talk to me about um how we can balance that whole pride versus good ambition if there's such a thing i keep wanting about leslie because leslie obviously is your brother who i also love but brother leon forgive me please um so it's a fine line which i was able to determine for king david king david he killed goliath with the help of god he acknowledged that himself um someone in the not in their right mind would say i did this by myself i didn't buy my own strength and even in his life he got to the point where he saw bashiba and he said he wanted her when he got her in the end from a dubious way of killing soldier the prophet nathan even came to him and if he had a mind of pride or selfishness he would have removed nathan the prophet from his sight and said what you're telling me is not true or i'm not going to acknowledge it but he went with a humble mind so when it comes to the pride and balancing the pride of um there's nothing wrong with going over that line but it's when you understand that um to get back into the ambition not the pride sort of thing there needs to be a form of humility that comes with it all right fantastic thank you so much pastor talk to me about what our friends are saying online yeah um so we have um amanda says pride is seeking these things without seeking god's guidance or giving him thanks jen park says as a child of god we need to focus on whether god is pleased with us in all our ways acknowledge god and he will direct our paths and florentina writes god hates pride because it's not part of his character and it prevents us from having the correct perspective of who we are in relationship to god the creator and we become self-dependent um there's a point that david billett made earlier that satan stopped believing in god based on his privileged position and this is the basis of atheism say that again say that again yeah satan stopped believing in god based on his that's privileged position right this is the basis of atheism and god's eternal identity he could not fathom based on self-focused logic right so pride even of pride can even come from your position so because you have a position prior pride is not just with your possession it can come from your position right and and you begin to to become conceited and and overthink okay and uh and brother miranda white's pride is a form of self-righteousness which emanates from excessive self-love it was pride that changed angels into devils pride is the sin from which all other sins arise for he jesus who was god stepped down from the throne of his glory to display to the wandering eyes of men the humility of god humility is the cornerstone for human service so we can see that there was a the contrast between lucifer who became satan and christ himself how christ condescended and came down whereas lucifer tried to elevate himself but there's a point that i wanted to make when i made that question about pride the subtleness of pride yes because some of the things that we said are quite large big distinctive definitions of pride but there are very subtle ones that we will not even think is pride because it's easy to see pride in others yeah but not so easy to see it in our own selves right but sprite can be as simple as wanting to do something my way and not another way so it can be a good thing i want to do this good thing but is this the good thing done the way that god has asked for it to be done yes or is it a good thing being done in a way that i want to do it that is pride doing things my own way and this goes right back to the garden of eden where where the serpent said to eve you don't have to in effect you don't have to serve god to know or hear god to know right and wrong you can determine these things for yourself so we need to be wary that the pride is also very subtle and we fall foul of that and we don't even realize because we take some decisions as one of the the viewers said that in all our ways we must acknowledge god in every way we need to examine what that means in practice right i want to also draw our attention to the fact that pride is the exact opposite of christ's character i think somebody mentioned that on youtube earlier but the scripture for that is luke chapter 9 verse 23 if any man anybody desires to come after me let them deny themselves take up their cross daily and and follow me so the biggest problem that god has with us his followers is our pride because pride stops us being humble enough uh to follow him isn't isn't that so i'm gonna ask you to pick up on a point panel i'm going to come back to you but there was a lot of meat in the sabbath school quarterly this week which we couldn't really address but talk to me very briefly in a minute or so about those two gates babylon meaning gates of a god and also they they managed to put in jacob's vision yes because in in in revelation when isaiah's vision parts of it is reflected in revelation i noticed that babylon is falling is falling that was also in isaiah in babel in revelation we see babylon representing falls religion and then there's the truth but there are hundreds of religions these days so how is it that and they say all roads lead to god circle that for me and give me a little bit more on it right so all roads may lead to a god but all roads do not lead to the father oh so and here's the thing this is why jesus said when thomas asked him well where do you go he said where are you going when jesus said well i go away and he said the way i go you know for i am the way and in the language is written the way means meaning the only way and where was jesus going he was going back to the father there is only one way to the father and that is jesus christ what we see with what babylon became or what it represents is worldliness in all its forms so all those ways all those paths that are not of god are become under the brother of of babylon so here are those two ways if you like the gate to heaven because babylon or barb el means gate to god but it was their own way in the time of when they built the tower of babel they wanted to if god should flood the earth that they would be able to enter into heaven but by their own way not by god's way that is compared to jacob's ladder which represents christ himself now here's the difference between the two babylon's gate starts from earth and builds up towards heaven by man's own effort jacob's ladder comes from heaven down to the earth and connects heaven to earth so in other words the only way is by revelation that is from god to man from heaven to earth and not from the earth up to heaven so those are the two systems there's only two competing systems from earth man's own way or from heaven and god's own way and isn't that interesting because that is exactly what pride is about it is my way versus god's way because as alana rightly said on live stream it was the very argument that satan put to the angels that they did not need to obey god's laws to be holy but they could be holy in other ways and so it encapsulate this whole argument of pride one of the things rose that we did not do this morning is address the fact so we're going full circle now because our time has almost expired so rose let's let's come to you leon prepare your closing thoughts and elder peter but rose talk to me about the fact that not all judgment is bad or there is a good aspect of judgment as well certainly if you look at the memory verse because isaiah 24 25 through to 27 were also aspects that we could have looked at um this week the fact that there is some rejoicing there what are your thoughts rose okay give me a minute while i quickly scroll up to what i wrote regarding that which basically was about when we looked at the verses that were there we saw that although they were um you know there's a tariff there there is terror in judgment there is also hope isaiah 24 13 tells us that like the shaking of an olive tree where some of the fruit is left or gleaning of the grapevine there will be a remnant so there will be people left verse 14 says they will lift up their voice and sing they will cry from afar and verse 15 tells us they will praise god in all corners of the earth so amidst all the destruction and and judgment there are people the remnant who are rejoicing who are finding peace and hope because they're rejoicing they're saying you know god you have been our shade from the heat you have been our savior you have kept us so there is hope judgment is doom and gloom for those of us who have not made our lives safe and secure with god but it is a source of rejoicing for those of us who are with peace and have been suffering all of earth sin and persecution and just want that eternal peace and relationship with god amen as the verse says when when that day comes we'll say behold this is our god we have waited for him and he will save us elder peter we only have 30 seconds or so can tell us your closing thoughts sure um one thing i thought would have come up earlier in the lesson when we talk about injustice is that the biggest injustice is that christ had to die for wrong that we have committed so when we're continuing with these these lessons we'll we need to test the prophecies that we're seeing because a true prophecy a true prophet would not go against god's words or desires as we're told in jeremiah chapter 27 verses 16 to 22. so let's continue to um seek god as we read through these prophecies and know that even as john the revelators revelations are being revealed in our time we can find truth and stay away from pride if we align ourselves to god who is the winner of this um battle that is in the spiritual warfare in the spiritual realms as well thank you so much brother leon um my closing remarks come from mr joe i'm amazed as to how jade when you're successful you still praise the lord and when he was at rock bottom he still praise the lord so in every situation that you're in you should be able to thank the lord and stay humble and most importantly remember where you come from and wherever you come from without god it wouldn't be anything but because you're here you're here with god so in everything you have to be able to remember not only that there is a source of your health and your provision but he is there to help you throughout your whole entire lifetime regardless of the mistakes that you would make or regardless of the situation you faced thank you so much pastor a close and fought with going back to heaven's gate there were two models in in life and we are in danger of using either or one of these models even in the church in doing god's work the bethel model that's jacob's ladder and then you have the babylon's model that's the tower of babel we are in danger of even using babylon's model to do god's work that is devising methods by our own hands rather than using methods that god has ordained and given and instructed so that's my takeaway point what method are we using today in god's work fantastic thank you so much more could have been said we only have a little time it was a very broad lesson we hoped you studied it if you uh didn't get as much as you wanted from this morning we apologize there's only so much we could do uh you can find the adventist bible study guide on the internet type it into google and we can have fun with it next week next week's study is fundamentally brilliant it's about hezekiah versus sennacherib it's about the fall of assyria and so on it is a wonderful story that we'll come to i'll simply sum up this morning before i pray with daniel 2 verse 21 which is very relevant to isaiah 13 isaiah 14 and he said to king nebuchadnezzar god is the one who change changes times and season god is the one who sets up kings god is the one who takes down kings we can play god all we want god is in charge there is a way that seemeth right unto a man to a person but the end thereof is is is death so let us seek god and not our own way let us seek to be successful in god's eyes not in the eyes of the world thank you so much for joining us this morning was a pleasure having you thank you so much for being here let's bow our heads father we just want to pray and ask you lord to bless every head that is bowed before you at this time all your people who are gathered from various areas who have joined us this morning we want to pray our god that we would not have just discussed the bible but that we would have seen there something relevant to our own lives and that we will be changed so that when your final judgment comes around none of us will be found wanting in jesus name bless the rest of today's proceedings oh god in your name we pray amen and amen have a happy sabbath i fly away oh glory i fly away [Music] [Music] that jesus christ is born i have a joy joy joy joy down in my heart down in my heart down in my heart [Music] i am so happy so very happy i have the love of jesus in my heart i am so happy so very happy i have the love of jesus in my heart [Music] there is power power [Music] is [Music] when the road is [Music] me [Music] me [Music] me [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] in christ alone my hope is found he is my light my strength my soul cornerstone this solid ground fern through the fiercest drown and storm what heights of love what depths [Music] in the love of christ i stand [Music] in christ alone who took on flesh fullness of god in hell this day this gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones he came to say [Music] [Music] on him was laid here in the death of christ i [Music] lived there in the ground is again and as he stands in victory since curse has lost its grip on me for i am his and he is mine with the precious blood of christ no guilt in life no fear in [Music] jesus commands my destiny no power of hell no scheme a man [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] till he returns or calls me home here in the power of christ i'll stand praise god from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures he'll be low praise him above his praise father son and holy ghost praise god from him all blessings flow praise him all creatures praise [Music] [Music] praise god from [Music] praise him all creatures [Music] praise him all creatures [Music] praise him on creatures hear me [Music] praise father [Music] ghost happy sabbath morning to you again the distinct honor and pleasure has been given to me to welcome you to croydon's seventh a day adventist church which is kind of strange because i'm welcoming you to your very own church this is god's place and whichever church is god's place it's your place and you are very welcomed here whether you're watching us in quebec or denmark trinidad jamaica from croydon down the road or wherever in england or elsewhere that i have not mentioned it is an honor it is a joy to have you with us one of the things about croydon adventist church i've been in this church for 18 years now is that this is a a church that loves people this is a kind church and it is always our greatest joy to have others joining us so welcome uh this morning i have a few little items i'd like to make you aware of as you know it's february we have lived to see another month thank god problems we have had but the lord has been good to us amen can you believe it that is coming up to quite some time since we have been in the building gathered together and we do miss you greatly but for for this month month of february we are talking about living in the end times and we're going to have a number of sermons that are geared towards encouraging you our very own pastor pastor royston smith will start things off this morning so i do ask that you pray for him as he prepares to come up here in half an hour or so a few other things to bring to your attention please remember that every afternoon here at around quarter past four we get started with a health seminar and we have dr pete joining us this evening the topic as you might have seen online is stress your body and the bible stress your body and the bible and i'd like to thank you so very much indeed in advance for joining us uh this evening for that after that you know we have a bible study discussion every evening at about half past five i think it's first thessalonians if i'm not mistaken that we will be going through in the evening so we have a health seminar for you and we also have a round table bible uh discussion in the evenings 20th of february would like you to put that in your own diary go to your phone and set up an event because it is if i'm not mistaken children's day and we're going to have a little talent section that concert will start will start at around three in the afternoon on sabbath the 20th of february it's our children's day and we want you to make sure that you come out and support our children in your numbers online just as you're doing now because when children feel supported and encouraged then they will not forget that and they'll continue in the lord here is something else as well especially for those members of croydon church that you cannot afford to miss the 21st of february business meeting your favorite time of the year now what time is the business meeting i don't have that on the paper in front of me but i do know that it is on the church's website and we're asking you to please make a note of that sunday the 20th of february and we really want you to participate in that do you know we are still recruiting bible workers we need some more people to have bible studies with those who are joining church and are interested in giving their lives to christ there is a we have a small number of bible studies a bible bible workers i do beg your pardon and we would like some more bible workers all of that is on the internet just log in there and you will see how you can uh register we want to also bring your attention to the final sabbath in the month of february where we're going to have a praise and uh worship session in fact i've just got some information business meeting on the 21st of february will start at 11 00 in the morning which is our usual time you know it's interesting some great things are happening here at church even though it looks like it's closed we have a soup kitchen which we've always had a soup kitchen and for those of you who are watching this and you think that you would like some some sustenance some clothes so on and so forth some resources every tuesday every tuesday from around five starting in earnest at six not only do we have a soup kitchen here at croydon church and it's really not even a soup kitchen because we it's more than soup but we also have a food bank and members those of you watching you'd like to donate you can go on the internet and you can see how you can donate if you want to participate and to contribute and help out in in the whole thing you can of course come at two o'clock on the tuesday afternoon and those who are here will will help you uh to get acclimated so for those in the community for those thornton heath norbury croydon stratum nearby you're watching this and you like some help or you know people who might be in need tuesdays our food bank our clothes bank our soup kitchen it's all open because we don't just believe in preaching the word but ministering to the felt needs of our community that's the uh the lineup that i have for you right now in terms of announcement but just once again like to deeply and dearly welcome you to croydon seventh day adventist church anything at all you think we can do to make you feel better to make you feel more welcome to encourage you with study aids and so on you go on our website you will see our email you'll see the pastor's number just send um send a message across and we'll respond to you thank you so very much pray for us as we pray for you god bless you is it one good morning everyone let us pray psalm 121 1-2 says i will lift up mine eyes onto the hills from whence cometh my help my help comes from the lord which made heaven on earth our father in heaven hallowed be thy high and holy name eternal merciful father almighty god i give you thanks for your great mercy during this pandemic and come to you this morning to petition your throne of grace because of the ongoing suffering all around the world further you see the impact covey 19 continues to have on so many people's lives loss of life is at the is at a record high the tears and pain of those grieving and those whose loved ones are suffering there are those who have lost their jobs those struggling financially those who are suffering mentally and emotionally those who are ill whether in hospital care homes or at home i pray according to your word that you will draw near to them that are of a broken heart and comfort them because of the of your great love and compassion for you our refuge and strength i pray that you will heal and restore that you will provide for those in need from all that you own because of your because every good thing comes from you i pray that you will bring peace to the hearts and minds of those suffering mentally and emotionally you promise in psalm 138 that your mercy endures forever and you will forsake you will not forsake the works of your own hands i live up all of the frontline workers medical staff school teachers bus drivers social care workers all of those who are providing essential services care home workers all those working in food banks and those at the end of a phone providing support bless them father provide for their needs and grant them your divine watch care i pray for the world leaders that you will grant them wisdom understanding and compassion as they continue to seek answers and make plans to lift the lockdown restrictions i pray that they will call on you so you will answer and show them great and mighty things which they know not for nothing is impossible for you i pray that you the god of hope will fill us all with joy and peace in believing that we may abound in hope through the power of your holy spirit in jesus name amen happy sabbath and thank you to our sorry happy sabbath and welcome as you can see it's live to our live praise and worship where we're hoping that you'll sing along and enjoy praising god our first song is going to be ancient words brown [Music] holy words long present for our walk in this world [Music] [Music] words of hope give us strength help us cope in this world wherever we roam ancient words will guide us home ancient words ever true changing me and changing you we have come with open hearts oh let the ancient words impart [Music] holy words over faith handed down to this age came to us through sacrifice oh heed their faithful words of christ holy words long present for our walk [Applause] ancient words ever true changing me and changing you we have come with open hearts oh let the ancient words impart ancient words ever true changing me and changing you we have come with open hearts oh let the ancient words impale we have come we have come with open hearts oh let the ancient words impart we have come with open hearts oh let the ancient words impart we have come with open hearts oh let the ancient words impart ancient words and when we receive those ancient words they're for us to share so we're going to sing our next song which is hymn 368 watchmen blow the gospel trumpet may repent [Music] [Applause] ocean depths repeat the message full salvation's glad refrain oh the trumpet trustee washed man [Music] every captive may be free [Applause] things are ready [Music] at sea every captain may be free sound it for the heavy latent weary longing to be free sound a savior's invitation sweetly saying come to me oh the trumpet trustee wash man blow it loud or land and see god's commission sent them every captive may be free [Music] sound a savior's invitation sweetly saying come to me and god promises that when we allow jesus in our hearts through faith that victory is guaranteed hymn number 608 faith is the victory [Music] encounter the hills of light ye christian soldiers rise and press the battle every night shall feel the glowing sky against [Music] [Applause] that overcomes faith is the victory faith is a victory all glory has victory that overcomes the world on every hand the foe we find drawn up in treasury let tents of ease be left behind and onward to the fray salvation's helmet on each head with truth or god about the earth faith is the victory faith is the victory victory that overcomes the world to him that overcomes the full white raiment shall begin before the angels he shall know his name confessed in him then onward from the hills of the light our hearts with [Music] in jesus conquering name faith is the victory faith is the victory all glorious victory that overcomes the world faith is the victory faith is the victory oh glorious victory that overcomes the world of [Music] that overcomes [Music] hi i'm auntie marsha hi my name is akira my name is phoenix hi my name's asea hi my name is amari we are going to talk to you about forgiveness as you read the bible for yourself you will see that the bible is about god's love and forgiveness of humanity in fact christ teaches us that we are never to become weary of forgiving it is easy to insult someone and even easier to be insulted but what is not easy is to forgive sometimes we have been hurt so much that forgiveness seems impossible true forgiveness is often given before wrongs are made right the idea is to forgive before the person even says they are sorry one biblical story that encompasses forgiveness is the story of joseph his father's name was yes that's right jacob it is said that jake favored joseph and his father spent more time with him i mean how would you feel if your parents spent most of their time with your brother or sister than you not very happy well the favoritism didn't stop there jacob gave joseph a special robe which had every color you can imagine it's a bit like getting the latest michael jordans but my brother and sisters get nothing anyway back to the story all of joseph's older brothers saw this and they got very jealous joseph's brothers disliked joseph because they thought that their father liked joseph more than they than them it doesn't stop there one day joseph had a dream jason actually taught his brothers that he had a dream and it was something like we were out gathering bunch of the grain in the field when suddenly my bunch stood up and the rest of yours gathered and bound to me i mean really didn't joseph know when to stop he then went on to say that he had another dream and the sun moon and stars bowed down to him i mean who did joseph think he was actually i believe his brothers asked him that very question you can see why the brothers began to dislike him a few days later jason's father asked him to go to his brothers who were out in the field quite a distance away so joseph went to find them jesus brothers made a plan to kill joseph but from then joseph's oldest brother said not to kill him but to throw him in an empty world he said this because he was frequently planning to come back and rescue joseph so when joseph came he took off his beautiful room and they threw him in an empty world then one of the brothers had an idea to sell joseph to some people who had to sell some things in egypt if the other brothers that decided they very much say they saw jesus to some people who were to sit down things in egypt how would you feel if your brother or sister sold you afraid well if we remain faithful to god god will always remain faithful to us he will never forsake us and he will never leave us what do you mean how can you really say that when joseph had to leave his father that loves him and live as a slave amongst strangers was good really with him well this story is far from over joseph was sold to an important man called potiphar who put joseph in charge of everything he owned he suffered even more well potiphar's wife lied and had joseph put in prison well i am sorry but i don't really see how joseph can be expected to forgive potiphar's wife and his brothers and i don't understand how god was helping him well the story is far from over god was really with joseph even in jail god does not leave us nor does he forsake us after joseph had been in jail for some time a cupbearer and baker to pharaoh had also been sent to jail they told their dreams to joseph and joseph told the cupbearer that he would soon be out of jail joseph asked the cupbearer to tell pharah about him so that he could also be released from jail well when the cut bearer was free he forgot about joseph but then i am really am struggling to understand how it is possible that this story ends well well pharaoh had a dream and no one could explain it the cupbear remembered joseph and what he had done for him and joseph was brought before pharaoh jesus explained to the pharaoh that god helped him understand dreams it's joseph explained to the pharaoh that that god was warning him that there would be seven years when nothing would go and there'd be nothing to eat for anyone but there will be seven years before the badgers is when which were good so good that there would be extra food the pharaoh believed everything that he told him and put him in charge of the whole land of egypt i'm sorry phoenix what did you just say you mean he went from being a slave to in charge and overseeing a very important man's state to a prisoner and then to then in charge of all land of egypt yes that's that's you never guess what happened next the whole region was in need of food and joseph's brothers came to buy grain they didn't even recognize who joseph was andy marsha please don't tell me joseph got his own back and denied them any grain no okay joseph forgave his brothers and after a few meetings he revealed himself to them you can imagine how afraid joseph's brothers were but jesus forgave them and jacob knew that at the end of the day he god had sent him to egypt to ultimately save many lives what have you learned about forgiveness when we forgive other people we free ourselves from anger and hate that can destroy our lives by forgiving other people we share god's character to other people but forgiving we show the world what kind of god we serve i forgive him we help destroy hate revenge but and violence that does so much damage in the world mental wars and suffering around us come as a result of of reluctance to forgive how do we forgive we can only forgive by understanding how god forgave us the same grace from god that forgave us is the same grace that can lead us to forgive other people even though we are not worthy god gave us the honor of being called children of god happy sabbath children sabbath brothers and sisters let us pray eternal loving god and our father as we come before your presence with thanksgiving we ask lord jesus that you will guide us and you will protect us lord father god i pray that you will have mercy upon us and lead us according to your will lord jesus we i pray for our church brothers and sisters lord jesus who needs you at this moment those that are in croydon and around the world and other churches here lord jesus i pray that you will intervene in each and every family or god lord you know we are at home father god and now that we are home at home we should use it to glorify you to be closer to you i ask that you will direct each and every one of us i pray that lord jesus as a church will come together to worship you in spirit and in truth i ask for your guidance and your protection lord jesus i pray that lord you will lead a garden to your loving kindness and your tender mercies father god as i pray lord for the government lord i pray that you will direct their pathway lord i pray o god it is such such a troubling time that people want to um do not know what to do oh god and so when you call upon you lord i ask that you will direct in that special way that you will lead according to your will father god people are troubled and want to know how they can decide and doing things lord but they don't know so i ask that you will intervene that you will step in lord and speak to us speak to your children speak to your people and lord and help us to have comfort in you lord jesus i pray your god that you will let your word lord jesus come through us and lead us accordingly your god have mercy upon us and direct our mind and our thoughts and everything we do according to your will i pray for the speaker at this moment o god that you will lead direct and that lord you will let your will be done i pray for those who are leading the church also lord jesus i pray that you will stop in their lives oh god and that you will speak to them father in this time you need to speak to your people so they can do according to your will lord i pray that they will allow you to speak through them so father god i pray that you will be with us today on this blessed sabbath day that lord jesus it is a day where we can come before your presence to worship to glorify you and to honor you father i want to thank you because you are god thank you for protecting us thus far thank you oh god because though there are those out there who need you and is confused not knowing what to do but we know you have mercy upon us and i know you will direct us so be with us now oh god and have mercy upon us this is my prayer in your holy and most gracious name i pray amen do [Music] do do [Music] the theme of the bible is jesus and how he died to save me the plan of salvation [Music] is [Music] jesus in are you your to stand in your place [Music] are you ready for [Music] jesus to the world and it's treasure this earth he's calling to you [Music] today are you ready for jesus [Music] are you faithful in all [Music] [Music] in jesus name are you ready to stand in your place are you ready to look in his face this is [Music] to you know i i have just been taken back into my my old church um amazing um i just wanted to join in and sing that song but knowing my voice would basically distort the quartet i sung in my soul let me thank the praise team i'm i'm hoping we have a live praise team as much as we can as often as we can it's always good to have your life praise team just just singing those old-time songs and i i can see sister palmer just sitting there in a comfortable saboteur just reminiscing and reflecting on those um old-time songs um we start a new series end time end time living how how do you live in end time thank elder neil for introducing the um and making the announcements all of the elders are actually on training um so thank you elder neil can i say that we're going to be having a baptism on the 20th of march and and i know people are texting and emailing we're training the bible workers refreshing we're having a refreshing refresher course about 12 bible workers and i know you want to be with one of those sets so you can actually spend some time studying the word um the 20th of march the pool is going to be open and souls will be born for the kingdom i know one family for example who have been watching online he says pastor i want myself to be baptized my wife and my two children so already i know four from one family who have been blessed by our um virtual online worship service i i kind of think back in 1844 a very very long time ago it the the era was called the great great awakening a man william miller um the millennium movement had become the butt of many ridicules each passing day spurious and sad stories were written about him and all those advent believers cartoons and gags and jokes were voiced far and near about these crack ventus they called them not adventists but crack ventus people said they were paranoid they were preposterous and they were psychotic because they believed in the second coming of christ and these descriptions were not just given by secular-minded people but also biblical scholars who had read the signs and had read scriptures they described the millerites and those who believed in the second coming as being unstable christians they were extreme they described them as people who were on drugs but nothing could deter nothing could stop miller and the budding advent movement they understood the times in which they lived bible prophecy pointed to one single dominant concept that something cataclysmic is about to happen something is about to happen something was happening um above the human mind and as far as they were concerned marnatha jesus was coming [Music] and the theme was we're living in the end time time is short god's promises are sure live right that's what they preach that's what they taught get baptized get ready preach christ live every day as if it was your last day on this earth because jesus is coming one historian captured the mood and the activities of the mirror right as time crept to to the day they had they thought would have been the end of the world october 22nd 1844 the historian says crops were left on harvest potatoes undogged shops were closed and workers resigned from their post nothing was important except that christ was coming in a few days people needed to be warned sins must be confessed debt must be repaid wrongs must be made right the millerites were literal and emotional in literally and emotionally in church every single day they left life as it was and church became their focus the day came sadly nothing happened a spirit of gloom consumed them hopes and expectations dashed believers traumatized devotees weeping followers disillusioned miller rights disappointed bible believers crushed but john had written john had captured that moment long before but the new miller writes advent believers never read this text revelation chapter 10 9-10 and i went to the angel and said give me the small scroll take it it's coming on your screen eat it and it it will make your stomach bitter but it's but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey so i took the small scroll from the angel's hand and ate it and it was sweet as honey in my mouth but when i ate it it was bitter helen white inspirational writer she captured she noted that the book of revelation is the book that meets the end it complements the book of daniel you see the millerites were studying the prophecies in daniel but they never joined that with the story in revelation because daniel 12 4 and 9 declare but you o daniel roll up and seal the world of the scrolled until the time of the end many will go here and there to increase knowledge he replied go your way daniel because the words are rolled up and sealed until the end of time october 1844 was what we described in theological circles sweet but bitter because you see my friend it was from the rubble of this disappointment the dash hope of the new advent believer that as adventists we retrace our steps are beginning from the ashes of this appointment came the great enlightenment and the reality that we were at the end of time but we were at this point going towards that cataclysmic moment it was from this disappointment from this disillusion group that we recognize that we no longer lived in the time of the end because that's where they were we're moving from the time of the end into the end of time reflecting on 1844 just read the history we we we see fervent expectation expectation for the second coming reflecting on 1844 we see people introspectively analyzing and assessing their lifestyle and relationship reflecting on 1844 we see people plowing through the word fervently praying excitingly expecting changes reflecting on 1844 we see people enjoying spiritual renewal rekindling godliness spiritual godliness and god likeness reflecting on 1844 we see people um anticipating living in the expectation of the second coming of jesus christ let's jump to 2021 look around you read the signs read the bible prophecy is fulfilling everywhere you don't need visions or dreams to realize the times look around you we're at the bottom of the pole wake up stop holding on to lies believing fake news and forwarding on these conspiracy theories and listening to those who rebuke the truth of god we're not just at the time of the end we are living in the end of time god's word revealed this to us a long time ago this is what the apostle peter tells us in 1 peter 5 and verse 8. be sober he says be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil is walking around i'm i'm inserting you as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour there's a lion at your door actively pursuing you most lines are seasonal most lions are seasonal but this spiritual life is perpetual in motions days and nights are alike to him dissimilar to other lines in the forest this one is far more terrible you see forest lines are visible can be easily avoided but the devil is an invisible lion he springs upon you in the unseen and the unexpected time you see natural lines attack the prey by open violence but this spiritual line he's very secretive and very crafty natural lines seek to devour the body but the spiritual line seeks to devour the soul he wants to take you to hell with him natural line strength is far greater than the strength of man yet man has found out ways to overcome lines but no power listen to me this morning no power no skill no device of man can enable him to overcome the spiritual line call the devil how then how then can this roaring line be resisted and overpowered we're told in 1 corinthians 16 and 13 1 corinthians 16 and 13 be on your guard stand firm in the faith be courageous and be strong my first point this morning about overcoming overcoming and living in end time is that you have to learn to be courageous you are going to hear and see the roaring devil when you when you have decided to follow god's will if you're going to stand stall and stay strong in this end time you need to be courageous it's going to stay on the screen if you expect to see god's face in peace you need to have courage when you have made that settled decision to serve god sincerely truly and wholeheartedly you'll hear the roaring lion but you need to have courage you're going to hear him roaring in your life you need to have courage you're going to hear him roaring in your homes but you need to have courage you're going to hear him roaring on the job amongst your friends and foes but you need to have courage the devil roars you see you can roar but he can't get you in hell or heaven he's trying to scare you out of your birthright he's trying to scare you out of doing god's will he's a roaring lion you better pray for courage you want courage to read the word of god you want courage to pray read history in this end time living no uh lilly liver-coward christian can serve god christians are courageous people christians were generally persecuted during the dark days 50 million people were killed for standing up for god this started long before then if you're going to live in the end time you have to have courage able died because he wanted to serve god his own brother killed him and got angry down through the ages it continues if you want to serve god you have to have courage daniel was thrown in the lines then you have to have courage the hebrew boys were thrown in the fiery furnace you have to have courage stephen was torn for his faith you have to have courage peter was crucified upside down you have to have courage you have to got courage in your mind to stand up you got to stand up for something or you stand up for anything john the revelator was thrown in a pot of boiling oil you have you have to have courage to make up your mind to stand for something it's sad when you listen to people today in church i'm talking about who are complaining finding excuses they're running away from faith you have a generation of people who don't want to do anything for god the least thing they run like usain bolt and they have the stamina of mo pharaoh if they want to run let them run however there'll be somebody are you listening to me there'll be somebody who will stand up for truth the servant of the living god right she writes she says those who have knowledge of present truth are under great responsibility before the world they are to warn men and women of the coming judgment they are to represent christ to the people they're to they're not to go about deploring their condition talking of their darkness and murmuring and complaining of the hardness of the way they are to lift up their voices and minds and open to god open the doors of their heart to god and let him in let him come in and abide with them we must have christ enthroned in the heart that the soul temple may be cleansed from every defilement elder neal preach about holiness go back and listen to that sermon the second coming of our savior must be a living reality to us the question of importance for this time is how courageous are you how is your soul with christ you have to have courage to live in end time the adventist church and us as adventist christians are facing a crisis a crisis of systemic proportion or habits or lifestyles and practices are synchronizing with the world or modus operandi or method of operating are being determined by human uh scholarship and secular ideals we are trapped by these so-called beautiful evils we have lost our identity we're becoming invisible we're becoming like every other church every other christian and everybody else listen to what 1 peter 2 verse 9 and 10 says to us but we or you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood i'm going back to old-time adventist preaching now a peculiar people that you should show for the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into this marvelous light which in time past were not a people but are now the people of god which have obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy as adventists as adventists as a church we were known as people of the book our forefathers spent time diligently and meticulously studying the word of god we were born out of deep conviction that the bible that the bible that the bible is the word of god and that the bible can be trusted we were identified as adventist as bible believing bible founded bible following movement can i say that again as adventists when people identified us our spiritual identity was based on bible doctrine was based on bible believing and bible following our mission was directed not by man but by the word of god this shaped our lives it shaped our identity it shaped who we are unfortunately our identity or idiosyncrasies our uniqueness is being submerged into the deep sea of compromise when our identity is challenged we need to respond we we have become complacent as adventists we need to decide whether to preserve and protect what will you strip away before compromising your faith and relationship with christ in this end time it's going to come back on your screen number two point number two in this end time identity preservation is necessary as true believe in christians your identity matters listen to me this morning who you are where you are from and where you're going is important it is mixed up and blend up in our mission are you just another christian or are you a child of the living god end time living requires that there's no confusion about who you are and who's you are when you're on when you're authentic about your identity people know who you are and to whom you belong a fake listen to me now write this down tweet this to a friend um or text it if you can a fake identity produces a fake christian a fake christian has a fake mission a fake mission leads to a fake destination can i say that again a fake identity creates a fake christian a fake christian has a fake mission and a fake mission leads to a fake destination what affects the identity affects the mission what affects the mission affects your destination it's not about trimming behaviors we need to get closer to christ so our identity can be visible and clear having a strong having a strong christ-centered identity enables you to withstand the tempest and the storms that will blow your way as we enter into the end of time we cannot dilute somebody says no dither nor delay let me tell you something your identity will determine your destination jesus was faced with this very very issue he was faced with this issue when his disciples he asked his disciples who do men say that i am you remember the story in mark 8 27-29 they replied some say you are john the baptist others say you're elijah some say you're some other prophet you know uh royston who are you are you an adventist are you are you a baptist are you a catholic uh who are you but then jesus having heard what others have said about him he then asks the pertinent question but who do you say that i am it's it's one thing when people know or think who you are but but it's it's a sad thing when those who should know who you are don't know who you are my wife and i we had a conversation and she says um um you're my husband come and sit beside me something like that and i said to her well well i'm not sitting beside you because if you don't know who i am then why should i sit beside you that was just a running joke like any habited husband i sat beside her and she smiled the fact of the matter is if you don't know who you are you are in trouble the bible is clear jesus was always confident of who he was and why he had come to earth from from his first glimpse to the end of his life he was confident of his person and his personality his mission and his message even his parents you know the story luke 4 verse 9 his parents tried to confuse him at age 12 he said to them listen to me mother and father i'm going to do it in a modern language he says and he said unto them how is it that you you're seeking after me i'm about my father's business jesus knew he was even the leaders in church tried to try to try to sow seeds of uncertainty try to distract him but jesus said to them in john 8 23 you are from beneath i'm from above you're off this world i'm not of this world uh when the devil confronted him in gethsemane luke 22 41 and 44 tried to cloud his mission he spoke words of steadfastness because he knew who he was he said he was withdrawn from them about a stone thrown he knelt down he prayed father if it is your will remove this cup nevertheless not my will but your will be done when a mocked up trial misguided judge asked him who he was they declared for themselves in matthew 26 63 and 64 and the high priest answered and said to him i adjoure you by the living god that you tell us if you are the christ the son of god jesus says you have said it jesus was fully aware of his identity from age 12 until his death on the cross you need to know who you are as adventists do you still believe that the bible is our key source for faith and truth as adventists we believe that the world was created in six days and then on the seventh day god made the sabbath as adventist do you still believe that one tenth of your income and one seventh of your tithe still belongs to god as adventists do you still identify with with the bible concept that maleness and femaleness are the basis for procreation and relationship as adventists do you still believe that the papal system is wrapped up with american prophecy and the lamblight beast together they will try to destroy your faith and your relationship read revelation 12. you see my friends the sum total of your belief is what your identities your identity determines how you talk eat and live and die my friends you're listening this morning in the end time living know who you are peter says in ii peter 1 and verse 16 for we have not followed cunning device fables when we made known unto you the power of god coming coming of our lord jesus christ but what but where i witness of his majesty jesus was willing to give life and limbs for what he believed he was not confused clouded or obscured he knew what he was in this end time do people identify you as a living epistle of jesus your identity is wrapped up in your beliefs and your beliefs determine how you live and how you live will determine what your destiny is going to be without hesitation i can tell you that we're living in the end of time no guessing no theories no philosophies this is just a simple truth the bible describes events and conditions that would mark the conclusion of the current system of things we are in the end of time society is in a flux society is degenerating people are no longer immoral they are amoral people no longer have morals at all you see my friends you see somebody who is immoral at least they have some sort of morality which is no morality at all but when you're immoral nothing really matters people how we have despotic leaders populism nationalism are popping up everywhere people have become um selfish selfish neighbors noah must be turning in his grave and says god why did you destroy my world with the flood luke 17 26 and 27 the bible says as it was in the days of noah so will it be also in the days of the coming of the son of man they ate they drank they marry wives they were given in to marry until the day that noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all noah must be turning in his grave because what i've read about now is time and what i'm seeing now there is no comparison as adventists as christians and our viewers listening this morning we need to reorder our focus we are so mixed up and muddled up you know usually job or career is number one family second god is third or even fourth behind we become obsessed some people even sports is more important than god ask yourself this question this morning if god were to give you the opportunity to make one request what would it be would you ask for money power fame success moses asks to see god's face solomon asks for wisdom but i like david's request god i want intimacy you see we're living in the end of time what do we need to survive how can you stand the onslaught of satan on his and his cohorts let me be straight with you end time living requires holy spirit empowered lives i like what sister white says in christ's subject lesson this is what she says this is what she says i was inspired i was taken into the throne of a god of god when i read this she said but near the close of earth's harvest a special bestowal of spiritual grace is promised to prepare the church for the coming of the son of man then she says the outpouring of the spirit is like into the falling of the latter rain and it is for this added power that christians are to send their petition to the lord of harvest in the time of the lottery she says as we come to the end of time god is going to pour out his spirit upon all flesh to many of us as adventists i'm talking about adventists now we're afraid of the influence of the holy spirit we don't we we don't want to seem to so emotional that we are identified as pentecostals or maybe some of us are misguided by this new philosophy that teaches that the holy spirit is an impersonal face or a manifestation of the god i'm going to say this online now the devil is distracting the church the devil is distracting the church he's he's he's he's he's throwing new theology to some people the fact is the holy spirit is god he's as much jesus as jesus is god he's as much god as the father is god refuted he's still god rebut it it doesn't change reality we need him in our lives to be saved to fight the warfare that the devil is throwing at us listen to what jesus says in acts chapter 1 verse 8 says but you shall receive power after which the holy ghost is come upon you the devil is trying to make us feel that the holy spirit is just a manifestation of the goddess he's trying to make us feel that that the holy spirit is just an impersonal force and even in the adventist church we have people teaching that theology the holy spirit leads not a force he guides he empowers he works on our hearts and he becomes our traveling companion in this troublesome world he's both our protector and our convictor by the way that is not an english word i created that one on the other hand he's like the divine potter of the garden who molds us and he shapes our life we are weak without the holy spirit we are brotherless without the holy spirit we are hell bent without the holy spirit charles spurgeon said it best without the spirit of god we can do nothing we are like ships without the wind branches without sap and like coals without fire we are useless if you're going to deal with christ if you're going to deal with the end time we need the holy spirit in our lives if i were in jamaica they'll say you need to be wrapped up and tied up and tangled up in the holy spirit so that you can face the trials that the devil throws at you you need to be close to the holy spirit to deal with end time dr paul brandt was speaking to a medical college in india and he was preaching from matthew 5 16 we should know this one let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven in front of the lectern was an oil lamp which is cotton wick burning from the shallow dish of oil children and youth won't know this as he preached the lamp ran out of oil the wick burned dry and the smoke made him cough he used the opportunity to explain what he was talking about without the holy spirit he says some of us here are like this week we're trying to shine for the glory of god but we stink that's what happens when we you when we use ourselves as the fuel of a witness rather than the holy spirit powerful message wicks cannot last indefinitely burning brightly and without irritating smoke if the fuel the holy spirit is in constant supply there's a song we know it a little more oil in my lamp keep me burning keep me burning till the break of day if you want to make it in end time you have to be courageous if you want to make it in end time you need to have a spiritual identity if you want to make it in end time you need to be close to the holy spirit to many of us use prayer as a last resort okay everything else didn't work so let me try prayer um as we live in in end time we need the tool of prayer to bolster our our spiritual immune system and to fence our souls in from the snares of the devil the bible says that when the weakest of sinners pray the devil trembles god cares about you personally professionally and socially god wants to be in fellowship with you every day during these dark and dingy days some mornings i wake up i'm saying lord do i need to get out of bed not that i don't want to get over bed but in my mind i can see the darkness coming all over me too many of us are still hungering and thirsting after spiritual things and but yet still we don't spend time in prayer james 5 16 says confess your faults one to another pray for one another that ye may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person avail it much prayer is inviting god into your circumstances into your hopes into your fears into your dreams and into your pains prayer is not working our way through a grocery list requesting that we desire god to perform our answer the way we expect him to prayer allows us to live relationally with god can i say this and i said this at our last prayer meeting you know when we meet as elders and as leaders and even in prayer meeting and we pray and nothing happens our faith wanes and get weak but i've come to recognize that the purpose of prayer is not what we think it is i've come to understand that prayer is to draw you closer to god living relationally means you can walk with god you can talk with him in good times you can you can share moments with him in bad times you wake up in the morning you're talking to god you're soaking in the bath you're driving to your destination you're sitting in your favorite sabbath chair you're walking you're you're playing it means that your time with god is is is is an ever unceasing moment end time people are people of prayers psalm 34 17 says the righteous cried out and the lord hears and deliver them out of all their troubles end time people spend time in knee valley staying connected to their soon returning king history showed that the millerites and those who believe in end time are were people who had an eternal perspective uh number five they had an eternal perspective and they kept their eyes and life looking up for the second coming john 17 11 and now i am no more in the world but these jesus speaking but these are in the world and i come to thee holy father keep through thy old name those whom thou has given me that they may be one even as we are one i'm not saying be so so heavenly minded that you are no earth the good i'm not saying that i'm not saying don't participate and become blind to the things around you we can't avoid living and doing our lives can be clouded by the things that consume our our lives and days it is difficult it can be a struggle but if we are going to live an end time life we have to daily and minutely live in the sphere of this eternal perspective you see life is split between the the already and the not yet and and we live and we hang between these two worlds but but but this world is alluring and we are drawn into excitement and pleasure we have to learn to hate the world hate the negatives and the fake things that destroy the this beautiful her hey immoral acts that is so pervasive around us hate violence and crime that beset our lives on a daily basis hate the injustice and racial biases that is ever present in society 1 john 2 15 and 16 says love not the world neither the things that are in the world if anyone loves the world then the love of god is not in him or her for that all that is in the world is the loss of the eye the pride of life the lust of the flesh the bible tells us live in this world like an alien a stranger and a foreigner we are pilgrims we are passing through the bible tells us set our minds on things above and not on things in this earth the bible tells us have a transformed mind and not be friends with the world create i'm going to say this now create a hostile spiritual connection with the world every day we need to live we need to live as if this is our last day we need to live as if jesus is coming today titus 2 13 makes it clear looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great god and savior jesus christ create a hostile spiritual connection with this world and keep looking up the apostle paul prophetically told us that society would descend into violence and secularism and commercialism in this day and age money is more valued than life you see what's happening uh for eve with this vaccine that has been rolled out the richer countries are are buying up they don't care about the poorer countries pleasure is more important than principle children have lost the appetite for respect parental abuse are rampant arguments and pride is prevalent violence abuse and lawlessness greed abounds sounds like the evening news doesn't it in short we're standing at the end of time too many christians are becoming sensitive are be are becoming insensitive to the reality that they need to be looking up we are so disconnected from prophetic eyes and biblical realities that we don't know where we are uh too many of us are not excited enough about the second coming uh when we get when we don't get excited about the second coming it rubs us off the urgency of the second coming it demotivates us from living a holy and consecrated life i'm saying to you keep looking up keep the second coming at the forefront of your lives it will motivate you to break away from sin it will motivate you to run to holiness keep the second coming at the forefront of your lives it will motivate you to despise sin and and sin in um ii peter 3 9 says god doesn't want anyone to perish but that all of us should come to repentance we need a mirror i'm coming to a close we need a mirror a spiritual mirror this mirror enables us to to live and to conduct our life appropriately in end time in timothy 2 verse 12 titus rather 2 12 and 13 we're told write this text down and and reflect on it uh teaching us the denying ungodliness and wordliness we should live soberly righteously godly in this present world why because we're looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great god on our savior jesus christ we're almost home wars rumors of wars we're almost home greed immorality ungodliness abounds we're almost home pride disrespect abounds hate abounds we're we're almost home uh violence earthquakes no value no love we're almost home the israelites were almost home numbers 14 30. they were almost home sitting on the edge looking over into canaan but the bible tells us a sad commentary this is what god says doubtlessly in numbers 14 30 doubtlessly ye shall not come into the land concerning which i swear to you to make you dwell except for caleb and joshua why they were almost there but never reaching they could see the promised land almost there but never touching they could see the destination and the reward almost there but never eating they could smell the sweet honey and the juicy hanging fruit yes they were almost there but never made it except for caleb and joshua the reason being caleb and joshua knew their god they had a relationship with him almost there they were almost there but caleb and joshua were wrapped up and tied up they were empowered by the holy spirit what is my call to the church this morning what is my call to those online i'm going to make an appeal for those who are not yet baptized to send a message to the pastors of me i'm going to give my life to the lord and those who are baptized to begin to change their lives what's my call isaiah chapter 10 and verse 12 my final passage isaiah 10 and verse 12. i love what he says he says to the church so to yourself in righteousness reap he says in mercy break up your fall of ground for it is time to seat the lord and reign righteousness upon you almost there i'm saying to the church i'm saying to those who are viewing break up and straighten up uh when you break up and straighten up if you're a spectator you going to jump up and be a participator when you break up and straighten up if you're a gossiper you're going to zip up and shut up if you're a fornicator you have to button up and marry up if you're a sleeper you're going to wake up if you're a divider you're gonna patch up if you're a liar you've got a true top if you're a sinner you gotta righteous up if you're if you're carnal minded you have to spirit up break up your folly ground move away from a state of spiritual apathy wake up and walk away from a disconnected relationship with god reconnect to the vine learn to draw strength and nutrition from the source of true life begin to analyze your spiritual state ask yourself the question how far or how close am i to god empty yourself of self say to jesus all to you i'm surrendering right now all to you i'm giving everything that i have what will it profit a person if he or she will gain the whole world but lose his soul we're living in end time i've got to fix myself up i've got to change some things about me royston i've got to think more intentionally i've got to seek god in prayer so that the holy spirit can reign over me i've got to know who i am whose i am god to be courageous got to be looking up with an eternal perspective right now the card is coming you're going to make a decision because this is what this ministry is about it's about you making a decision for god not yet baptized send us a text message the number is coming on your screen send us a text message go to the website one person did i'm going to pray for maria she says i was blessed by the by the bible study this morning how can i have bible study to prepare for baptism i'm going to pray for you maria thanks for that text message that email that i received before i came to the puppet others are making that decision right now no i didn't say this to the to the live person i'm going to leave the stage right now they sung a song you know all the words if you can come back again and just just do that i've just been i'm moved by the spirit for you to come and just sing that song i didn't ask you to do that and and i can see the technical team are not prepared for it but but sometimes if the spirit just tells you to do something just do it they will just sing one song they'll sing a song i'm going to apologize to you but i'm telling you the spirit is saying that somebody needs to make a decision for the lord thank you [Music] holy words long preserved for our walk in this world they resound with god's own heart oh let the ancient words impart words [Music] ancient words will guide us home ancient words never true changing me and changing you we have come with open hearts oh let the ancient words impart holy words of our faith handed down to this age came to us through sacrifice oh heed the faithful words of christ holy words long present [Music] [Applause] oh let the ancient words impose ancient words ever true changing me and changing you we have come with open hearts oh let the ancient words impart ancient words me and changing you we have come with open hearts oh let the ancient words [Music] open hearts oh let the ancient words impart [Music] i i feel the power and the presence of the holy spirit in this building today i'm just going to make an appeal to you right now if you have heard the message and you want to give your life to the lord please do so now if you have given your life to the lord but you have been playing church your identity has become wrapped up in other things you want to you want to reshape and refocus your life i'm going to pray for you right now send us a text message send us an email let us know that you're ready to break up you're ready to straighten up father god what a word what a word we pray today lord that that person that male who who was listening that female who heard the word of god that he or she will break up his or her folly ground and will sow in righteousness and experience the mercy of god lord may you bless us may you keep us may you cause your face to shine upon us may you be gracious unto us may you lift up the light of your countenance upon each of us may we rest in the peace knowing that even though we're living in end time that we can live righteous godly lives bless us now we pray in jesus name amen [Music] if we take a look [Applause] [Music] knowing that time is the simple truth of god's word [Applause] [Music] we cannot see [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] gospel his judgment has come [Music] trusting him [Music] come crashing down seeking [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] we have a message [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] we will go to let the world [Music] we will go [Music] he's freezing from the [Applause] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] know [Music] you

Channel: Croydon SDA Church

Views: 5,088

Rating: 4.891892 out of 5

Keywords: Power-of-Prayer, Prayer, Sabbath, Worship-Live, Live-Worship, Sabbath-Worship

Id: 4p2VbfTWPAQ

Length: 196min 12sec (11772 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 06 2021