16 Jan 2021 - Croydon SDA Church Live Worship

welcome to croydon sca church where you're excited that you have chosen to worship with us online today [Music] [Laughter] [Music] so [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 www.croydonadventist.org good morning everyone my name's lorraine and today i'm going to be sharing some biblical principles around goal setting usually at the beginning of each new year um people will write their new year's resolutions and even if they don't write it down they usually have some kind of idea about what change they want to make in a particular area of their life there's something they want to achieve i wonder how many people know that the bible has many principles regarding goal setting today i'll only be showing a few of those principles i'll be showing six but hopefully you will find them useful when you come to think about what goals you want to achieve throughout this year let's get started so before we look at the six principles let's look at why it's actually important to make goals in the first place setting clear goals in all areas of our life is key to successfully achieving what you want and will help you to have a healthy lifestyle now not just physical health but health in other aspects of your life so for example some people have career goals what field do you want to go into or do you want to be in the same field but a different world there are financial goals so do you want to start putting money into an emergency fund do you want to start giving to a charity do you want to save for a holiday spiritual goals how do you want to develop spiritually this year maybe you want to be the entire bible or keep a spiritual journal perhaps you want to start working with your church to serve the community physical or health goals we all know about this one so do you want to increase your activity do you want to lose weight eat more vegetables get to bed at a good time each night then we have intellectual goals so how do you want to develop your mind this year what do you want to learn this doesn't have to be linked to your career then we have family goals so what is your vision for your family this year perhaps you want to spend more quality time together perhaps you'd like to start a family business maybe you want to start having family worship then we have social goals okay so the pandemic has made this one you know a little harder but you can still look at the goals you have socially for yourself uh so how do you want to spend time with your friends this year how do you want to communicate how often do you want to maybe meet online or when it's safe to do so meet in a group the ultimate goal is the christian life goal so the christian life goal is to love god and to love others to be a disciple of jesus because he did those things so perfectly following him studying him is the best way to learn as we look at following biblical goal setting principles we must keep this goal as our focus every other goal that we set should circle back to this one right here okay so let's look at what these six biblical principles are delight in the lord that is your first principle psalms 37 verse 4 says take the light in the lord and he will give you the desires of your heart if we spend time delighted in god we naturally begin to desire what he desires so giving us the desires of our heart will fall in line with the lord's will and the lord's desires this will help when it comes to making goals for your life number two trust in the lord so proverbs chapter 3 verse 6 says in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path so trust god not what you see not what you think not what the pastor says trust god's love trust the fact that he sees both the big picture and the tiny details he doesn't see things the same way that we do and has a value system we can't quite grasp but good is good faithful and worthy of our trust if we acknowledge him in every decision he will make our path straight including helping us choose the right goals and plan out how to get there number three vision and obedience proverbs 29 verse 18 says where there is no revelation people cast off for strength but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom's instruction nehemiah is a really important character in the bible so nehemiah had vision he was heartbroken about the state of jerusalem and wanted to see it rebuilt and safe having a vision of what life could or should be makes a difference why aim at a goal if it doesn't matter or if you can't see how it matters nehemiah prayed fasted obeyed and trusted god he did his research then he was obedient to speak when the king asked him what the problem was he was able to ask the king for the resources needed and he persevered against enormous odds number four do your research proverbs 13 16 says all who are prudent acts with knowledge but fools expose their fully you can't act with knowledge unless you do your research biblical goal setting takes knowledge or research applied properly with wisdom take the time to study up on your goals the benefits the downsides consequences of success and of failure number five be diligent proverbs 21 verse 5 says the plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty if we're going to be successful in our biblical goal setting then we must be diligent persistent keep up those baby steps every day the boring monotonous parts that just seem to wear you out that's where it really matters if we can be diligent and faithful in this then who knows what we can accomplish number six persevere hebrews 10 35 to 36 says so do not throw away your confidence it will be richly rewarded you need to persevere so that when you have done the will of god you will receive what he has promised second chronicles 15 verse 7 says but as for you be strong and do not give up for your work will be rewarded perseverance is rewarded it's not easy but giving up well you might get a moment of relief but really you end up back where you started or worse remember why you started and what the goal is if it mattered enough to start it matters enough to keep pressing on or restart even if there's a hiccup think about noah in genesis uh chapters six to nine he was handed the detailed instructions to build the ark so his goals and planning was pretty much done for him right well sort of he still had to plan details for supplies and labor he still had to trust god and trust that god knew what he was talking about in the first place he still had to persevere through what i can only assume was harsh criticism he had to be diligent or it wouldn't have gotten done after all it took a long time to build the ark so if we recap the six principles are one delight in the lord two trust in the lord three have vision and obedience four do your research five be diligent and six persevere and remember you can do all things through christ who strengthens you happy goal setting and have a wonderful day [Music] i'm gonna sing i'm gonna sing when the spirit says i'm gonna sing i'm gonna sing when sing i'm gonna sing i'm gonna sing when the spirits say sing and obey the spirit of the lord [Music] i'm gonna shout shalt shout when the spirits say shout shout shout when the spirits say shout shall shout [Music] and obey the spirit of the lord i'm gonna sing i'm gonna pray i'm gonna shout sing praise out hallelujah sing hallelujah and obey the spirit of the lord [Music] hallelujah [Music] love divine all loves excelling joy [Music] faithfulness [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] trembling [Music] into every troubled [Music] [Music] rest take [Music] as it's beginning set our hearts at [Music] liberty [Music] receive so [Music] we would be always [Music] pray and praise [Music] [Music] great salvation perfectly restored in thee changed [Music] and praise morning happy sabbath and welcome to croydon's sabbath school panel and it's a special day because today is the conclusion of the 10 days of prayer so we're going out live to area 6b so i'd like to welcome our 6b visitors who are with us this sabbath morning this is the croydon sabbath school panel an interactive live time that we can study god's word and so we want to be able to hear from you we're also going out live to our radio stations this morning adventist radio london and life radio and if you are a visitor joining us for the very first time a special good morning and welcome to you as well as i've said this is an interactive study those of you that don't have the cyber school quality or quarterly or the adult sabbath school guide you can go to the website www.sabbath.school and then you'll be able to download a copy of the lesson and follow us as we go through but we want to hear from you this morning so those of you that are on youtube or live stream you can send your comments in or even your questions make sure and start your question with a big capital q or question so that we can see it but send in your comments in the chat as you usually do we also have a whatsapp number and you can send in your message on zero seven eight five four two three double nine double two i'll say that again zero seven eight five four two three double nine double two for adventist radio london you can get in touch on in on your usual way by sending a message text sending the message to eight treble two eight you text the word hope leave a space and then your message remember standard network charges apply also you can get in touch at studio adventist radio dot london and for life radio email studio at life radio dot co dot uk and the whatsapp number for life radio is zero seven three double one four zero nine four zero nine so we're looking forward to hearing from you we've got a panel with us as usual welcome again to our resident senior pastor pastor royston good morning sir i i'm out of breath elder johnny you know why but but you know let me thank the team for the splendid work that they continue to do on me but let me welcome you um for those of you who have been watching um or participated in the 10 days of prayer what a time it has been very heart moving heart lifting service and the afterglow you know those 30 minutes that we spent ella johnny last night um you know i couldn't join the panel because um i was with the 10 days and last night we finished at 10 o'clock and people just wanted to stay online uh and i have conversation but but but we hope today as we dig into the lesson because i was so you know i was so moved by you know just looking at the names and and the meaning i mean i've done it before but doing it again lifted my spirit so please invite your friends to join us as we conversate on on this very important um topic excellent and our panelists we also have with us today our associate pastor from croydon church pastor andrew cajo good morning pastor good morning elder and um good to see you and good to participate in this wonderful cyber school lesson great and we welcome back sister shanika benjamin morning shanika and uncle johnny and one everyone else great to be here amen and joining us we have a guest panelist um elder john bishop from the west croydon church good morning elder john good morning everyone hi elder johnny everybody else good to be with you and um looking forward to the study this morning indeed amen wonderful so we've got a great lesson to get into as usual but before that we're going to be blessed with a special musical item by ken burton and he's singing for us today my faith has found a resting place my faith has found a resting place not in a made greed i trust the ever leaving one that he for me will plead [Music] it is enough that jesus died and rose again for me he enough for me that jesus saves this ends my fear and doubt a sinful soul i come to him he will not cast me out my soul is resting on the word the living word of god [Music] salvation in my savior's name salvation through his [Music] it is enough that jesus died and rose again for me the great physician heals the sick the lust he came to save me his precious blood he shed for me his life he gave i need no other [Music] it is enough that jesus died and rose again for me it is enough [Music] that jesus died [Music] again [Music] father god you have risen and having ascended into heaven we're waiting for you that great getting up morning blessed as we dig into your lesson amen amen thank you pastor and thank you ken for such a wonderful song just reminding us that my faith has found a resting place we're already on lesson number three in this series of looking at the book of isaiah comfort my people and today we're looking at lesson number three which is when your world is falling apart our memory verse comes from isaiah 7 verse 9 and it says if you will not believe surely you shall not be established we're going to get into that very shortly um pastor now well before i come to you pastor our sabbath school's introduction sabbath school afternoons bit i just want to i think expand on that so it related to a story of how a lady who must have lived on a farm was trying to save the life of a dying hen in her arms that was attacked by a neighbor's dog unfortunately she could not save the life of the hen a duck arriving late on the scene assumed she had killed the hen the duck then proceeded in pinching the innocent lady painfully with his strong bill now sometimes it's hard to know your friends from your enemies this was a bit like the problem that the latest king of judah faced but what did he do that's what we're going to discover so pastor as i was alluding to when our world is falling apart you know that you may have even put yourself in this predicament that you're in and you may feel you don't want to turn to god now what would you advise pastor that anyone is feeling that way this morning i'm elder john you have asked me a question that i can't answer without that which i live my life by the truth is when my world is falling apart um i really turn to god i mean i can say initially i'm i'm like god what can you do you know and sometimes the longer my world falls apart sometimes i get skeptical but then because of my faith in god as as you know as as i'm the song said um i i quickly reverse and i said hold on hold on hold on you know what is the foundation of my life and then i go straight back to the source of my strength so when my world falls apart i have somebody who's able to fix my world straighten my world and i basically the truth be told i trust god more than anything else rather anyone else so that's the example that you will encourage those listening i would encourage all my listeners and viewers to really really really when your world is falling apart you better turn to god okay all right let's set our bedrock so viewers do you agree with pastor any other advice perhaps you would give someone who is reluctant to reach out to god when their world is falling apart want to hear from you so let's have your comments coming in in the way that i've said what else would you do do you agree with pastor in terms of advising someone who is reluctant to turn to god but in the meantime king ahaz is currently on the throne of judah and let's see why his world is falling apart sister shanika i'm coming to you first of all can you give us some background to king ahaz and his plight second kings 15 from verse 37 through to 2nd kings 16 and verse 2 please that's fine i'm reading from the new king james version in those days the lord began to send resin king of syria and pekka the son of romalia against judah so joseph rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of david his father then ahaz his son reigned in his place in the 17th year of pekka the son of romania ahaz the son of joseph king of judah began to reign ahaz was 20 years old when he became king and he reigned 16 years in jerusalem and he did not do what was right in the sight of the lord his god as his father david had done so from the very beginning as soon as we hear about a has taken his reign we already know he's not done what is right inside right in the sight of the lord and as we know from what's happened before with the kings if you don't do what's right in the sight of the lord everything goes downhill from there and their world begins falling apart okay and as you picked up in the earlier verses there's something else that's going on around in terms of um syria and and e-frame but we're going to hear some more about that elder john so um second king 16 5-9 what does that say picking up on the story okay so let's look at second kings 16 5-9 and i'm going to read from the king james version where it says then resin king of syria and pekka son of remalia king of israel came up to jerusalem to war and they besieged ahaz but could not overcome him at that time rezin king of syria received elast to syria and drove the jews from alice and the syrians came to allah and dwelt there unto this day so a has sent messengers to tiglath police son of assyria saying i am thy servant and thy son come up and save me out of the hand of the king of syria and out of the hand of the king of israel which rise up against me and i took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the lord and in the treasures of the king's house and sent it for a present to the king of assyria and the king of assyria hearkened unto him for the king of assyria went up against damascus and took it and carried the people of it captive to ker and slew resin now here we've got one of these beautiful names that are mentioned here tilgath palisa he who was this guy basically he is the ancient equivalent to adolf hitler now adolf hitler in the last century he was um a madman who had a lot of lust for power and he wanted to get every country around him so tiglath police has risen up like this we've got the the two countries just below where he is in assyria who are saying whoa we're going to be next let's join together and form an alliance but we're not enough so we need to form an alliance with the country underneath us as well and so they said by doing that hopefully we can come together and we can stop diglett police's advance ahaz says no not into that really don't see a good reason why we should join together and so they got into a situation where ahaz is going to tig las palisa and saying hmm can we actually work together now the big problem is that the reason and the way that he did this was number one he's not trusting in god number two he's taking the riches from the temple and saying let me use that as a bribe number three well as was found back in the 20th century when neville chamberlain who was the prime minister of england went across to germany to try and appease adolf hitler you can make a friendship but that doesn't mean that you're safe and so realistically as we are told those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it and so the same thing that happens back in the old days happened in the new times you try and make an alliance with somebody it doesn't work eventually that person is going to rule over you and so it brings us back to the memory verse it's better to trust in god if you won't believe you won't be established wow good parallels there with uh modern history as well thank you pastor andrew look how far the once children of israel have come now with civil wars and alliances with the enemy well what do you have to say about that yes it's it's it's interesting to see that and and what kind of helps under helps me to understand that and how far they had fallen is in um chapter 16 verse 3 it gives some insight into what ahaz was doing when he did not walk in the way of the lord and it reads and i'll read from the king james version but he walked in the way of the kings of israel yea and made his son to pass through the fire according to the abominations of the heathen whom the lord cast out from before the children of israel and then verse 4 and he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree so this is a a king of god's people who has gone into committing abominations and causing his son to walk through the fire and doing all these kind of things following in the way of the heathen and we know from scripture that when god's people walk against him or walk away from him they end up in all kinds of trouble it's like um remember when israel were walking through the wilderness we're traveling through the wilderness and in the wilderness that were dangerous it's a dangerous environment but whilst they were obedient to god they were protected no harm came to them and they were fed and looked after etc but remember that occasion when they said we hate this loathsome manner and they moved away from god and all of a sudden the asps came in and they were bitten and many perished and many died in other words once they moved in disobedience god's protection was forfeited was removed and all the dangers of the environment were able to come in and do do their damage here ahaz has led his people away from god in the way of the heathen and they find now that all the dangers in their environment these civil wars and and and attacks from outside are able to come in because the protection that they had with god had been breached okay so this is a warning to us whenever we move away from god we breach the god's protection and we are then open to all kinds of attacks from within and from without great great opening panelists we've got the scene set there pastor royston anything coming in from our listeners and our viewers a lot of information elder johnny um vj vijay cautioned on on live stream he says um it has to be a lifestyle otherwise it won't happen that if you know if you don't have a relationship with god then it won't happen um era 6b john said there is there's no other god he said you know that's where she finds open patience says some people are reluctant so when if we're if we're helping people who you know are having challenges we need to listen to them reason with them and then you ask to pray with them yes kurt on youtube says god will be god's will be done there's no better person juliette said she uses um psalm 41 verse 10 don't be afraid if i'm with you don't be discouraged from your god i will threaten you i will hold you up with my victorious right hand i think she's using um the the nkjv um there's another version out there jb health says on on live stream um relationship with god is critically important in these times and he says um if people don't open themselves up then obviously you should invite them to taste and see the difference it makes having a relation with god and then if they don't then intercession actually does work um jackie says sorry karen says on on live stream belief faith and hope and obviously she's then relying on the relationship that we have with god then peter peter made the point that some people will reject god again um rejection of god doesn't mean that you leave them but you help them again to move in that direction um elder um omwenga says um elder mungo says using ii samuel 22 7 in my distress i call upon the lord i cried out to my god and from his temple he heard my voice and my cry for help reached him cyril edward says amen pastor but some people are so caught up in their problems that they don't hear a word spoken and then he then he says pray for them wow good good comments keep your comments coming in looking for your questions too can i throw something else jj says hello johnny sorry to bump in um this would be a good time to share a testimony and encourage them to try jesus they have nothing to lose pray that they will they'll have even the tiniest amount of faith because the bible says if your faith is as small as a mustard seed then you can move mountain and then jg says god can work with that amen thank you sir thank you so just like politics today people link up with those they don't really like so as not to lose out instead of doing what is right but god reaches out to his man on the ground isaiah elder john um what does isaiah 7 329 say in view of what is going on now i don't know if you can hear me i seem to have lost everybody we can hear you we can hear you and see you now sir sorry good jolly good okay um this is the the beauty about doing everything online so we're looking at isaiah chapter seven verses three to nine and i'm reading from the king james version again and it reads then said the lord unto isaiah go forth now to meet ahaz thou and sheer jashub thy son at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fullest field and say to him take heed and be quiet fear not neither be faint-hearted for the two tales of these smoking firebrands for the fierce anger of resin with syria and of the sun of ramalia because syria ephraim and the son of romania have taken evil counsel against thee saying let us go up against judah and vex it and let us make a breach therein for us and set a king in the midst of it even the son of tabel thus saith the lord god it shall not stand neither shall it come to pass for the head of syria is damascus and the head of damascus is resin and within three score and five years shall ephraim be broken that it is not a people and the head of ephraim is samaria and the head of samaria is ramalia's son if you will not believe surely you will not be established now here we're being shown very clearly that god does not leave his people without help but it is up to us as god's people to respond god is not going to force himself upon us he will come to us with help we cry out he hears but if we don't respond now note the name of isaiah's son shia jason the meaning of this is a remnant shall return so even in the name of isaiah's son here was something that ahaz could grab hold of and say okay good god is giving me a promise here and he mentions as well that these two powers they are tales of smoking firebrands they're not a bushfire they're not a fire that's going to rage through the country in fact they're just the smoking remnant resin was in fact the last independent king of syria 65 years later ephraim is going to be broken and will no longer be a people the lesson that god is trying to give young a has this 20-something-year-old king he's trying to say to him as it says in psalms 46 and verse 10 be still and know that i am god amen i will be exalted among the heathen i will be exalted in the earth amen amen powerful pastor andrew anything to add to to that what is interesting is how god speaking through his prophet is communicating with the king and the saying things of what will be he's giving the the he's saying today what will be tomorrow i'm trying and trying to fathom this if i was able to have such communication to know what tomorrow will be ahead of time would that not move me to want to obey or believe in that god so my question is what is happening with ahaz why why is he in the predicament that he's in because he's been shown that these things won't happen they will not survive but this will happen that will happen why then does he not change or why does he not obey god and i'm just wondering now to ask ourselves the question are we in a similar situation where we're walking in our own way perhaps we're not walking according to god but yet god through his word is making things known ahead of time of what will be but are we changing in our outlook in our behavior and that was a question that came to mind when i look at looked at that ahaz was told what shall be but did it make a difference in his life and that's a question to me because we have the word of god which also tells us ahead of time what will be demonstrating who god is and the god whom we serve but is it having a difference on my life knowing that fact deep question deep question to us all shannika anything to add to what's been said i think they said it all really i think just the key thing is just keep trusting them what god's saying to you and just really listen to him that's all i can add definitely um well let's go to our viewers um is there anything coming in at the moment pastor well sunshine made a point i i'm using the the english standard version of um isaiah 7 9 it says if you are not firm in faith you will not be firm i i i find that very powerful cheryl says um if i if i know the thoughts that i think towards you said the lord thoughts of peace not that evil and to give you a good hope um um gift of life said my best friends in child went to live in in canada for you for a few years she returned not believing in god anymore she believed in self i walk away from her was was that wrong ah interesting so that's one question okay to the panelists but there's another question about alliance courtney thompson on on um era 6b live chat says good morning is there is there is there anything wrong in forming strategic alliances with the enemy to gain benefits economics are otherwise because we see a lot of countries right they don't like each other we know they don't like each other they say it but yet still they're they're in bed with them um metaphorically speaking so that's a thought and by the way elder john and once we're going to that i i wrote in my lesson know your enemies know your know your no be be conscious of your alliances but but be but know your god more so that's the thought yes that i have i i think that answers our second question about strategic alliances because uh who who are we to judge in terms of what the motive but if you know god and if you are a christian you've got to know why you are doing something and and what the real motive is that's behind this but but panelists just very briefly the question was asked um so the the friend of the person had forgotten her name um she went away to canada and then as a result came back not knowing god so gift of life so gift of life decided to sever the relationship and jesus unfriend her okay so she's asking the question was that right so very briefly shanika let me come to you first of all as somebody who is a youth counselor as well as other things you know so somebody's come to you and they're they're feeling i don't know if they're feeling guilty or not but they're saying to you shanika is that right was that right what would you say um i wouldn't unfriend that person i'm friends with people from various walks of life i'm friends with atheists some friends of muslims i'm friends with people who are gay who are transgender people who are caught up in criminal action and so they're all walks of life and i wouldn't just unfriend them because you can always be a witness to them even know what seeds you're planting it's all about spreading love like it's a shame when you see someone go a certain way or they calm all about themselves i mean it's really horrible to see no one wants to see that but keep showing love and caring about them and just making sure that you're strong in god and know what you're putting out into the world but i wouldn't just confront someone okay i'm i'm sure our fellow panelists will also agree with that because at the end of the day when we look at the example that christ set us when he was here on earth so i would say gift of life when the time is right with much prayer re-friend because you never know that friend may be just waiting for you to reach out again go ahead because um sophie nichols on on livestream on on youtube says how can you minister to people if you're not friends to them jesus best friends were the sinful i think that actually um answers the question and i think um jack's on um our live stream says if we walk away how do we help them yeah these are the people jesus spent time with alana says we ought to ask for humbleness of art yes to receive and take heed of god's prompting jb says would god lead us into unholy alliances we need to surrender god's leading our influence can always make a difference if we are strong example for god great discussions going out there so viewers and listeners i've got another question for you you know king a has needed to trust god maybe he couldn't wait 65 years maybe as a patient's thing who knows but what can you share to encourage others to trust in god no matter what and that's the point remember when your world is falling apart how do you encourage people to trust in god no matter what looking forward to hearing your comments and answers to that one um but as we move on the word of the lord did not stop there we've just picked up from um the first part of isaiah chapter seven we want to hear some more so pastor andrew coming to you first of all just continue for us isaiah chapter 7 verses 10 through to 12. what goes on next okay so now i'll read from the king james version and it says moreover the lord spake again unto ahaz saying ask thee a sign of the lord thy god ask it either in the depth or in the height above but a has said i will not ask neither will i tempt god now this is interesting because on the face of it it looks as though ahaz is being noble in a way and saying i will not tempt god but yet god here is actually reaching out to him and offering ahaz something he said ask thee a sign of the lord and he says thy god ask it either in the depth or in the height above but ahaz refuses to do this and i don't think it's because he he doesn't want to tempt god as a noble gesture but it's his continuing um he's continuing to not trust god um not to allow god to to to show him what he can do and to because god is reaching out to him and god is trying to encourage him to trust in him to return his trust and put it in god but ahaz is actually refusing to do this it's it's like he's refusing the offer of help um have we been in a situation like that where we are actually in the position where we need help and when help is offered we turn it down we don't want it we still want to pursue our own course and so it is very interesting to see ahaz's response here to the god of gods the god who knows the future and the god who's offering to help but yet he's turning that help down okay okay um so shanika what does god say next uh through isaiah isaiah 7 13 please i'm still reading from the new king james version he says then he said here now oh house of david is it a small thing for you to weary men but will you weary my god also i have to say something weird we find this really funny and a lot of the bible is really really funny the way these people behave and keep on behaving towards god i look at these people and think what is actually wrong with you and isaiah in a way is saying what i'm saying like what is wrong with you you're already doing all these things to weary men because your your mistakes are really affecting the people you're supposed to be leading like you're about to cause absolute carnage to come on them and god is trying to help you and trying hard to help you and say i'm gonna give you a sign from like hell to heaven i'm gonna give you a huge sign like the big sign and it was saying that like you know less than this week about how it was even bigger than what kings did because they would offer like half the kingdom but god's offering from heaven to hell and you're saying oh no i'm not going to test because you know you just don't want to cleave to him and you're just making him tired it's just it's just what is wrong with people and it could be what is wrong with us when god's trying to get us and we're just still going but i know we're going to do things this way or do things our way a lot of these kings unfortunately are like that just doing these things i just wearing god i've gone to him just sitting there just being like what is wrong with you like please just i'm trying to help you just listen and take keys that save your life and life other people my goodness uh very very dramatic there i think we really understand the frustration i mean elder john i i guess this has been answered but i still need to ask you this question you know did king ahaz really understand that he's refusing god no absolutely not and i think part of the problem here is that ahaz doesn't actually know god you know it's very hard to refuse somebody unless you know that person and ahaz through his life has demonstrated that he hasn't known god more importantly because he hasn't known god he hasn't learned how to trust in god if he'd started off by trusting god in the smaller things then when it came to the bigger things perhaps he would be able to trust him it's interesting to note that in verse 11 of chapter 7 there the ahaz is saying go to your god but by the time isaiah responds to him isaiah starts talking about my god there's a recognition there that you're given this opportunity go to your god but you you don't know him if you knew him if you knew my god yes then you would go to him and you would trust him yes and again i'm going to make a reference to hassan to psalm 34 and verse 8 because here is god actually reaching out and saying oh taste and see that the lord is god sorry it's good blessed is the man that trusteth in him and this is a very important lesson for all of us yes ahaz here has not picked this up and so this is where the problems are coming in wow okay um online our viewers and our listeners have they come back with an answer pastor um yes i i like the point that elaine elaine says um elaine i think elaine is in canada she says um he has kept on avoiding the green light and choose instead the dangerous red light so that i i found that to be very powerful um jb jb says um we have nothing to fear for the future unless we forget how he has led us in the past pride and self-centeredness can make us blind even if we know what may be right powerful powerful thought um i was trying to find some stuff coming um rosevana says let's not be too quick to judge ahaz honestly if god told me to test him today would i believe would i believe it's it's him interesting so no so that's that's i found that to be a very interesting thought my good friend over there in um in in nigeria um roxy says if you are not strong enough to evangelize a friend it's best to stay away unless you'll be influenced don't be do not unfriend but tread with caution yes and i i found out to be very sobering sobering thought um paul paul raised a question and there's a question to the panelists i think why why can you trust why can you why can you trust god to help others um i i don't think i'm seeing the question clearly um can what can you i'll come back i'm trying to read it but i just can't see the question okay okay well i'll come back to that point um paul says the gospel the croydon gospel choir used to sing all over the world in many different places suggesting that some of these places maybe were on church places and and and has been criticized for singing god's word in certain places but we go where god leads should we have said no i think we're talking about alliances yeah and influences so that's that's that's frame within that context okay okay so um i don't know if um any of the leaders of the gospel choir are listening in but i suppose as a former choir member myself that the ethos of the choir was first and foremost about spreading the word of god so to me we needed to go wherever the call was but the context i i don't know specifically but i can just comment in that way okay i'm i'm i'm we want to keep moving and in terms of getting through our lesson so when you find that question that's fine but i'll throw another one out to our viewers and listeners you know some of you may have asked god for a sign when you have a decision to make do you agree with this approach to god and why so somebody commented earlier about what they they wouldn't necessarily um i can't remember the expression that was used but implying that they wouldn't ask god for a sign some of you may have asked god for a sign in the past some of you may stay clear of asking god for a sign so it'll be interesting to know what your views are out there about whether you should ask god for a sign when you have a decision to make so let's have your comments coming in on that um here are some thoughts ella johnny before you go to the panelists um cleotel says um brethwaite says ahaz was too too deep in sin to recognize um elijah noel says ahaz mind was disengaged so god could not dwell there he made way for satan to dwell instead yes deep points thank you so regardless that almighty god through his prophet isaiah is giving the leader of judea every opportunity to trust him king ahaz was in the camp of not asking god for a sign so shanika what happens in isaiah 7 verse 14 please so exact 114 tells us therefore the lord himself will give you a sign behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name emmanuel so we finally do get a sign here and it just continues this wonderful theme in isaiah peter's chapter of the significance of the names and we have two things about calling zlatan emmanuel which we know means god with us which is a really wonderful thing but already the sign which ahaz isn't going to see it's a sign that's going to be in the future that's something really amazing because we think about it a virgin just conceive embarrassing but in itself you're thinking how does that happen what is that what about that's very very strange so that in itself is like a huge sign of god being able to do anything but also a sign about protection and saving and that god is with you always whereas you think god's just not with you but god is with you so it's there's actually a whole lot of things in this verse and in this sign that ahaz is getting and he's getting this really amazing intel into jesus coming but it's sad because it's just like does he even know the significance of this or know how important this sign is going to be for the life of even his always descendants coming yes yes indeed um pastor andrew i know you had a point to make on a previous thing what i'll do i'll come to you in a moment but elder john if i can just come to you first of all you know clearly this is jesus but just to dispel any rumors um for us of those who might think it could be someone else just expand on maybe some of the other thoughts of who emmanuel and this special child could be okay i think the um the first thing i want to bring out here is for those who have studied the sanctuary service and have looked at the applications of old testament and new testament there's a very well-known principle of type and anti-type and so what we're looking at here is there is there is type and there is anti-type now that means that you may have a fulfillment in the olden times but you actually have the real fulfillment coming in a later time right and so if you look at isaiah chapter 8 and verse 3 you will see it says there that isaiah went unto the prophetess now who who this is we're not quite sure but he goes to this prophetess she conceives so here is this phrase i went unto the prophetess isaiah's doing more than just going for a visit he's going he's laying with her she conceives a son and she bears a son and his name he's told to call the name now i'm getting all these great names today there he is what does this mean it means swift is booty speedy is prey now this child was was being born to let ahaz know that you know god is is there don't think that god is giving up even though it might take 65 years as we saw earlier on for things to be concluded now the interesting thing is this is not the fulfillment of the prophecy because we're told very clearly that isaiah goes and sleeps with this woman so this is not a virgin giving birth now the word virgin in the hebrew it can be looked at in two ways in one way it can be a maiden it can be a woman and so this prophetess she was she was a maiden she was a woman for sure but also it can mean a virgin so we have this partial fulfillment that comes in here uh in isaiah's time and there you have that son i'm getting really good at saying that name and then you have the new testament time coming in when jesus christ comes as the real fulfillment of this so we're seeing a sign a type in isaiah but the real deal that the savior is going to come who's not just going to be there for israel but for the entire world for every one of us and so there's that really precious promise that comes in there through isaiah great very well said and there the name didn't tie you up excellent thank you um pastor andrew i know you wanted to make a point but um also once you've made that point i just want to know if there's anyone else that people may misconstrue as who this sign of the sun is um um well i i might say the the point i wanted to make to later maybe i'll put it in in my my review um so the one also um one idea is that that that it could be um hezekiah and but we know that it's not so we know that that it's that it's christ and refers to christ when we continue to follow the story forward but one suggests that it's hezekiah that's who is the son of ahaz who became the next king but the problem is is that the name is manual means god with us that's right but it's not the case with hezekiah so we need to look into well what does it mean god with us and i think it will link to the next part of the of the of that lesson where we actually look at that we go into that into that detail what emmanuel means i don't know if i can preempt something here before we get there perhaps but it's when when we look at this emanuel this this god with us this enfleshment this god with humanity you look at the the whole history of israel when they were told moses was told let them build me a sanctuary that i might dwell among them and so here we have god dwelling among them and throughout the whole history of israel we have this god's communion with israel through israel and being among the people even though they did all kinds of things but then when you come to christ you have the true emanuel god not only being among his people but god being in his people yes so what you have is an enfleshmen of god within humanity yes and so this is a very deep thing because then there's an indwelling of god in us through the one that was going to come and jesus is as the god is speaking to a hazard he's showing a sign of greater things to come and actually a greater deliverance but you must trust god god is revealing these things and i mean it's important also to remember that the time frame that god works on is not the same time frame that we work on we we're built on hours minutes seconds days years but god a day is neither here nor there it's a thousand days it's like a single day so when we go and when we we can sometimes misunderstand this and become impatient because it looks like things are not happening but god does not work in our time frame but that doesn't mean that god is not working but he's trying to appeal to us to trust him and to think from his perspective yes thank you god with us thank you very much pastor bryson i i'm flooded elder johnny so i'm going to go quickly and slowly and carefully um gifted monroe on on on on era 6b says it's a 50 50 about the sign right do it with fasting she says or he says um to remove self yes lucifer field says um absolutely to know how to act um she wants to do his will that's lucy um simon edward said it is not on human i like what simon says it is not on human to want evidence proof or sign of something however we must be very careful that we seek to grow our faith in god let's become another doubtful thomas i like what um i like what um sophie nichols says she said her bible is like a google and it has instructions and it has signs um charles says many time i ask god for sign and he did it that was like a green light for me violet over there in 6b says yes we should in everything we should go to god instead of going to our neighbor our neighbors for help ahaz didn't did not have faith in god so he put his trust in man jg on livestream says to ask god for a sign or not not a yes or no thing your relationship with god directs you how to relate to him how we speak how he speaks to you elder muhammad says it's amazing to note how far god went to try to persuade king here is i think he's gonna is the next point god says please please you know please please just ask um it's amazing to note how far god went to try to persuade king ayers to give him a chance to save him how many times have we turned god's gracious opportunity to bless us human sin knows no bound i like that um now miriam aaron says um on our live stream says we should be careful to ask god for sign rather asks to show his will through his providence but i think it's it's it's it's a rhetorical point yeah um um right i think that's that's that's those are the the sum total of the point that i need to make but i'm going to throw my my 10 pennywort in because i heard this i heard the story of a man who wanted a wife so he asked god for a sign he says lord the first lady who comes to church i will married to her now he knowingly knew that sister jane was the first person who who came to church and he like sister but he didn't know how to ask her he said lord i need that sign the next morning sister black came to church first he says lord i need another sign see so we're there right i'll leave it at that okay okay that's fine i was waiting to see if there was a sister green or somebody else well what he says he says lord the wrong side can i have another side ah and this is the point okay that's the point yep our viewers and our listeners when you think that king herod at the time of christ's birth not only rejected the sign as in jesus but tried to dispose of the sign now is there a message here about the difficulty of those in power to accept jesus as their savior think about that interesting looking forward to having your comments on that is it difficult for those in power to accept jesus as their savior but moving on as time is racing ahead so isaiah clearly says that the name of the child is emmanuel which means god with us panelists briefly what does it mean to you personally that god is with you elder john let me come to you first of all god is with you what does that mean to you yes okay first of all let me say i'm still recovering from pastor royston's um little anecdote there i kind of i saw that coming and i thought that's brilliant yeah no not that sign lord i'll take another sign thanks very much um god with us i mean obviously we know that god with us means that god being with us but what does it mean to us personally now i'm going to try and truncate what could be a very long story here it's a very short story okay um i spent 10 15 years as a missionary evangelist maybe maybe more traveling literally around the world and the point i want to bring out here is that when you're in a situation where you're walking with god the more you trust in god the more you learn how to trust in god if that makes sense so here i am i'm domiciled in budapest in hungary at the time i have to get across the world to israel i've got to be there on time i you know there's no chance to delay or anything i get on a plane in budapest and it takes me to london and i don't know why i've got to london nobody knows why i've got to london but now i'm trying to get from london across to israel even further to go planes are packed out there's no seats available they are paying people to get off the plane but a miracle happens and i'm found they find a place for me to get on this plane i'm running through the last part of the security checks and i get stopped because horror of horrors there is a knife in my suitcase now where i'm living out in eastern europe everybody carries knives to cut open fruit vegetable bread this kind of thing but they said okay that's it you're a british citizen you're carrying a knife you know the penalty for that you're going to be in court the next morning and i'm like no i have to be in israel i have to be in jerusalem tomorrow morning and the police are there they're saying nope sorry you are now coming off with us we're going to keep you in custody overnight then you're going to go and see the magistrate tomorrow morning a miracle happens that gets me out and i turn to my escort from the airline and i say is the plane still there and he goes no my plane's left and i said can you please check he gets on the radio is the plane still there yes it is hurry up oh so we have to run to get onto this plane so we run down to the uh the point you know the last final boarding point the gate where you check in i throw my suitcase quite literally at somebody somebody else grabs my ticket and my passport they tear the ticket stub off quickly go down there i run down i find myself on the plane but instead of being halfway down the plane i'm at the front of the plane now the front of the plane that's first class and i'm kind of stepping on and i'm going oh i think i'm in the wrong place and the guy's taking my ticket going no this is the right place here is your seat over here and so i'm sitting down i'm carrying an indian taker away with me and i tell you i can't tell you the whole story how do i get to have an indian takeaway with me but as i come on i hand this to the steward and i say well i know you haven't got a meal for me because i'm last minute on the plane um here's my indian takeaway to heat up later he goes okay sir thank you very much and walks off with it comes back a bit later looks down the manifest and says look we've got a vegetarian meal down here nobody else in first class is vegetarian is this yours do you want this meal and i'm kind of going hey great stuff thank you very much i'll have that and then we sit down we get ready to take off now bear in mind every delay that's happened to me on the way i've been praying lord lord i need to get to jerusalem my wife is at the airport she's been praying as well i'm enlisting everybody to pray for me finally as the plane is getting ready to taxi off and leave i call the steward over and just say um what happens because the plane is late how come the plane was late and this is the story he told me he said we were loading all the luggage in the luggage bay door was open and we pressed the button to close it and it wouldn't close and we pressed the button and it wouldn't close and we pressed the button and it wouldn't close and so then we get out a crank where we can do it by hand and so we wind the door closed by hand but we couldn't move it it just wouldn't shift in fact we got to the point where we were thinking this plane it just can't be used we're gonna have to de-plane everybody and bring another plane in so was that where god was using that effectively to well yes i mean what happened is my suitcase ends up rushing down and falling into the bay and then all of a sudden the door shuts by itself wow you see the power of god what a testimony what a testament thank you for sharing that for with us briefly um uh pastor andrew god god with us what does that mean to you it means a great deal and and it's a it's the comfort it doesn't mean that everything will be okay it doesn't mean that i won't suffer or go through pain but it means that no matter what my circumstance whether in the fiery furnace or wherever the case may be god is with us and so when you have that assurance it doesn't matter the circumstance it doesn't matter the challenge or the difficulty when you trust and believe in god he is with you so we need to start to think from god's perspective fear god and not circumstances thank you sir and sister shanika god is with you or god with us what's that for you it's a beautiful thing i was going to say like pastor andrew it's a great comfort and when you think of that it means that god is always with you he's always in your presence you're always in his presence wherever you are not just in worship he's always in your presence so you can know that he's just there for every moment and he's guiding you the right way and he's going to protect you and just look out for you oh wow thank you thank you panelists what powerful testimonies um pastor royston thank you a little johnny um juliet says god is emmanuel is with us and as the good book promises he'll never leave us nor forsake us she says that's my take christ came to us in human form um with all its temptations and woe ross farrell says it is yes it is difficult because they are in power well i think she's talking about people in power and accepting christ so let me let me focus on on the question first and we come back to that karen says wonderful testament god leading elder um somebody says um it's it's about dealing with pain sorrow stress and even even tears god god with us gift of life says god with me i'm not afraid he is my pill of cloud and fire to protect me god with me my mind is sound i can sing and tell of his wondrous works sounds like a sermon god with me i have peace god with me glory now now i feel like preaching um frank says oh past oh that's for me to do a vespa in switzerland i'll pass over that um sunset says it is not difficult for people in power let me pass over that again miriam says those impo again people are relating to the power issue yeah i'm trying to find god with us rodney semesters god with us god has one of us i like that he took upon himself our human nature to feel what we feel when tempted by sin god god with us i'm looking at um um roti thomas i like the name roti thomas hallelujah god with us praise god for his presence in our life blessed and happy sabbath brothers and sisters in christ um geon over there in 6b says god is in control powerful god god with us that's a very powerful um concept and i think what god was trying to say to um god was trying to say to um to hey to to jehaz listen stop worrying about alliances i'm i'm with you that was the primary focus that's right because he was using the name to say to to say something um to to jehas and and obviously we go further on where the name then applies to christ because matthew then used the same context to make the point that god is with us and his name shall be called emmanuel god with us and the reason for that he takes away our sins andrea the blessed said life is life is god's god's breath so it's he's with us till death a manga says it has been in the in the holy spirit that god is with us sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the third person of the godhead what powerful thought album so panelists just just very briefly you know god has created us as social beings so it's good to have human assistance when needed but how do we learn to recognize the limits of human assistance i mean some of these things have been touched on but literally if we just take maybe 30 seconds each let me go to yourself shanika first of all so again it's like human assistance but do we how do we recognize the limits of human assistance you got a thought on that i think because we know no human is always consistent they're not always reliable they're also unfortunately not always honest and have things best intentions but we know that god is all of those things so we know that we can go to her for help for support for love and all sorts of things like working together but know that things can go wrong because ultimately we're all human beings they all fall and we all have things just recognizing that okay thank you pastor andrew limits of human assistance how do we recognize that well the truth is of ourselves we can't unless it's really obvious and sometimes the limits are deceptive you don't see it um so here then is where we must trust god because god will make these things known he will give us that discernment to discern whether this person is someone that god has appointed when we live everything through christ and in christ even those who we look to trust god will make those known yes to us because he knows the heart and he will steer us and we will put our feet in the right places so that we are not misled or misguided by those that we cannot really trust okay so our absolute trust must be in god and god first and he will guide and direct thank you and elder john yes um the the problem we've got of course is that no human knows the future nobody has the knowledge that god has um i have been blessed in that god has given me someone to be with we've been together for 35 in fact before our marriage it's almost coming up to 40 years we've been together and the one thing i've learned from my wife that my wife will tell me over and over again when we don't know what's going on when we're not sure what's happening be still and trust in god amen and the number of times she assures me that don't worry about what we're thinking take it to the lord in prayer because he's the one that knows the end from the beginning that's wonderful wonderful good to have a good wife that is there final comments online pastor royster um i think a lot of people are commenting about you know how challenging it is for people in power to trust god because they're in power but but but but it's a relationship as we're discovering i mean time has flown um jb health says when we rely on god fully we ask god to lead us to those who truly will support and help us in other words um we can have other alliances we can have outside help but but we need to ask god to make sure that he's leading us allana says i can hardly begin to testify of the amount of time god has shown me he will be with me every day amen that's powerful karn says god with us tells me that if i was the only person on earth amen god would have still come down and died for me that's that's powerful um and edwy chandler says on era sixth be another point of view first to consider king as god complacent being king of israel he must have heard of god's intervention before his time and took it for granted it could be a lesson for us yes and and we taking for granted the the the power of god um god with us he won't leave us and if our and if if if our life full of struggles he's there to comfort us and give us the strength god with us tells us that i am chloe says i'm always in his presence rkg says god is always with me i feel his presence when i'm worried evelyn says um god is all powerful there's none like him cutting jesus god with us sometimes like adam and eve i hide from him but he still comes looking for me um and and the list goes on okay panelists it's that time we've got to wrap up 30 seconds each i'm afraid um what's your takeaway thought let's go to elder john okay i wasn't expecting that right 30 seconds to know god you have to know god so in other words if we want to get to know him we've got to take time to learn to trust him to hear his voice to discern his voice and we can only do that when we surrender when we give up control and trust god or in other words as the memory verse says if you will not believe surely you will not be established believe and then find that god is the only one who can be trusted 100 of the time in every single occasion thank you very much and sister shanika i'd say trust god have faith in god seek a relationship with god because he seeks a relationship with you he loves you he's chasing after you but not in a forceful way in a really beautiful wonderful way and his presence is always with you he will guide you for your best for your good and also even more wonderful for the good of others thank you and pastor andrew well i'll let scripture speak in for me for the word of god is better than my words and i'm reading from ii chronicles 20 verses 3 4 and then verse 20 and jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the lord and proclaim the fast throughout all judah and judah gathered themselves together ask help of the lord even out of all the cities of judah they came to seek the lord and here's verse 20 and they rose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness of toccoa and as they went forth jehoshiphat stood and said hear me o judah and ye inhabitants of jerusalem believe in the lord your god so shall ye be established believe his prophets so shall ye prosper amen thank you so much pastor andrew and pastor royston and he's saying elder johnny god don't come but he said that's from alana our needs and our desires must be a total dependency on him and finally from elder bennett i want to read it god always reaches out in love first it's just his nature he can't help himself but shows his unfailing love remember when adam and eve sinned who reached out first god is always reaching out to us thank you we're right out of time please stay with us for our divine service let's bring our service to a close lord we're thankful for your word we're thankful for the time that we've had to study help us lord to make sure to study to find ourselves approved so we'll know what to do when our world is falling apart for jesus sake amen [Music] love divine all loves [Music] oh thy faithful mercy's jesus [Music] enter every trembling [Music] into [Music] let us rest take away the love [Music] [Music] liberty [Music] received [Music] we would be [Music] thee always ceasing glory in thy perfect love [Music] let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee changed [Music] till we cast the crowns before the love and praise [Music] [Applause] [Music] and [Music] [Applause] presence [Music] blessings [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] praise thy faithfulness new mercies [Music] has provided [Music] faithfulness [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is the church in 6b and those who are on this virtual platform are called to worship david says in psalm 104 he says bless the lord o my soul o god you have you are very great you are clothed with honor and majesty who covers yourself with light as with the garment who stretched out the heavens like a curtain may the lord be lifted up today may the lord be exalted in everything that is done today amen father god we are called to worship and as we come to worship may your name be praised may your name be praised in the praise team may your name be praise in the testimonies may your name be praised in the prayers the songs and in the spoken word may your name be praised in the name of the father the son and holy spirit amen on behalf of the pastors and the leadership of era 6b we want to welcome you to day 11 of our 10 days of prayer yesterday friday was the final day but being today being the sabbath we now have time to to celebrate the time the ten days that we have spent with the lord um the pastors have presented the word focusing on the importance of the holy spirit in your life and in your walk with god and we're hoping that having enjoyed a spiritual feast that your hearts will be lifted up that your relationship with god will get stronger and for the rest of 2021 no matter what the devil throws at you you have had the right platform so as we launch into 2021 may you be blessed amen [Music] welcome [Applause] [Music] joining us [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] hey the choice [Music] is [Music] before we reach the heavenly field before we reach the heavenly [Music] [Applause] is [Music] we're marching through [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is do god be the glory great things [Music] [Music] praise the lord praise the lord let the earth praise the let lord people rejoice oh come to the father through [Music] things jesus have done oh perfect redemption [Music] purges [Music] praise the lord oh come to the father through jesus great things he had taught us great things he had done and great our rejoicing through jesus [Music] praise the lord and praise the lord let the earth hear his voice praise the lord praise the lord let the people rejoice to the father to jesus praise the lord praise the lord [Music] through jesus [Music] this is my personal testimony of what the lord has done for me during the year 2020 you know in the book of lamentations 3 and verse 22 it says it is of the lord's mercies that we are not consumed for his compassions fail not they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness i would like to express my deepest gratitude to the lord for his faithfulness to me and my family during 2020 he's kept my family here and overseas as well as myself protected from the coronavirus pandemic i'm also thankful that despite a number of members contracting the virus within our local church in balum no one has been lost to the virus and i'll always remember the exceeding great and precious promise that the lord gave to me back in april at the height of the pandemic when hundreds of people were dying every single day on the 7th of april a former friend and colleague was a former colleague and friend called to to let me know that her husband had died a horrific death the previous night from the virus he had contracted the virus just two weeks earlier and now he was gone and the way she described how he died was just terrible after that gut-wrenching conversation i started to wonder about myself how would i manage living on my own should i contract the virus that thought weighed heavily on my mind throughout the day i also started to think about my standing with god was i secure in him if that should come suddenly so that night before i went to sleep i prayed about my fears to the lord well the following morning a friend sent me a devotional and as i read the scripture which was taken from john 10 and verse 28 and and says i give unto you eternal life and you shall never perish neither shall any man pluck you out of my hand as i read that scripture i felt the holy spirit speak to my heart through that verse and i was filled with such peace and assurance for the whole day i was singing praises to my god and thanking him for such assurance the text has become my go-to promise since last april and every time i repeat it it just makes my heart sing with gratitude and confidence in god god had delivered me from all my fears that day with that blessed assurance another awesome provision that the lord has made for us during the pandemic was providing the technology especially zoom for us to keep church and to feel connected so can you imagine what it would have been like considering that we have not been able to meet to worship and fellowship together for the last 10 months we've been locked out of church we've been socially distanced and we've been told to wear masks and it seems as if the devil had us just where he wanted us but what he didn't know was that the holy spirit he didn't know that god was way above the curve and he had already made provision through technology for us to keep connected and that reminds me of how god had provided a printing press during the reformation when martin luther when martin luther translated the bible and the print the bible became the first major publication to have been printed on the printing press and the rest as they say is history zoom has also enabled us to reach out to those seeking the lord during the pandemic by enabling us to conduct bible studies online as a result three precious souls were added to the church and as far as we know to date at least one other person is preparing for baptism in the new year all this was possible because god had provided the technology so that his work could still be carried forward to date we have more people involved in outreach via bible studies than i've seen before than i've ever seen before in balance church so despite a year that we've never experienced before god has shown himself strong on behalf of his people truly i can join with david in saying bless the lord o my soul and forget not all his benefits bless the lord o my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name amen be not disrespecting god will take [Music] beneath [Music] god will take care of you god will take care [Music] through every day he will take god will take care of you through days of time [Music] will is care of you god will take care of you through every [Music] he will take all you may need he will provide god will take care of you [Music] god will take care of you god will take care of you through every day he will take him [Music] god [Music] [Applause] [Music] is through every day [Music] god of you every day [Music] is hello everyone hello brothers and sisters i hope you very well i'm just here to tell you my testimony um you know because i'm a good guy or um i'm fine or i'm a pretty or whatever no it's only cat works that's it because i imagine i guess i know i guess um i'm not the only one in icu so probably there you go many people in the same condition a worse condition um it's not easy so it's not easy for them so but i felt like everyone like look at me all the time i was very carefully um when i woke up and when i i don't need any oxygen or anything to breathe so they were very happy one of the nurses she came and she said like victor on your way i'm very happy for you so i'm gonna call to your parents through my phone um to make it a facetime so you can you can see your parents so she was very very good she called my parents um she placed me on the phone well i wasn't able to to talk because i was very draggy um and then uh by my my parents they told me like getting more close to god carry more uh uh please stay strong please stay safe and then i'll say i didn't as to what he said i mean i understood what he said but i said like why he told me this kind of thing uh well i saw my parents day very well my mom was crying as well because for her she told me like was a long long long three weeks because i didn't have any woke up and they were very happy they were very happy and then uh well while i was asleep well i was sleepy so well my mind was didn't feel nothing any pain or whatever because my mind was dreaming a lot so he was thinking i was dreaming i was in japan i was with michael jordan i was with willis need or many hospitals as well but everything related with the hospitals so i'll start building the thing right so while i was awake so the by the third day after when i was awake uh they transferred me to another world because i wasn't out the critical zone uh while it's always another word so basically uh well i'll have any contact with anyone only with my friend taylor um because she was the speaker for my family uh i'm also the doctors calling every day for her to her to tell you my state um also she passed information to my family as well um i have to say thank you very much kayla i really appreciate um then uh at the last she told me like victor are you awake now so i'm very happy because you are waiting now so you'll be fine now uh well i spoke with her and she told me like she told me stuff well i wasn't cooked that was the first time i was in qatar with my friends uh where i was i had my ipad because my brother came and he gave me my ipad i was because i lost my phone and when she came when they are sorry when the the ipad came so i was getting contact with my family and in contact also with my some of my friends and i was telling you all the stories about my my mind my mind started creating my mind created telling i was in japan with michael jordan i was very hospital uh many things like but i was dragging so i was the dust effect of the drugs of the drug they gave me and then they after i call again kayla and she told me everything was happening to me so she told me like you launched his word twenty percent because you had the empty later you've been for three weeks in there and then i said wow long time and when she told me i had only 20 my lungs worked and i was intimate and the 80 percent they gave me the ventilator gave me give me a life i was like a shock and that shock made me think like wow god gave me another chance to live now i understood my dad what he told me so as my money started getting back to the reality and seeing what's happening um i was thinking like wow so that night i couldn't sleep to be honest i was crying because i said like wow i was like i was working by the valley of the dead like psalms 23 would say i was like very close to that because if in my lungs time there was like look at me talk about me i would feel like i was feeling like protecting as well no but that only thing is only got [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] sweetheart [Music] [Music] is [Music] my soul has [Music] returns [Music] thy wings [Applause] [Music] again [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] sweetheart [Music] [Applause] [Music] till [Music] is [Music] i rise [Music] [Applause] [Music] up [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] let us bow our heads as we invoke the presence of our god at this time heavenly father we come before your throne we come lord to first acknowledge that you are god that you are elohim you are yahweh the creator of all life and all things we come lord to accept once again your blessings the eternal hope the reality of eternal life that we have through faith in your son jesus christ our messiah yeshua father we do not have the buildings where we can come together as a group we do not have the one-to-one fellowship that we have been accustomed to but regardless of our circumstances we have you we come lord in an environment that seems to breed fear but lord you have promised us that you have not given us this spirit of fear we may seem to be alone and this may make us feel afraid but you have promised that you will never ever leave us and that whatever we ask in your name you will give us and the greatest gift that we ask of you right now is your holy spirit your presence the presence of jesus christ himself the comforter we ask now as we surrender our lives our thoughts our energies to you that your spirit will enhance our physical beings enhance our intellect so that we can rise above the darkness of this world and share in your peace we pray father that you will bless those who are responsible for presenting your word whether it be in song or in word we ask lord that you will give them your power and your strength and that we will hear only your sweet voice we ask father for the spirit the the spirit of revival the spirit of change the spirit that does not accept the norm anymore we ask for a spirit that realizes that your return is soon and i pray that you'll give us the strength and the power and the energy to reveal this message to everyone that we come across so father we want to thank you and we want to embrace you and we want to receive your power today so that we will be empowered to share this wonderful message because the very presence of jesus christ will be with us not only now but throughout eternity we thank you for these wonderful blessings in the name of our lord and savior jesus christ amen [Music] let us pray lord as i come before you again today i humbly ask for your forgiveness for we all have sinned and come we have fallen short of the glory of god [Music] lord with you there is power with you there is forgiving grace and we ask for your grace and mercies unto us dear lord that although we have sinned that lord we may choose you we may call upon your name in our times not only in our times of troubles but in our times of happiness that we may be so entwined in you your word your spirit your grace your power that lord nothing will be able to pull us apart from our from from from you that our relationship with you will be so strong that it will be unbreakable dear lord that as a people we will stick together that in this time of separation in the churches and isolation that lord we will come together by faith and we may be able to reach your people dear lord that so many lives will be saved so many people will realize that you're coming in sooner than we can ever think or imagine that lord we need to be ready give us that desire give us that that that fear of you that we need to be ready that what we're doing now is not enough that we need to be doing more delay give us that urgency father god in a special way i just claim your salvation lord you gave us the greatest gift of all which was your son and lord with your gift we have life eternally and if we believe and we have that faith that dear lord we will see you in your soon coming that we will be with you forever dear lord i pray in a special way that you will hear my prayer and answer in jesus name amen father in heaven we give the praise and thanks for the blessings that you have bestowed upon us as we prepare to come into this 10-day program we ask that you will please be with us as we have a desperate need for the dependence of the holy spirit we thank you dear god for guiding and directing those that have taken responsibility for this program and we ask that you will please anoint each and every one that will be participating we surrender ourselves into your hand and care we've left 20 20 20 behind and we're venturing into 2021 and we're asking you the heavenly father to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves we pray that through the power of the holy spirit that each and every one will be enlightened blessed covered unshielded so guide us there lord guide the leaders guide our ministers guide all those that will be participating in this program through the week and let your light shine in their hearts in their minds so that as we go forward into 2021 that the holy spirit will allow us and that we will allow the holy spirit to use us effectively thank you for your mercies your grace and your power and your love amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] let us pray almighty god it is such a privilege to have this opportunity to speak with you knowing that you here and you are faithful to answer thank you for your words which give us life because they are true and they are strong nothing can erase them thank you for placing each letter in your holy word for truly it sustains us you have said that you will sustain us god let us never forget it you have said that you will keep your eyes on us because you care so much about us please father encourage us to keep help us keep our eyes on you because you said that we will not be shaken in psalm 16 verse 8. father thank you for encouraging our hope in you for at this stressful time challenging time of change people need your comfort they need you to drive their tears they need you to sustain their minds lord and you have promised to do that in isaiah chapter 40 31 you have said that you will renew our strength almighty god kind god closest to us than even the breath that we breathe we thank you for this opportunity to not remind you of what you said but to encourage ourselves that your word is living so because your what is living we can hold on to it through every day throughout the rest of our lives maybe also share this word with others so it will benefit them too and see the glory of god in their lives all praise and honor belong to you this is my humble prayer and bold prayer in the name of your precious son yeshua the christ amen let us pray our kind loving heavenly father we worship and adore you we bless your wonderful name lord we give you thanks and praise for today and for our lives oh lord of ourselves we have done nothing good but we humble ourselves recognizing your goodness and your greatness in our lives lord all that we have all that we all that we have done all that we can do is because of you lord your word is true it says that it's not by might nor by power but it's by your holy spirit that your work will be accomplished help us to see lord that of ourselves there is nothing good none of our achievements or success is because of us and our skill in our promise but it's because of you because of your goodness your grace your mercy because of the empowerment of your holy spirit and so we humble our hearts today lord and we look to you knowing that you are the sovereign great god of the universe you are the one to be worshipped and adored help us lord to always remember that you are leading and directing in our lives as we look to you we thank you we praise you for all that you've done for all that you are doing and for that you continue to do we give you all the honor we give you all the glory and all the praise because it's in the wonderful name of jesus that we pray and say thanks amen [Music] good day church today's scripture reading will be taken from zechariah 4 verses 4 to 6. i will be reading from the king james version and it reads so i answered and spake to the angel that talks with me saying what are these my lord then the angel that talks with me answered and said unto me knoweth thou not what these be and i said no my lord then he answered and spake unto me saying this is the word of the lord unto zerubbabel saying not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the lord of hosts happy sabbath here at 6b and to all our friends around the world thank you for joining us today these 10 days have been a special blessing to my soul and i trust that the lord has truly blessed you likewise throughout our ten days of prayer and supplication now we have come to that special moment where the lord is going to speak to us through our special guest speaker it is a great pleasure for me to introduce our speaker for today he is a man of god who knows god's voice having accepted the call to pastoral ministry at the age of 21 and thereafter going on to faithfully serve as an ordained minister in the seventh-day adventist churches he is a gifted a sought-after speaker having conducted evangelistic meetings proclaiming the everlasting gospel both in and outside of the united kingdom he is a passionate about a paradigm shift in pastoral ministries and for all churches in the south inga conference to be proactive and to serve their respective communities in an effective and meaningful way for the kingdom of god he is well loved a family man he's married to beautiful laura and they have been blessed with beautiful daughters and grandchildren is honored to serve the largest conference within the british union i now welcome dr emmanuel usaid the president of the south england conference as he speaks to us on a subject seeking revival together let us give him our own divided attention as he brings a word from the lord may god bless you and may god bless area 6b [Music] amen holy spirit [Music] [Applause] holy spirit [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Applause] holy spirit [Applause] [Music] holy spirit [Music] [Applause] let your powerful [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] holy spirit [Music] [Applause] friends [Music] [Applause] [Music] holy spirit [Music] [Applause] let your voice be heard come and change us [Applause] as we stand on your words holy spirits [Music] down [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] hey [Applause] [Music] down [Music] down [Music] [Applause] grace [Music] a blessed sabbath to all of you here in area 6b i want to say a very special thank you to all our church members in 6b you are the largest territory that we have within the south england conference so let me just take this moment to say thank you on behalf of my fellow officers here at the south england conference thank you for your dedication for your commitment for your faithfulness we are living in turbulent times ever since we have been struck with the kovid 19 pandemic we have watched as many companies have folded we have observed how many have lost their jobs and i'm just grateful to god that because of your commitment and your dedication your commitment to god and to the south england conference our church our conference here has been able to continue to function and we owe it all to you so thank you for your commitment and dedication and i pray god's blessing upon you we don't know what lies ahead how long these difficult times will go on for but so long as we remain faithful to god and keep our eyes focused on him i am confident that the god whom we serve will preserve this church in the south england conference i want to also take note and publicly affirm all our ministers in area 6b you have and continue to do a great job in shepherding the sheep in taking care of our members this is the largest territory that we have under the leadership of pastor bernard a couple who serves as the area coordinator thank you pastor for all the work that you do i want to thank all your ministers lorraine fontaine arthur campbell david burnett wentworth sewell keith baldo lewis quay royston smith andrew cujo simeon essen kojo puerton amperfo andre balan otis lewis klepson braga dushan yuselek adil habib all of these dedicated ministers have committed themselves to serving all the churches here within area 6b to your prayer ministries coordinators i want to say thank you as a world church we have seen the necessity of coming together and spending these quality 10 days in prayer in fasting in testimony and in praises to god and we have been blessed as a result thereby this morning it is my privilege to share the word of god with you and it is my prayer that as we read from the scripture we will listen to the voice of the holy spirit as he speaks to all our hearts i want to begin by sharing a passage from the book of acts acts the very first chapter and verses 3 through 9 acts chapter 1 reading verses 3 to verse 9. this is what god's word says to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of god and being assembled together with them he commanded them not to depart from jerusalem but to wait for the promise from on high which saith he you have heard of me for john truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the holy spirit not many days from now therefore when they had come together they asked him saying lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to israel and he said to them it is not for you to know the times all the seasons which the father has put in his own authority but you shall receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in jerusalem and in all judea and samaria and to the end of the earth now when he had spoken these things while they watched he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight some time ago i read a story about a family who lived in a rural part of a country the father said to his teenage son son go catch one of the chit the kitchen the chickens and slaughter it prepare it for our evening meal this wasn't unusual because living in the rural parts they had lots of animals and it wasn't strange for them to slaughter some of their livestock and have it prepared for a meal and so the young man responded in the affirmative and he went out he saw one of the chickens they were roaming about and he decided to go after this particular chicken but you know how it is when you're trying to catch a chicken for those who have experienced that the chicken actually takes off and it's not easy to catch the chicken and so the young man ran after the chicken and the chicken took off and sometimes the chicken as it squawked and it will sometimes fly and the young man kept running after this chicken until he had lost his breath and so when the young man paused to catch his breath an interesting thing took place the chicken also stopped and the chicken began to pick up scraps from off the ground totally oblivious to the danger it was in the young teenager caught his breath and then when he saw that the chicken had stopped and was just picking up scraps from the ground the young man took off again and chased the chicken when the chicken wreck realized that it was being chased the chicken also took off and for a few moments this young man is running after this chicken to try and catch this chicken and this chicken is running as fast as it could away from the young man i read that and smiled but it brought home a valuable truth isn't this how we very often behave we behave like that chicken when there is a crisis we fall on our knees and confess our sins before god we make all kinds of promises to god but just as soon as the crisis goes away we revert back to our sinful ways totally oblivious to the danger around us the bible tells us that the devil is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour if only our eyes can be opened if only as the prophetess says the scales can be removed from our eyes and we can see the great controversy taken place all around us the forces of evil trying to penetrate the walls that the holy angels have made about us if only we could see this great battle taken place over each one of us how quickly we would run to our savior how quickly will we come to our senses knowing that the devil like a roaring lion is pursuing us to destroy us but like the chicken we as soon as the crisis is over we continue in our wayward ways i i want to let us know from the passage of scripture that we have just read jesus had made his appearance after the resurrection in fact let me read from another account from first corinthians chapter 15 and reading verses 3 through 6 first corinthians chapter 15 come over there with me if you will please first corinthians chapter 15 and i want to begin reading from verse 3. this is what the bible says for i delivered to you first of all that which i also received that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures and that he was seen by cephas then by the twelve after that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once of whom the greater part remain to the present but some have fallen asleep after that he was seen by james then by all the apostles my friends we see here that the resurrection and the appearance of jesus was no secret there were many eyewitnesses to the resurrected jesus paul writing to the church there in corinth says listen i am speaking the truth there were those who were eyewitnesses to the the crucifixion and the death of jesus christ that friday they were there and they saw as the jesus stretched out his arms they were there and they witnessed how the roman soldiers drove those rusty nails through his wrists pinning him to that cruel tree yes they were there as the cross was hoisted up and placed in its position they were eyewitnesses and they heard with their own eye ears as jesus prayed father forgive them for they know not what they do some of them were standing right there when they heard the discussion taken place between the two thieves who were crucified beside jesus they heard the discussion as one of those criminals said to jesus lord remember me when you come in your kingdom jesus paused and spoke tenderly and promised that thief on the cross i'm telling you today you will be with me in paradise oh yes now these very same eyewitnesses were present when the strange darkness overshadowed the cross at noon they witnessed as this darkness overshadowed jesus and all nature was in chaos there was a roman soldier who stood by who said truly this was the son of god these same eyewitnesses just a few days after now see the risen savior talking with his disciples oh they were sure that this was jesus they observed him from a distance and the bible tells us that the disciples were great in number we are not just speaking about the 12 disciples no paul tells us in this passage that there was one occasion that jesus met with over 500 disciples at once and the main agenda topic was the holy spirit you would recall that even before his death jesus in john chapter 16 and chapter 17 was speaking about the holy spirit when he the spirit of god is come he will convict you of sin he will guide you into all truth he will teach you the holy spirit was the main subject of the agenda of jesus christ now after the resurrection this was the same subject jesus spoke about and so speaking to the disciples he says listen go to jerusalem tarry in jerusalem you will be endowed with power from on high the spirit of god will come mightily upon you my friends just as the prophets prophesied and predicted about the coming of christ so christ announces the advent of another who would be co-equal with himself and the successor of himself just as one ascended so the other descended as christ had a definite time and mission so the holy spirit likewise has a definite time and mission his special dispensation being from pentecost to the second advent the spirit of god is the third person of the godhead who would come in a definite way at a definite time for a definite purpose well as jesus spoke to these disciples the bible tells us that he was suddenly begin began to ascend into heaven the disciples watched as jesus ascended into heaven before their very eyes they continue to gaze and look up into heaven as a cloud receives jesus ascending to heaven the pen of inspiration tells us that it was a retinue of angels that escorted jesus up into heaven the disciples continued to look until they could not see him anymore and they were disturbed by the voice of two angels who said ye men of galilee why do you stand gazing up into heaven this same jesus that you have seen ascend into heaven shall so come in like manna as you have seen him go that's the promise the angels gave that's the hope that we have as seventh-day adventist christians hope in the coming of the lord not only did jesus say that i go to prepare a place for you and if i go i will come again but now the angels are promising this same jesus will so come in light manner as you have seen him go and so the disciples tarried in jerusalem waiting and hoping for the promise of jesus and the coming comforter to be fulfilled how did this all happen well after jesus told them to tarry in jerusalem you would think that if at least on one occasion over 500 disciples received this directive from jesus to tarry in jerusalem and wait for the outpouring of the holy spirit the question can be asked why is it that we read of only 120 of his disciples in the upper room awaiting the fulfillment of jesus's promise here is the first lesson my friends that we should learn if we think that the entire church or a large percentage of the church will be prepared to receive the outpouring of the holy spirit friends that will never happen it is only those who are dedicated and committed only those who are making the necessary preparations and looking forward to the fulfillment of the promised letter rain will receive the outpouring of god's holy spirit over 500 heard this directive yet only 120 just a third also took heed and made the necessary preparations to welcome the outpouring of the spirit on the day of pentecost listen to the words of the messenger of the lord in desire of ages page 61 this is what the inspired writer has to say the holy spirit was the highest of all gifts that he could solicit from his father for the exaltation of his people the spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent and without this the sacrifice of christ would be of no avail the power of evil had been strengthening for centuries and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the third person of the godhead who would come with a modified energy but in the fullness of divine power my brothers and my sisters we need the spirit of god today sin is all around us the world is becoming crazier when we read and see the things happening in our media it is no doubt that these angels of god who are holding the winds of strife it seems as though they're beginning to let go because we see how satan is rampant in society sin has been strengthening and man has been submitting to the power of sin but it is the holy spirit who is going to give us the power to deal with the sin problem i submit to us today as adventist christians we are in desperate need of god's holy spirit the be all the the sins that always beset us and get us down those sins be certain sins that we find impossible to overcome those things that continue to slow or impede our spiritual growth can only be overcome through the mighty agency of the holy spirit it's not going to be by might nor by power but it will be by god's holy spirit we need god's holy spirit today the preparation done by those disciples those 120 disciples must have been challenging they were together in the upper room they were afflicting their souls by fasting and praying those ten days they spent were serious heart searching times where they confessed their sins to one another and to god imagine staying together for ten days confessing sins to god and to one another if the truth be told sometimes we spend two three hours in church and we cannot bear or stand the person next to us imagine what it would be like to have to spend 10 days together in the upper room oh i can imagine jesus as peter denied his law three times there must have been those disciples who had issues with peter peter you don't deserve to be a disciple after you denied the lord three times peter you stated that lord i will go even to death with you when jesus says oh peter peter peter before the will crow you would have denied me three times and peter found that difficult to accept but in reality when he was questioned peter i'm sure you were with jesus your your speech betrays you you were with this man of galilee peter the bible tells us denied vehemently with cursing and swearing i do not know this man there must have been those who had issues with peter and yet when jesus accepted and forgave peter you know the story well jesus asks peter peter do you love me peter says well lord you know i'm your friend no that's not what i asked peter peter do you love me three times jesus asks peter do you love me and peter gets he's fed up he says well lord you know everything you know my heart then jesus commissions peter peter feed my sheep yes you would have denied you have denied my me you have said you didn't know me but i have forgiven you i have now commissioned you feed my sheep oh beloved there is forgiveness in jesus christ however we may have wandered away from the lord if we return to him he stands with arms outstretched and opened to forgive us and accept us and commission us to feed his sheep but even though peter received that forgiveness during the dialogue with jesus and peter jesus goes on to say peter when you were young you wore whatever you wanted you went wherever you went you wanted to go but peter when you are old somebody else will stretch out your hand somebody else would clothe you peter jesus was telling peter the kind of death he would experience yes peter you would be crucified just like i was peter was crucified upside down according to the tradition as jesus was speaking to peter guess who's coming along john peter sees john and says to jesus well jesus what about this man what's going to happen to him once again this is our failure we are just like peter never contented with the revelation god is given about ourselves we're always interested in somebody else's business listen peter you will be crucified and instead of focusing on that you are interested in john and what's going to happen to him jesus rebukes peter and says to peter listen peter if it is my will that he remains until i return again what is that to do with you and that's a message for some of us today we are always interested in other people's business and yet still we say we are waiting for the outpouring of god's holy spirit in latter rain power my friends we have got to learn to learn our own business leave others let's concentrate on what god is showing us about our own defects about our own lives let the other person take care of his mind your business in other words that's what jesus was saying maybe john had an issue why should peter be wanting to know about my business there may have been some tension between the two brethren matthew was a tax collector and as a tax collector you know they were hated among the jews a tax collector was looked was put on the same level as a sinner in fact the word of god says if a person would not listen to the church then let him be as a tax collector a publican in other words a tax collector or a sinner and that's how tax collectors were looked upon because tax collectors made their wealth by suppressing the people and exhorting funds from the people there may have been disciples who had issues with matthew because he was a wealthy tax collector and then there was james and john these two brothers the bible tells us that these two brothers had gotten their mother to go and have a private interview with jesus the mother comes jesus we we know that you're about to establish your kingdom when you set up your kingdom please let my two sons let one be on your right hand side and let one be on your left hand side give them the highest position the bible tells us when the ten other disciples heard about what james and john had done they were moved with indignation in other words they were vexed they were furious angry because they believed that james and john had stolen the march on them they were all after the highest position but they believed that james and john had got there before them and so they were angry can you see the tension that must have been in that room as these disciples were confessing their sins to god and to one another there may have been other disciples who felt well the um three disciples that jesus had called come and pray with me in the garden of gethsemane there may have been some issues there when jesus comes back he finds them all sleeping when he's arrested all of them forsake him all of them run away and then of course there was the doubting thomas they may have had some issues with thomas thomas how is it that you always have to want to see before you believe i i submit to us that those 10 days in the upper room were a very heart searching a deep introspection were challenging times as the disciples confessed their sins to god and made peace with one another they had to come to a unity of faith and of mind the bible says they were of one accord at the end of that time this was the prerequisite for the outpouring of the holy spirit let me share a quotation from the pen of inspiration the prophetess writes in the review on herald march the 2nd 1897 listen it was by the confession and forsaking of sin by earnest prayer and consecration of themselves to god that the early disciples prepared for the outpouring of the holy spirit on the day of pentecost the same work only in greater degree must be done now then the human agent had only to ask for the blessing and wait for the lord to perfect the work concerning him it is god who began the work and he will finish his work making man complete in jesus christ but there must be no neglect of the grace represented by the former rain only those who are living up to the light that they have will receive greater light did you get that my friends the work of preparation the preparatory work that the early disciples went through those ten days in the upper room the confession the confessing of sins to god and to one another the coming of what took to one accord this necessitated the outpouring of god's holy spirit in the former reign there at pentecost and the prophet says a greater work needs to be done if we are to receive the outpouring of god's holy spirit in later reign power so how is it with us do we still continue to hold grudges against a fellow brother and sister have we taken the time to confess to come to be at peace with one another how we are we taken the time to petition the throne of god and surrender submit our wills to god you know my friends having attended and participated in so many prayer meetings i have to ask myself why do we not receive the holy spirit in bountiful measures as we would like praying for revival is essential and the the readings that we had for these 10 days of prayer makes it clear they say the praying for the holy spirit is praying for revival rather is essential but we cannot stop there we're invited to take the necessary steps to actually experience personal revival with god's blessings your life can become more powerful and more fulfilling than ever before your home and your church can also experience new life how is it with you i want to experience this renewal of mind i want to receive this new created heart that god places within me so that i can appreciate more the spiritual things of life how is it with you are you tired of your christian journey stumbling all the time or living as one who is not growing we need revival and this is going to come about only through the ministry of the holy spirit in james chapter 4 and verses 2 and 3 the bible says you do not have because you do not ask you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures you see friends when our prayers are always lord bless me bless my wife bless my husband bless my children these are selfish prayers when our savior taught us to pray remember he says our father give us this day our daily bread forgive us our trespasses deliver us from evil do you notice how inclusive jesus's prayer is that he taught us he doesn't want us to be selfish bless me and me only no bless us bless the church of god it is god's desire that the church which is the apple of his eye reflects the character of jesus it is god's desire that more disciples are made and sent forth to make other disciples pray that the lord of the harvest will send forth reapers god wants his mission to be accomplished and as a conference we have embraced the theme making disciples building communities it is our desire to see our communities blessed it is our desire to see new disciples made within our community it is our desire for god to see god transform us from just being members to being disciples workers before god james tells us we do not have because we ask amiss the lord cannot bless us when our minds are set on the flesh and listen to what paul says in romans chapter 8 and verse 5. he says for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace we learned that the bible tells us that there are three groups of people who um whose relationship with god is described number one he says that there is the natural or the worldly man this person lives in the world and does not have a relationship with god he does not receive the things of the spirit of god for according to first corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14 they are foolishness to him then the second group of people that we learned about this week is this there is the spiritual or the spirit-filled man this person has a full genuine relationship with god according to first corinthians chapter 2 and verse 16 bible says when we are spiritual we have the mind of christ and then thirdly there is the carnal or the person of the flesh this person has a faint or a divided relationship with god in first corinthians chapter 3 and verse 1 we read and i brethren could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal as to babes in christ perhaps this is the category most of us fall into we have a relationship with god but sometimes we are divided god wants us to be not babes desiring the milk of the word all the time god wants us to be spiritual people he wants to give us the mind of jesus christ it is no wonder he says in revelation chapter 3 behold i stand at the doors of your heart and knock this generation is known as the church of laodicea he says you are neither cold nor hot i would prefer you to be either hot or cold but because you are lukewarm i'm going to spew you from my mouth god my friends is looking for christians who are on fire for jesus christ he is looking for disciples who have made a commitment to the lord jesus christ he is looking for disciples who are actively looking and making other disciples he's looking for believers who are abiding in him and jesus says if you hear my voice open the door i will come in and sup with you beloved christ wants to dwell in your heart just as he wants to dwell in my heart it's time that we transition from being carnal to being spiritual people it is my prayer that as we go through this ten days of prayer that we will be impacted that the spirit of god will descend upon us in great bountiful showers that god's holy spirit will be poured out upon us let's focus on ourselves don't look to somebody else focus on yourself as god reveals to you your own defects pray god that he will give you victory that he would change us that he will renew our minds and by so doing god will have his own way with his church may god bless us as we pray for the outpouring of his holy spirit through latter rain power [Music] amen [Music] holy spirit [Music] oh comfortable [Music] again holy spirit [Music] let your voice be heard come and change our hearts as we stand on your word [Music] police [Music] reindeers [Music] [Applause] break down [Music] [Applause] holy spirit [Music] let your voice be [Music] me [Music] let us pray loving heavenly father we want to thank you for these wonderful words we've heard today we want to thank you o lord for your holy spirit in the life of men and women boys and girls we want to thank you father that you are willing to grant us your holy spirit if we persistently ask and constantly plead for it father we pray that as we go throughout these 10 days as we have this upper room experience with you that we will have the mind of christ to love the things that god loves and hate the things god hates and so that the mind of jesus will be in us father we just want to thank you we want to thank you for the message that you have sent to us it's a message of revival and reformation and a message that will help us to receive the outpouring of your holy spirit in our lives so father as we almost have come to the end of this exercise 10 days of prayer and supplication help us not to forget how you have led us throughout these 10 days so lord i pray that you pour out your holy spirit upon your remnant church i pray that you pour out your holy spirit on area 6b that we will be on fire for jesus in these last days oh lord pour out your holy spirit in copious measure so that we can receive the lateran power in this area further we want to see a resist be transformed to be on fire going forth conquering to conquer going forth proclaiming the everlasting gospel going forth reaching the perishing and caring for the dying oh lord bless our district bless us as an area may we endeavor by your grace to prepare our hearts as we have done so throughout these 10 days that you pour out your spirit in the lettering power upon this area 6b thank you lord thank you thank you thank you in advance in jesus precious name we pray at this time i want to take the opportunity to thank area 6b members for the part that they have played in making our 10 days of prayer a more successful event i want to thank everyone who has offered their service through their testimonies prayers and encouragements i want to thank our area 6b prayer coordinator prayer leaders and elders for praying for the success of this event i also want to thank those outside area 6b who have supported this event from far and near i want to recognize at this time though a special young man who has worked tirelessly during these 10 days of prayer his name is ben aheen you see ben gave up his time and demonstrated a positive humble attitude and perseverance in hosting our ten days of prayer with confidence to ensure that both zoom and youtube platforms delivered optimum audio quality needed to preach the good news of salvation ben thank you thank you thank you very much for your dedication and for your commitment i want to specially thank all 6b ministers for standing broadly together with me and for their prayers and courage for being true professionals for being inspirational you are a great team may god continue to richly bless your ministry as we unite together to finish god's work i thank everyone deeply and sincerely thank you for every minute that you have given to the lord and to his church above all above all i want to thank god the father god the son god the holy spirit great things he has done we have truly felt his presence in our midst this week for this we said to god be the glory great thing he has done area 6b remain faithful and remember only those who are in the spirit of prayer will be in readiness of the lord's return may god bless you and may god bless area 6b [Music] as we stand on your [Music] reigns [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] let your voice [Music] [Applause] holy spirit [Music] down [Music] again you

Channel: Croydon SDA Church

Views: 6,693

Rating: 4.8000002 out of 5

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

Id: zMN9CaHEUmo

Length: 210min 44sec (12644 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 16 2021