18 September 2021 - Croydon SDA Church Live Worship

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] welcome to croydon sca church where you're excited that you have chosen to worship with us online today we are a church driven by jesus's mission a mission to save transform and restore lives we want you to know that you are valued so stay with us participate and be blessed also don't forget to subscribe to this channel and visit our website www dot croydon adventist dot org [Music] so um [Music] two [Music] [Music] the human body is made to walk our bodies function better when we walk we are healthier in many ways when we walk there's almost nothing that we can do for our own personal health that creates more benefit than walking walking 30 minutes a day five days a week actually reduces the rate of people becoming diabetic by over half we have an epidemic of diabetes in this country the number of diabetics has doubled and people with diabetes now use over 40 percent of the health care dollars spent by medicare we could cut the number of new diabetics by more than half if people simply walked that half hour a day five days a week the benefits of walking are so good that they are hard to believe we are far less likely to have strokes heart disease and hypertension when we walk women who walk have a 43 reduction in the risk of stroke walking reduces hypertension the body has over 100 000 miles of blood vessels those blood vessels are more supple and healthier when we walk walking is clearly what our body is designed to do we resist disease more effectively when we walk walking cuts the risk of chronic conditions and walking also improves our body's ability to resist cancer and recover from cancer women who walk have a 20 percent lower likelihood of getting breast cancer and a 31 percent lower risk of getting colon cancer men who walk are two thirds less likely to have a positive biopsy for prostate cancer and a 60 lower risk of colon cancer men who do have prostate cancer who walk have a 46 lower mortality rate than men with prostate cancer who don't walk women with breast cancer who walk have a 50 percent reduction in the recurrence rate walking in adolescence cuts the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women by more than 60 percent our body needs to walk we have better internal chemistry when we walk we are significantly less likely to catch a cold when we walk and people who walk that 30 minutes a day 5 days a week have a 46 percent shorter symptom time for their goals walking has shown to reduce the cell deterioration in the brain for people who are genetically at high risk of alzheimer's walking actually increases brain health and the size of the brain for walkers over the age of 60. walking can have a major positive impact on depression several studies have shown that walking 30 minutes a day five days a week has had a more positive impact than some of the antidepressant medications and has significantly increased the effectiveness of those medications people who walked were also significantly less likely to be depressed after a year walking creates positive neurochemicals and it is the easiest health improvement strategy to maintain over time it doesn't take very much equipment to walk we don't need to run or jog or swim to get the benefits of walking the human physiological need to walk is a basic need that we can meet by just walking walking strengthens the heart walking strengthens our bones walking half an hour a day has health benefits that exceed the benefits of losing 20 pounds in fact an overweight person who walks can have lower health risk than a thin person who is inert the health risks being inert are just becoming known and they are considerable lancet magazine and the national institute of health have all endorsed walking as one of the very best things we can each do for ourselves the harvard school of public health and the mayo clinic have saluted the benefits of walking the medical evidence for walking is huge and it is growing the very best news might be that we don't have to walk that 30 minutes every day in one straight period of time we can break it up and still get full benefits we can walk 15 minutes twice a day and get the same health benefits two 20-minute walks would be optimal for some people so planning our day around finding those two 15-minute walk times is a lot easier than having to find time to walk the full 30 minutes in one uninterrupted time slot we all need to walk we owe it to ourselves to walk [Music] um [Music] um ah [Music] uh [Music] hmm [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] good morning happy support to each of you welcome again to another service in croydon we are blessed to be we are blessed to be in the house of the lord this morning we thank him for spared lives and for his wonderful mercies throughout the week in our congregation this morning we have a very special guest and this gentleman has been tuning online his sabbath so he has decided to come to croydon to see what it's like welcome dee thompson we are happy to have you this morning welcome and i hope that next sabbath you will no longer be a visitor you'll be one of us you're one of us now but next summer you'll be better still so thank you for coming and anyone else who is here i haven't seen you please forgive me but welcome to our regular members those online to our pa team to our host and host sorry our host everyone else who is looking on online we are so happy to have you i don't know what week you've had have you had a good week has it been what you hoped for have you been disappointed or have you been happy whatever it is we thank god that we are here and we have come to worship him you know this week when i made my calls from you know different people they are good news and they were bad news there was grief and there was joy there were birds and there were deaths but in all this we know that christ is with us he never leaves us and what came to mind this morning especially with the lesson is this hymn the love of god is greater far than tongue or pen can never tell it goes beyond the higher star and reaches to the lowest hell the guilty pair bowdoin in care with care god gave his son to win his airing child he reconciled and pardoned from his sin all love of god her rich and pure her measureless and strong it shall forevermore endure the saints and angels so let us pray king of kings and lord of lords glory honor and majesty belong to your holy name we thank you again that you have brought us into your sanctuary to worship you we thank you for this lovely sabbath day that you have spared our lives to see we pray that your holy spirit your guidance your peace will be with us as we go through this day be with the lesson study dear lord and with those who are leading out we ask in the precious name of jesus amen amen thank you elda valsey and good morning to those of you tuning in and joining us online and good morning to those of you in church it's good to see faces that um i haven't seen for a long time and good to see faces that i see regularly and good to see visiting faces as well it's it's great that we can be together to study the word of god this is croydon's sabbath school panel coming out to you live on the sabbath morning it is about 5 past 10 bst so if you are joining us from abroad and you've got up extra early a special sabbath mornings welcome to you so as usual we have a panel but before i introduce the the panel just a reminder that if you don't have a cyber school quarter or adult lesson guide as we call it you can go to the website that'll come on the screen and you can see where to download a copy of the lesson um special good morning as usual to those in radio land good morning to adventist radio london listeners and life radio we want to hear from you as well so if you're viewing send in your comments or your questions via the chat either on live stream or youtube um and if you're on adventist radio london you can get in touch in your normal way you text the word hope to eight treble two eight leave a space and then send in your comment remember charges apply but there's also an email address studio adventist radio dot london and for life radio you can get in touch via studio at life radio dot uk and the whatsapp number for you is zero seven three double one four zero nine four zero nine so let us welcome our our panelists let me start by welcoming our senior pastor pastor royston good morning sir good morning elder johnny it's good to be with you again um just just just a bit of a shout out here to ryan and everybody else who was who graduated this week that's ryan daley hey man he has graduated he's a little computer whiz um also let me give a shout out to cody cody's the new addition to the billets family amen a grandchild so blessings and yeah so you know we're having a bit of death in the family but god is also blessing us in other ways so shout out to ryan and shout out to cody welcome and may god bless you amen thank you pastor we also welcome back sister verna jean gervais good morning verna gene morning good to have you back sorry no no i interrupted you i apologize sorry go ahead no that's okay good morning it's good to see everybody well it's good to be here this morning because i can't see anybody um and i'm really looking forward to the lesson today thank you and also welcome back to elder claudia panettescu good morning elderclaudia good morning everybody i'm so pleased that i can be here and blessed i feel blessed wonderful we have a powerful lesson study that we want to get right into but before that we're going to be favored with a musical item from one accord and they're going to be singing for us day by day day by day and wave strength i find to meet my trials here [Music] trusting in [Music] [Music] he whose heart is [Music] all truth each day what he did [Music] [Music] toy with peace [Music] tribulation so to trust thy promises [Music] consolation offered me within thy holy [Music] here to take as from our [Music] till i reach the promises [Music] father we thank you for today we thank you for this opportunity as we talk about the restless prophet inspire and motivate us we pray in jesus name amen so we're going to dig into our lesson we're at lesson number 12 and this week's lesson is entitled the restless prophet you probably all know who that is our memory verse is taken from uh jonah chapter 4 verse 11 and we have brother robin he's going to read our memory verse for us today thank you brother robin but nineveh had more than 120 000 people living in spiritual darkness not to mention all the animals shouldn't i feel sorry for such a great city thank you brother robin so we're going to find out who said those words and who was speaking to whom a little later on in our study so the prophet jonah he's probably one of the most famous biblical prophets he's associated with a whale or a big fish he's even had plays such as the jonah man jazz or even jonah and the big catch for those of you that have been in croydon a long time jinx refers to jonah this week we discovered the wonderful truth that even the reluctant prophet jonah needed the gospel as much as we do today and as did the people of nineveh back then so pastor royce just going back to our title the restless prophet you know thinking of restlessness i think of sleepless nights you know with troubles on your mind when you know pressures are on you and you're trying to sleep and you can't sleep i i think back to um say king darius and daniel so unlike king darius who could not sleep after being tricked into casting daniel into a lion's den i'd imagine daniel on the other hand he had peace and rest in the den maybe even using a lion as a pillow so you know what would you say is the key to peace and rest even in adversity hmm i like like like darius and and other kings you know as as a leader you you yourself have restless moments um what i've discovered in my own life and i can share with you my own testimony um is that i've discovered that peace and rest is not the absence of problems or or challenges um but it is the presence and no i want you to take this thought as the key thought for me for the lesson it is the presence of god in your life and elder johnny on view it's what i've discovered is when my relationship with god is right no matter what is happening in my life no matter what problems be it financial problems social problems church problems relationship problems emotional problems psychological problems what i've discovered is when my relationship with god is tight and right i'm i'm not restless i can sleep you know the proverb says you can lay down and rest i think there's a song that captures my concept with christ in the vessel you can smile at the storm as you go sailing on so for me really this is this is what this is the kind of medicine that i take when i'm restless i go to god and i find him to be very very good at keeping me calm and keeping me cool amen and i think to add to that when we think of pilgrims progress you have the burden you go to god but it's not to take the burden back is to leave it with god and it's the discipline that we need so and go ahead and there's this idea of the robin and i think people need to google the robin the robin is the only bird that sings when it rains the robin is the only bird that sings when it rains it sing when it's sunny but it's also sing when it's rain i don't know how god made the robin but there's something about the robbing that that enables it to sing even in the rain so it's just a thought so sing in the rain or singing in the rain interesting so congregation views listeners do you agree with pastor how have you been able to find peace and rest and sleep well in the midst of the storm let's have your comments coming in on that particular point while those are coming in let us move on so jonah's autobiography is found in the biblical book of jonah but sister bernardine if i can come to you first is this where we first hear about jonah in the bible no we actually come across jonah in second kings verse chapter 14 verses 23 to 25 and i'll read that for you in the new international version in the fifteenth year of amazing son of joash king of judah jeroboam that's durable ii son of jehosh king of israel became king in samaria and he reigned 41 years he did evil in the eyes of the lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of jeroboam son of nebat which he had caused israel to commit he was the one who restored the boundaries of israel from liber from liber hamath to the sea of arab in accordance with the word of the lord the god of israel spoken through his servant jonah son of amitai the prophet from gadhifa and so he's there already he is a um well not he's there already he was a prophet um in the time of jeroboam ii he gave jeroboam the second a message which was good news from god um which enabled jeroboam to actually you know recover some of the lands that israel had lost and so um he was the willing he wasn't always a reluctant um prophet but he was also not a false prophet because the the word that he gave from the lord actually came came true so yeah so so there we have it and you know um it's good to know that history however as we know elder claudia jonah was called by god to go on a mission just summarize i think everybody knows this story so just summarize jonah's response particularly and and that story very quickly for anybody who doesn't happen to know just summarize that for us please yes um the the book starts saying that the lord the the word of the lord came to jonah and uh saying arise go to nineveh that great city and cry out against it for their wickedness has come up before me but jonah did not want to do that so instead of going north east towards nineveh he went to west where tarshish is so his first stop was in um joppa where he which is it's interesting because the bible says that he went down to joppa so you wouldn't he was going on on the he was on his way down and when he got to joppa he paid the fare for the for the trip to tarshish you can say that he paid the fare of the thing you can if you make a parallel and then when he went on the boat he went down in the boat so he just goes down and down and down but god sent a great wind which frightened everybody on the boat so everybody was crying to their to their god uh however jonah just went again down in the the bottom of the of the ship and he was just sleeping now that is like a sleep of the lack of the scene so when people go into the scene they are in a kind of sleepiness they don't want to acknowledge what's happening so that's how i i sort of came up to me like it was he was just trying to to block off god so he just went out into asleep and it is amazing that everybody on the on the ship was panicking and trying to do something have an action against this situation to come out of the situation but jonah was just not reacting to it and um i don't want if you want me to go further but after that yeah no that mean that that you you've summarized it and as we know um the next thing we know he was down somewhere else because he was coming out of the boat and going down into the water but that that's fine that's fine we we we're gonna touch on some of those bits but actually vanity let me just come back to you is there anything you want to add about jonah's flight or should i even say cruz in terms of running away um only to say that it strikes me as strange that somebody who was clearly clearly used to actually hearing the voice of god would respond in that way because you know he was he was a prophet he heard the voice of god he had a relationship with god um and it just makes you helps you to understand that that restlessness of his in terms of he wasn't quite there he was still growing in that relationship with god there was still an element of distrust there was still an element of i'm not gonna give everything or lay everything on you and and i guess what stands out for me is how patient god is with us when we feel as though we've gone astray again and again we don't quite get what god is wanting for us to do that god just you know he goes with it and he just helps us to actually find the right path interesting still growing in his relationship to god interesting point pastor any comments or responses coming through yet you know i like the point that um sister verner jean has made and i think that's a that's a point that we need to reflect on on this morning um erling samwell is over there in um i think she's in vancouver in um and she says that we should cast all our cares quoting what peter says cast all it cares upon upon him el chica says inner peace is much more uh repose and he says it is important that we must be in christ and and current bb made this point and she says think about this um i compare jonah's story to go to god uh to god calling us to say right um elder johnny um pastor go and talk to a bad gang would we go you know how strong are we how willing and how able are we to go and and do that so we need to think about the tasks that jordan was called to do and the kind of people that jonah had to deal with that that is on um that was on youtube um on live stream it says the concept of true peace is explained by passing in an absolute correct and right way i'm feeling big now in this world there will always be times of restlessness and the only antidote for restlessness is the prince of peace thank you brother muhammad for saying that cynthia enrique says i agree with pastor god does not always calm the storm you find peace in knowing he is keeping you calm in the midst of the storm and he is with you in the storm um acousta says i'm gonna have to take my glasses off here completely agree when i'm close to god and trusting completely in him as outlining hebrews 4 faith and trust in god provides rest so we seem to be on the ball at the moment of the journey so that's that's a very good point um here are peter burton and fox rock i'm going to see what peter burton says perhaps jonas reluctant to live with the negative message was because he enjoyed giving good news interesting and you know i just imagine some of us we enjoy telling the good things but when we have to tell somebody you're fired or telling somebody the relationship is over or tell somebody you can't get the loan that you need so badly you know that's the challenge it's easier to to share good news but then it's very challenging to share bad news um earliness in montreal and she was she asked a question and everybody's answering that question foxtrot says jonah knew that the jewish people of his time were far from perfect and in great need of repentance so i was afraid to be the person to to lead them back to god um um david billet says jonah represents a real relationship with god a free-will conversational relationship that allows the expression of real feelings jennifer says and i like that thought god's choice of sending jonah to the to the enemy's camp was very hard jonah was thinking more of revenge so the revenge concept is coming through free will is coming through and also the idea of fear is coming through i don't know if god says to me go to certain people in a certain place to tell them that they're doing the wrong thing and imagine god sending me to go to afghanistan i would say sell and sell i would say sen elder johnny some told me you would say that but no those are real points real points coming through and it's easy to be critical of jonah but it's it's understanding the situation great points online keep them coming through if you're joining us on the radio this is croydon's sabbath school panel we want to hear from you as well and congregation if you need to say something just make your way to the microphone so that we can take your comments too we just want to hear from you and hear what you've picked up in your in your lesson this week so keep them coming too let me throw out another question to everyone have you ever tried to run away from god what lesson did you learn the fact that you are hearing my voice or seeing me means that you got through that running away time so if you are willing share with us have you ever tried to run away from god may not be physically it may be spiritually what lesson did you learn let's hear from you those of you that are willing to share so the bible says jonah was asleep in the bottom of the boat as elder claudia said he was resting hey maybe he was finding peace and rest however the next thing he knows he's heading into the stormy sea far from tarshish but god had a plan as he was expecting to take his chances in the stormy sea along comes a great big fish or as my mom would say the lord sent jonah his personal submarine let's analyze joseph's joseph try again let's analyze jonah's prayer found in jonah chapter two elder claudia let me come to you first of all how does jonah's prayer begin um let's take verses one through to five please so i'm reading from new king james version then jonah prayed to the lord his god from the fish's belly and he said i cried out to the lord because of my affliction and he answered me out of the belly of show i cried and you heard my voice for you cast me into the deep into the heart of the seas and the flood surrounded me all your billows and your ways passed over me then i said i have been cast out of your sight yet i will look again toward your temple holy temple the water surrounded me even to my soul the deep closed around me weeds were wrapped around my head so what i noticed in his prayer is that first of all he he takes the makes the decision to cry to the lord so he realizes that he's in a in a in that situation so he makes the decision to credit the lord and then we see that he says and he answered me so when we cry god is answering us and we need to when we are in our trials we need to to cry and then we will be answered then he quotes scripture out of the belly of cheryl i cried and you heard my voice for you cast me into the deep into the heart of the seas and the flood surrounding me so he that psalm 31 22 so similarly we'll have to we need to quote the scripture when we are going through trials and claiming those promises and he says then i said i have been cast out of your sight yet i will look again towards your whole example so after we be realized where we were we are asking god to deliver us absolutely and you made a statement there you know he was quoting scripture he was calling back the scripture we have to know scripture in the first place to be able to bring it back at these times so then that there's a lesson there um sister verner jean if you continue for us please verses 6 through to 10 of jonah chapter 2. okay so i am reading from the new international version again to the roots of the mountains i sank down to the earth beneath the earth beneath barred me in forever but you brought me my life up from the pit o lord my god when my life was ebbing away i remembered you lord and my prayer rose to you to your holy temple those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs but i with the sum of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you what i have vowed i will make good salvation comes from the lord and the lord commanded the fish and it vomited jonah onto dry land um so just taking it from verse six that first phrase uh to the roots of the mountains it reminds me of the phrase um hit rock bottom so basically you know jonah had hit rock bottom and he was at that lowest level where he knew that the only place that he could turn was god um even though he'd been trying to run away and it's interesting that he directs his thoughts of god towards the temple not i guess that i mean that the temple was a representation of the presence of god but you know jonah knew that god's presence was not limited to the physical temple because he was there in the middle of you know in the belly of a fish or a whale or a big fish or whatever you want to call it um i like this phrase in verse 8 where it says those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs so jonah seems to be saying i'm really glad that i serve the living god amen because if i served some worthless idol that would be it for me i would have no hope whatsoever so he's realizing the value of serving the living god um [Music] verse nine he talks about that gratefulness of you know that he will show so it's like it's anticipating that god will save him and i think it's saying there that you know okay almost like if you save me i'll do what you ask in fact i will do what you ask you know i get it god i'm i'm gonna do what you ask for me now and you know the final verse verse 10 talks about god spoke to the fish not that the fish had a thunder cake and started to vomit god spoke to the fish it's like okay you can get rid of him now which basically tells me that you know and and demonstrates that god was in control the whole time you know and you know all elements of god's creation were working to actually help jonah to come to some kind of you know sense um you know so the storm the fish and god was in it and and spoke to them being more powerful amen amen and and even if i can add as we know the story of the the sailors these pagan sailors that you know they had an understanding of what was going on here so everything as you said there sister fernandinho is working towards helping jonah um pastor let's take some comments coming in please sir elder johnny i um you know um abram said he tried to run away from god but god always turned turn bring him back um juliet says she tried the same thing she tried to flee from god um but god has been good to her um but i like you know there's some very good points coming tom tom over there in dudley said he tried running away from god um and by you know not doing church responsibilities found false restlessness but the guilt was killing him catherine want wants to know what jonah was thinking when he went to the bottom of the ship did he think that that was the end god will give up on him and get some some rest foxtrot says my running away from god was playing church i couldn't wait for the sabbath to finish to go partying i i was stopped one night by being in an accident i could have died but i was saved [Music] hetty mclean makes a very powerful point she said that the fish was obedient was more obedient than jonah was so that's that's a powerful thought to think about um um likhi isaac says jonah acted like a normal human being you know flight if you if you're afraid of something you're not going to stand up and and um and and do it you're going to try and run away um veronica grant wants to know um you know what you know there's this three-day three-night thing that is coming through um i don't want to go into what we call in theology allegorical teachings where you try every symbol has a meaning you know there are some people every symbol in the bible has a meaning but obviously the three day three nights seems to be reflected in um elojani christ and he talks about that uh my very good friends statue of the lord and statue of the lord and are becoming very good friends such of the lord he makes this point that um could it be and he said look at the prayer of jonah and the prayer of jesus in the garden is there any similarity with it jesus says let this cup pass from me matthew 26 nevertheless not my will but thy will be done paul it gilland says over there in stratford when we run away from god we can never be at peace we will always be on the run that's a powerful thought on live stream cynthia says when my focus straight or run away from god he allowed circumstances to happen in my life which which which brings my main focus back on him brother mumbi said it's important to note how we make matters very complicated when we disobey god's instructions the way of transgression is hard proverbs 30 15 there's no peace saith my god to the wicked so there's this idea that is coming through about the danger of running away from god about the danger of trying to do your own thing um kathy adams says and then i'll come back to your elder johnny jonah's prayer teaches us that god will always be with us we just need to call upon him and not to run away that's a very powerful thought and then juliette rainwright our online theology theologian have some very full power thought powerful thought um juliet she said when we become concerned with our own reputation rather than god's we have lost our way like noah tell it like it is and let god be glorified i think i'm going to share that as the thought for the morning whoever is running or or online comment just i like that coming on youtube and if we can copy it over to um live stream that would be fine when we become concerned with our own reputation rather than god's direction we have i'm adding direction we have lost our way like jonah tell it like it is and let god be glorified thank you for that over to your other joint powerful thought powerful thought thank you online class thank you for those comments and for for sharing your personal testimonies i don't want our congregation to be outdone ah we have somebody our superintendent sister falci now um i i popped out for a while so i don't know if anyone had actually said what i'm going to say you know when i looked at the lesson this week two things came to mind jonah thought well he was run away from god but he didn't realize he already started witnessing in the ship to those sailors and when you looked at these sailors who were pagan they were pagan sailors they were not familiar or they did not worship the true and living god but they once they knew that jonah was a servant of god they started to fear god and they offered sacrifices to the god of jonah they were also reluctant to put john overboard because of the god whom he served and you know what came to mind i said to myself i would have loved to know the ending of this story did this missionary go back and tell their people about the god of heaven and earth and what he did what they experienced with god's prophet that's my point good point good point thank you very much elder johnny just just jumping onto what um um el davao said a while ago here's a thought that is really blowing my mind that that tells me something about god and i think chidi says that he says when we understand that god is present wherever we find ourselves that should give us peace regardless of the challenges we might have even in our disobedience now i find that to be very powerful because when i think about all of us all of us including myself that we we are we we become disobedient sometimes we focus on the lesson on the on on the person in the lesson rather than our own experiences with god even in our disobedience you know jonah wasn't wasn't running to god jonah was running away from god god was running to the prophet who was running away from him that tells me something that no matter where we are god will find us no matter who we are god will seek to transform us no matter how deep in sin we are god will supply us with grace i want us to think about that and that is coming through right now on live stream and it's coming through also on our youtube channel and we need to think about that god is always calling us and katy adams said tell us to call upon him he will show us great and mighty things we don't know and she quoted jeremiah 11 and verse 33. excellent excellent points keep them coming in we look forward to hear from our more from our congregation as well here's a question i think it's been in our thoughts already but i'll ask it anyway why did it take surviving three days in the belly of a fish for jonah to realize he couldn't run from god right why did it take three days in the belly of a fish for jonah to realize he couldn't run from god let's have your thoughts on that question please we're racing ahead because time is always against us so evangelist jonah was ready to start his campaign in the great and dangerous city of nineveh so sister werner gene share with us how his mission should he choose to accept it was given to him um jonah 3 verses 1 to 4 please okay so then the word of the lord came to jonah a second time go to the great city of nineveh and proclaim to it the message i give you jonah obeyed the word of the lord and went to nineveh now nineveh was a very important city a visit required three days on the first day jonah started into the city he proclaimed 40 more days and nineveh will be overturned um so did he i mean i wonder if i'm reading too much into it saying that jonah obeyed and he went to nineveh and the reason i say that is because god said you know go and preach when i tell you to preach but it doesn't the bible doesn't actually tell us what god told jonah to preach um all we hear is in jonah one verse two is that uh god said go and cry out against the neighbor go and warn them or or whatever you you could interpret it that way um and just talk about their wickedness and so on but did that actually mean that destruction was inevitable i don't know so when he actually goes he says basically in 40 days nineveh is going to be overturned or destroyed in fact that word that has been translated overthrown was it came from the hebrew word half back i think and that was the same word that was used in genesis described that sodom and gomorrah was going to be completely destroyed so that's basically what jonah went in there and told them um fabian for me to suggest that he wasn't told to exactly do that by itself but that is what he did he said okay i'm gonna go to nineveh you wanted me to go and i'm gonna tell them that they will be completely destroyed i'm wondering if that kind of set him up a little bit for what happened next i don't know interesting thought interesting thought so elder claudia knowing the reputation of nineveh and some comments have come through before in terms of you know if god asked you to go into the lion's den so to speak although we know a prophet did but you know knowing the reputation of nineveh i don't know whether evangelist jonah would have done an altar call however what was the response from the ninevites picking up from jonah three verses five through to ten please elder claudia so i'm reading from new king james again um verse five so the people of nineveh believed god proclaimed the fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the list of them then word came to the king of nineveh and he rose from his throne and laid aside his robe cover himself with sackcloth and satinashes and he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout the nineveh by the decree of the king and his noble saying let neither man nor beast heard nor flock taste anything do not let them eat or drink water but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mighty to god yes let everyone turn from his evil way and from violence that is in his hands who can tell if god will turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish then god saw their works that they turned from their evil ways and god relented from the disaster that he had said he would that he had said he would bring up on them and he did not do it so the reaction of nineveh at the moment is when they hear the message of jonah they believe it which i think he was against jonah's expectations and they repent and uh even the king depends and he orders everyone to to realize their their wicked way and repent which tells us that we need to repent when we realize and we were we find out what the the truth is we need to repent and come to god and god is faithful to forgive us because like he says even jonah in them his prayer he recognizes that salvation is of the role of the lord if we repent and we come back to the lord the lord is faithful to to forgive us and save us amen amen thank you um sister bernie let me just jump back to you if i may is there a message here um about perceptions when considering or even witnessing to others have you got a thought there definitely i i think it's telling us not to write people off all right um like we all know of certain acts or certain groups of people that we feel are beyond redemption whether we know that or think that consciously or whether it is a subconscious belief in our minds there are some people that you know it's almost like it's not really worth preaching to them because they're just beyond redemption and so on i find it really interesting what um sister claudia said when she was saying that when jonah preached to the people of nineveh they believed it and it reminds me of the text about abraham abraham believed god and it was counted to him as righteousness um and you know what the king said you know who knows who can tell if god will not repent and turn away and whatever so that would perish not so even with those wicked people and let's make no mistake they were very wicked there was an element of dare i say it faith where and and we know from the story of the woman at the well not the woman at the well the woman who touched the hem of jesus's garment that that exercise of faith in god kind of almost almost not that you can compel god to do anything but that healing from god came because she connected with with him through faith and that's the same for all people if they connect to god through faith that lifeline will bring them back into god but back into a relationship with god and the power of god can basically work in you regardless of what your starting point was amen good point good point now i know elder peter burton was online earlier but he's also now present in church so good morning elder peter we got a comment from you yes good morning i think it's more an attempt to answer the question that you posed okay jonah think he couldn't hide from god being in the in the belly of the big fish for three days now as i've heard a few times during this lessons studied sorry lesson discussion this morning this story is very much about jonah as well as a people of nineveh that he was supposed to be saving and we all have mountaintops and valley-like experiences we know that elijah had a mountaintop experience and then he was running away um jonah we heard earlier was giving good news to somebody now he's having to share bad news and didn't really want to give it so he was in a bit of a dark place and that's where the darkness comes in darkness in the fish sometimes we have dark places in our lives and some people will ask at that time where is god now others will consider the footprints in the sand and know that that is a time that they need to seek god and i don't know how much and this is going to make me have to to seek a little bit more because i know jonah came after psalms and david but i need to know if jonah was aware of david's psalm which says in psalms 139 verses 7 to 12 i won't read them all but he says where can i go from your spirit where can i flee from your presence if i go to the heavens you are there if i make my bed in a depth you are there arise on the wings of the door and etc etc it says if i say surely the darkness will hide me so jonah might be thinking his darkness was hiding him and the light comes night around me even the darkness will not be dark to you the night will shine like day for the darkness is as light to you it's about trust and faith great takes great text excellent thank you very much elder peter pastor ah right um a lot of people are look uh you know including david billy david billett um maura young arlene starter of the lord they're saying that you know the three days is a reflection of christ um start of the lord says that you know that jesus read the scripture so he understood all of that um march 20 abel says as we study the gospel please pray for inspiration for brethren now spending three days circling the earth and returning to the they have seen god's creation who can tell they haven't they are not messengers of the lord you know this this um the space the space people they're circling the earth for three days yeah so um a bit of a modern okay um story um but here's a point clive johnson makes this point i want us to i like this point then i'm going to read what somebody else says clive says regardless of the outcome from our perception for for the days or or year our father is for the days or a year i think he's looking at how long jonah was in the belly of the whale what he's saying our father is merciful and just in his plan that's a powerful point here's the point i think rose flynn makes this point i think jonah realized that he was on on the ship that he could not run from god being in the fish was god's way of giving jonah time to rest i like that recollect himself as a prophet in preparation for his task that is a powerful idea yes because notice and somebody somebody else on live stream says that after jonah came out of the belly of the whale he was so prepared that that he converted the whole city so so maybe that's where he wrote his sermon he wrote his sermon in the belly of the whale jennifer says we still have to be careful lingering could be dangerous there's no guarantee you will be saved so running away can be dangerous and margaret on on margaret says that for me on on whatsapp that running away from god is a dangerous thing can i read something from belgium go ahead our pianist there are miguel and angela shout out to you both and he says sometimes god need to put us on a restful place to understand the will his will in our lives in a restful place the will the moment for reflection so and this is a thought elder johnny um and our viewers sometimes sometimes i don't want to do something but what and i find myself in in some way that i shouldn't be and it is in that no place that i should have not been that god makes a revelation to me i'm not saying i should go find myself in that space i'm saying it is by sometimes it is in a running that we meet god amen and god tells us how to deal with things but that's that's a powerful point great point thank you one more i've read a point from caroline archer she says even in jonah's story an aspect of his life mirrored jesus's life yes in his darkest moment he was in the belly of the fish so in christ's darkest moment he was in the belly of the earth that's right thank you for that carline great points keep them coming in we have another comment from our congregation good morning sister george yes i just wanted to um there are some points which i um we haven't actually highlighted yet the point about the fact that jonah was vomited out from the belly of the fish and [Music] thereafter god spoke to him again and then he arrows so i read somewhere that jonah was vomited out on the beach it quite disturbed me and i looking at the process of vomiting it is it is a powerful process and i wonder i just wonder what the ninevites have heard a very funny sound and had no idea what on earth that song these and were very disturbed by the song could they also have seen some kind of funny movement of the sea that's what what's the matter but something wrong something's gone wrong and when jonah arrived with his message and no doubt have stated because imagine what he looked like after coming out from the belly of the fish um he had no water to wash himself he might have had a smell and he might have still had a few weeds wrapping around somewhere might be his back or his head or somewhere that he couldn't see to move and he also had an opportunity to rest before he actually heard the voice of god speaking to him again and then he got up and on his way obviously he must have dried up and you know whatever it is and as he went to deliver the message with such urgency because he's never had such a trip in all his life and the ninevites put it this way had no doubt in their minds that this was a message from god that's right and i think that um sometimes uh because of the animation of the the the terrible experience of being vomited out it can help anybody to move because vomiting is not a simple process if one person vomiting this church everybody will hear and if a big fish vomit and a person landed on land we don't know how far he had to stay in the water to spew him out until he landed it must have made a mighty sound and so i imagine that the ninevites also had a question in their mind which enabled them to say yes this is definitely something beyond us and they had no alternative but to recognize that this is a message from god amen amen interesting point i mean i've never analyzed vomit before it's not something that um or vomiting i should say vomiting it's not something that i truly would think about i'd like to think that jonah didn't appear before the people smelling and covered in reeds and looking like a madman and telling them this so god would have made sure his presentation would have been on par so when he spoke those words but in interesting points can i disagree with you because i'm not a pharmatologist but um i'm not a hermetologist i leave that up to um sister george you had a baptism because when he was spewed out he went through the waters okay before he landed on the land good point thank you come pastor briefly i'm saying i'm not a rheumatologist georgia we won't go into that field but um but that's a very interesting point that's a very and sometimes when we think about um because um um jeremiah actually was considered to be the um the enacted prophet so he did a lot of stuff that you and i wouldn't have done you know god used him to demonstrate to his people i mean god said to um josiah married to a prostitute so maybe maybe sister george has received sanctified um inspiration inspiration all right clean sanctified inspiration amen amen good point thank you for sharing so hallelujah a nation repents there was joy in heaven and a peace throughout the entire city of nineveh all except for one man elder claudia just so we get the contrast just read from us again from jonah three verse ten through two four verse three and just so we get that contrast please starting with the verse 3 chapter sorry verse 10 in chapter 3 then god saw their works that they turned from the evil way and god relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring up on them and he did not do it but it displeased jonah exceedingly and he became angry so he prayed to the lord and said oh lord was not this what i said when i was still in my country therefore i fled previously to tarshish for i know that you are a gracious and merciful god slow to anger and abundant in lovingness loving kindness one who relents from doing harm therefore now oh lord please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live now this is really amazing you know like everyone is joyful everyone is um grateful for the for the great mercy of of of god and jonah is angry is and you you can't keep yourself asking why why why why did because jonah what is amazing as well is that jonah says for i knew you are a gracious and merciful god slow to anger and abundantly loving kindness one who relents from doing harm and yet he was not happy with the result of the of the of the revival uh series and is we we sometimes we are losing sight of that our work is for the glory of god and what we do is for him uh we are not the first person we are just the the the screen where god's glory and god's work needs to be shown and um this is what the the you know what what the message we need to take from from this yes yes good point thank you thank you um sister fernandine and so what is god's response after jonah is telling him to take his life at this time what's interesting is what god's response could have been anyway um jonah basically so reading from verse 4 but the lord replied have you any right to be angry jonah went out and sat and and so i think i'll just say it before i read it god basically prepares an object lesson for jonah to help him to understand what it's really about john went out and he sat at a place east of the city and there he made himself a shelter and sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city it's like still holding out hope it's going to destroy them years he is then the lord provided a vine and made it grow up over jonah to give him shade for his head to ease his discomfort and jonah was very happy about the vibe but at dawn the next day god provided a worm which chewed the vine so that it withered when the sun rose god provided a scorching east wind and the sun blazed on jonah's head so that he would faint he wanted to die and i think he was a bit depressed i don't know he wanted to die and said it would be better for me to die than to live but god said to jonah do you have a right to be angry about the vine i do he said i am angry enough to die but the lord said you have been concerned about this vine though you did not tend it or make it grow it sprang up overnight and it died overnight but nineveh has more than 120 000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and many cattle as well should i not be concerned about this great city so yeah the object lesson it was really clear you know this this was nothing to do with you this repentance or whatever it was nothing to do with you and jonah seemed to have the idea that it was about him i think somebody mentioned it that he was concerned about his own reputation more than about god maybe deuteronomy was going through his mind that if there's a prophet and they say something uh it's going to come to pass and then it doesn't come to pass then you know don't pay any attention to him so maybe that's what jonah had in the back of his mind but god said to him no do you know what it's not about you he had to remind jonah and straighten him out and tell him look this i'm the god of all mankind i love all mankind i have a concern for all mankind and you know by extension so should you um and it makes me think about first corinthians 13 which says you know if i though i have the gift of prophecy and i do not have love it's for nothing it's all for nothing so um god really was really patient with jonah actually and gave him a really kind of like lesson and showed him that bigger picture yes i'm the god of all mankind and i care for all mankind and i think somebody said not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance amen good point good point pastor let me take some comments from you sir um yes um sister george's um point is getting i mean a rare review on online um people were really inspired by that thought sister george so thank you very much um there are two points that are coming through maybe three first point is uh um o'neill made this point and i'm going to read it not paraphrase it he says sometimes even when we don't run away we're still not doing god's will standing still or running without the presence of god is futile i like that as as as christians you know are we are we standing still but doing nothing and i think that's the point he's making john iran some of us are standing still but we're still not doing nothing it's it's it's it's it's futile now here's a thought that is coming through and ivany hartley over there in bristol he made this point she made this one she said jonah must be ashamed of himself for his behavior i'm going to say why in a minute but i start with the end so a lot of people are saying here that god's god's grace is inclusive and not exclusive someone says that jonah received grace and when god gave that grace to somebody else he was upset and and that for me speaks volume not just of john as a prophet but to us as christians also um and chidi says how many times do we act like jonah we are quick to claim god's promises for ourselves but very reluctant to extend such grace to others or even wish god's blessings on others now that's a powerful thought as as christians some of us we we we enjoy god's blessings but we don't think that another person deserves the same thing um jennifer says that kath catherine says that cece makes that point early makes that point so that's the point um elder johnny that is coming through online forcefully that so often we enjoy god's grace and when god gives it to others we are upset with god acoustic makes this point and then back to john it is interesting to note the parallel between jonah's mountaintop moment like elijah calling down fire and both feeling depressed afterwards i'm not sure what this is what this is what this is meant to tell us and i think we need to be thinking now as christians am i so caught up in myself that i have no concern for the spiritual health and well-being of those who are sinking deep in sin god has called them out of sin they have embraced god but were upset and david billet says shame is a terrible thing jonah was embarrassed however he claimed to know god's mercy but but forget to include god's mercy in his message his embarrassment was of his own making and so is ours yes so it's ours so is ours i i was going to ask a question but it's already been answered i was going to ask would you say jonah was more worried about his reputation as a prophet of god than being a child of god but i think we've answered that question so the lesson stated god pursued jonah because he knew jonah needed the missionary journey as much as the ninevites needed to hear the missionary's message um sister werner jean what does the book of jude say that relates specifically to jonah's story looking at verses 20 through to 23 please okay so um verse 20 but you dear friends build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the holy spirit keep yourselves in god's love as you wait for the mercy of our lord jesus christ to bring you to eternal life and i'm understanding that as saying you know keep the relationship between you and god constant growing developing it's it's it's a constant thing and when that is the place that when that is the case um looking at verse 22 be merciful to those who doubt so that relationship that you have with god don't use that to look down on others and say well you're not holy enough you know you need to basically show that love that you have received from god and snatch others from the fire and save them to others show mercy mixed with fear hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh so no matter what state you see others around you so for jonah and the ninevites you know i believe that there was a level of scorn for the ninevites from the beginning and you know what this is saying to me is that there is nobody beyond god's love there is nobody that any of us has a right to score we have the duty and the privilege from god and through god's love to actually save them from their circumstances and as it says here snatch others from the fire and save them amen amen elder claudia anything to add against those verses um yes it is uh this is a message for us today because we are told that we need to spread the word and uh jesus told us that we need to take the world to the end of the earth um and we we should not get discouraged when even when people don't listen because this is gonna be like a witness for our work as a witness not necessarily that everyone we are gonna preach to are gonna repent and are gonna come back um so yeah we need to just for forget about ourselves and how we come across if we give the message then the work is not ours the holy spirit and the choice is the person we are talking to so our work is to just spread the word exactly what was expected of jonah and i am surprised that jonah was not prepared to to accept this because the prophecies are conditional and how many times uh even israel was given prophecies that they if they don't do what they should do this this would happen so he he was really uh but obviously he was a a worse vessel in the eyes of lord yes and and the lord went to such extent to to educate him which gives me hope really amen amen good points thank you very much as our panelists prepare their takeaway points pastor let me just come to you for our final online comments um here's a thought that we cannot limit we cannot limit the love of god and a saving grace god wanted to save those who were not of the household of israel we cannot condemn those who do not share our doctrines and worship like us powerful thought thank you very much carline says witnessing to others is just as much for our benefits as for them when we teach and show god's love it too should transform our lives that is coming through because um could it be that nineveh was jonah's saving grace i just want to think about that if jonah god sent jonah to an individual to save jonah and in the process of join of being saved the nine innovites were saved could it be that jonah was a straying prophet i i don't know if this is inspiration or maybe it's just pure perspiration i don't know um arlene says jonah forgot that the lord say call upon me and i'll answer you and show you great and mighty things he he he forgets that the children of nineveh could have changed their ways through the power of the holy spirit right and this is a powerful thought that we need to leave with this lesson this morning that if god gives you a message then then god's grace accompanies that message if god gives you a message then god's grace accompanies that message and sometimes as adventist and you know i won't call the name of the person no but there's a certain online adventist um which many of our members watch and he highlights all the bad things that people are doing he doesn't seem to talk about the grace of god quite a lot and it it bothers me as a christian that we like to teach brimstone on fire not recognizing that in everything that god does mercy grace accompanies his word over to you elder john you can say it sounds like you've done your um takeaway already but let me go firstly to sister werner jean um for your takeaway point please okay i i am going to confess to reading this lesson and thinking but what does it really have to do with restlessness and rest i don't get it but what i've understood from this lesson is that you should never reach a point where you're satisfied with your relationship with god um and we need to learn to recognize that restlessness in the way we things that we do and you know what we think and so on as a call from god to actually draw closer to him because the psalmist says new every morning is by love and you must be prepared to learn daily and this i believe was the process that jonah went through he he basically maybe didn't recognize his restlessness but god took him on a journey that taught and developed him we don't know what the end of the story is but clearly it was god's intention to develop jonah and we need to be open to that so that we can receive our rest in god amen thank you and elder claudia yes i just to add to what sister bernardin says at first when reading this book this um what happened to jonah uh i didn't get the impression that this is about the ninevites it was just about the the journey of jonah going through this educational process given to him by god and it is amazing how even when he was reluctant to listen to god even then god's message went to the people who were supposed to be touched by it amen i'm talking about the mariners and the people around you know they were not intended initially to be preached to so my conclusion is that when god calls don't run from it yes yes thank you good point and briefly pastor if you've got anything and he says briefly no espacies never brief but here's here's my point um even when you run from god god runs after you even when others do not forgive you god forgives yes and finally even when the church does not give grace god gives abundant grace amen amen my statement comes from the lesson god does not call us to success he calls us to faithfulness thank you everyone for taking part today and over to elder valsi and to this note the story ends what difference will it make my friends in our own lives as we think through lessons here for me and you when god commands will we obey or will we run the other way is mercy just for me and you and not for other peoples too the sign of jonah points today to jesus christ the living way he died on rose to save the lost let's spread the news what a the cost god bless you now let us pray and please bear with us after the prayer because i've got some announcements let's pray father you are such a merciful a compassionate a loving god we thank dear god for sending these lessons for us to remind us how frail we are on how important it is for us to rely on you and to obey your command your commandments bless us we pray there father and may your holy spirit continue to guide us as we go through the rest of the holy sabbath for christ's sake amen now as you have looked outside you see the beautiful sunshine and what am i going to say we are back at the park this afternoon at four o'clock at the rookery for the lesson study for next sabbath god willing so please join us bring your chairs your deck chairs with you bring warm clothing bring a drink with you and let's meet together because we don't know what next week will bring forth because we are now in the month of september and the winter is drawing near so please join us at 4 pm at the rookery at stratham common where we met the last times we have looked i've looked around when we started this morning there were only a few of us and a few visitors but now there are many visitors in the congregation i want to welcome you and i hope you have been blessed with the lesson discussion we've had this morning and brother d we hope to see you again next sabbath god willing it was a pleasure having you and all of you who have come to worship at croydon sabbath school and croydon church today so please have a wonderful week and may the blessings of god be with you and bless you and guide you and come back again next sabbath where we shall meet to worship god thank you so much god bless [Applause] [Music] [Music] friendship [Applause] as a girl i pray for wisdom please make me strong be my shield and be my god be my [Music] that i can walk be by my side there are a thousand ways you and me [Music] be my shield and be my [Music] be my strength when i am [Music] that i can walk be by my [Music] be my shield and be my god [Music] is [Music] give me the strength [Music] me [Music] bye [Music] hello [Music] uh [Music] so [Music] praise god from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures he'll be in love praise him above ye have the host praise father son and holy ghost praise god from him all blessings flow praise him all creatures [Music] praise god from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures [Music] [Music] praise him all creatures [Music] [Music] praise him on creatures [Music] praise father son and holy god praise father son and holy ghost [Music] good morning church let me say a special welcome to our visitors our online viewers and to our members who are here present with us in church this morning i pray that as we have come together to worship god on whichever platform we're on that you'll be blessed you'll be inspired and you'll be encouraged and that you will feel the warmth of the croydon church family i have a few announcements to bring to your attention first uh one is just a reminder if you've missed it earlier that there will be a suburb school study in the park this afternoon once the weather remains as it is and this will be in stratham common from 4 to 6 pm our newly baptized members are being asked to contact elder stanley or any member of the pastoral team with any concerns that they may have you can find our contact information on the churches website our the next baptismal service will be on the 25th of september and this will be this will take place during the divine service all members are asked to complete the nomination form and return as soon as possible croydon's annual prayer retreat will convene via zoom on the 22nd through the 24th of october the guest speaker will be pastor pavel goa from the general conference further details to follow soon the next woman's women's forum meeting will be on monday the 4th of october from 7 p.m to to 8 p.m the discussion will be the last in the series dress to bless then on the 1st of november the woman woman's forum meeting will be having a guest speaker who will be discussing issues relating to mental health and finally the sec prime minister retreat will be on the 22nd through the 24th of october please pay attention to these and act accordingly thank you sabbath blessings church it's good to see you inside of our sanctuary here this morning to give praise and honor to our lord and also we want to thank you those who are aligned who are still joining us week after week we thank you that god has continued to bless you also it has been a crazy week for some people some people have also lost loved ones and it has been a very hard 18 to 19 months but we want to remember that god is here as our protector as our guide as our friend and we must cast all our cares upon him we know that jesus will protect us if we ask him to so we're going to start this morning with jesus build a fence all around me every day [Music] lord i want you to protect me as i travel along this way lord i know you can lord i know you will fight five battles while i stand still build a fake sword around [Music] lord i want you to protect me as i travel along my spray lord i know you can lord i know you will find my battles while i stand still build a fence lord around me every day one more time jesus spit offense jesus will defend all around me every day lord i want you to protect me as i travel along the light's way lord and all you can lord i know you will find my battles while eyes lord i know lord i know you can lord i know you will find my [Music] every day [Music] and because we know that the lord will build the fence once we ask him to we can stand like the brave with our faces to the phone oh christian awake [Music] oh christian await is the master's command with helmets and shields [Music] with stand like the brave [Applause] [Music] be watchful [Music] [Music] like the [Music] stand like the brave stand like the praise [Music] [Applause] [Music] his love like a stream in the desert will [Music] stand like the brave stand like the praise [Music] as life goes on you know that sometimes we're not brave sometimes life brings us down but that's when the lord asks us to hold on hold on in faith to him and that's why he can give us the victory in all things faith is the victory encamped along the hills of light ye christian soldiers rise and press the battle in the night shall fill the glowing skies against the fallen felt below [Music] [Music] faith is the victory faith is a victory oh glorious victory that overcomes the world on every hand the fall we fight [Music] left behind and onward to the fray salvation's [Music] [Applause] [Music] faith is the victory faith is the victory oh glorious victory that overcomes the world to him that overcomes the fall white raven shall begin before the angels he shall know his name confessed in heaven then onward from the hills of light our hearts [Music] in jesus concrete name faith is the victory faith is the victory oh glorious victory that overcomes faith is the victory faith is a victory oh glorious [Music] and although we know that with faith we do have the victory we have to remember that without the holy spirit coming on us and being with us inviting him in our presence we cannot do all things so our last song will be holy spirit rain down deborah is going to start just the verse sing the first verse on our own because this is going to be a prayer for us and then we will ask you to join in after that [Music] holy spirit oh comforter and friend how we need your touch again holy spirit [Music] let your voice be heard come and change our hearts as we stand on your word holy spirit [Music] down [Music] how we need your touch again holy spirit [Music] let your power fall let your voice be heard come and change [Music] holy spirit [Music] [Applause] how we need your touch again holy spirit [Music] let your voice be heard come and change [Music] let your voice be heard come and change your hearts as we stand on your words [Music] we've prayed holy spirit rain down and we will now continue in prayer as we adopt a position that will be comfortable and respectful to god for prayer let us pray the lord and father of mankind please forgive our foolish ways and restore us into the mind that is in you you've told us lord in matthew 6 6 that when we pray we need to go into our own rooms lock the door and father who is unseen will hear us and he will answer lord we thank you for that so this morning i'll not be repeating things that i've said to you already during the week not necessarily calling people by name but i pray that people will feel the prayers that are being prayed and apply it to their situation lord we've also heard in ephesians 6 verse 18 that we need to pray in the spirit the spirit we've just sung about holy spirit rain down and you said and we need to make supplication for others so we are going to make this application for others today we've already supplied our needs through the lesson study we've had a very healthy lesson study learning about jonah and how it's important that when you give us a mission we need to fulfill it and lord you've also enabled us to hear positive news in terms of people graduating and new births being taken place even this week as well and lord pray you'll continue to be with those who have reason to rejoice we know that online prayer requests come through all the time we pray that you will see those hear the petitions of those making the requests and answer according to your riches in glory which we know are extremely abundant and even as i come on behalf of your people this morning i pray that you'll cleanse me so that whatever is set out of my lips will go to your throne and not be stopped at the church's ceiling so lord we do continue to pray for those who are ill we pray for strength for their bodies and for power of their minds to enable them to understand that you are still in the business of healing and we pray that the healing will be theirs lord we also consider those who are bereaved there have been so many deaths that we've heard about over the past however just in weeks alone and even this week those who have lost family members and so on we pray for them and put them into your hands we know that you're the source of comfort you're the source of strength you're the source of hope and we pray that that hope will be felt in you at all times there are individuals who have received disappointing news this week of other kinds events that they have um undertaken that haven't gone the way that they have desired careers that are going pear-shaped lord again we present those needs to you and we're asking lord even as we speak about these things that people will whisper a personal prayer on their behalf and know that this intercessory prayer where people intercede for you it's real lord we have heard of people who have seen interventions in their lives because of others interceding we know that men's hearts are failing them for fear and we don't have to be in that position but when we think of situations such as being shared with us even in this country about the shortage of food and the possibility of things getting even worse and people getting scared about that some blaming brexit some blaming coved some blaming lorry drivers but lord we know that you're the one who supplies all our needs and we pray that we'll always put our trust in you to supply for our needs we also pray for those who are scared because they're in war situations there's reason to fear we know they're even in the states they've shot down um some innocent civilians in the afghanistan situation and lord even though they've admitted responsibility they're still people that have lost loved ones and families but again lord we pray that you'll alleviate that fear and bring peace lord we know that people are worried about climate change and lord again we pray that as stewards of your earth that we will take care of the resources that you have blessed us with we even think lord of our local council they're in serious trouble in terms of debt london borough of croydon and again we pray that you will have someone in that leadership position to be able to say something that will be able to make that change and we know that change can only come if they include you in their plans so lord we pray that there will be someone bold enough to speak up in the council to enable that change to be made there are people lord who are spiritually struggling and this is even more serious than the other things that have been mentioned and again we're praying lord that they'll have that even that slight inkling to speak to you because it's only through you that the help can come and lord may they lift their eyes up to the hills knowing that that strength can come from you we pray lord that we will be one just as you prayed when you prayed with your disciples that they will be one we pray for our leaders lord leaders in our church leaders in our conferences leaders in our communities leaders of our countries lord we're pr placing them in your hands today and may they also feel that they are being prayed for as a church we have a mission you've told us that we need to teach to preach and to reach and lord we know that we cannot do those things successfully unless we do them through the holy spirit so we're praying that we will make our teaching be led by your holy spirit our preaching be led by your holy spirit and so that we can reach out and your holy spirit work on those souls that need to be brought in to that knowledge and that saving grace that only you can give and so lord as we within this church are focusing on spiritual warfare may we understand that this spiritual warfare battle is real and even as we'll be hearing today even more of that we are presenting our speaker to you elder neal who will be following on from um pastor kajo who preached about putting on that spiritual armor may we put that spiritual armor on so that we can withstand the wiles of the evil one and lord we know that one of the key ways of doing that is to guard our minds as we heard from president i'll say last week so we're presenting the speaker today to you elder neal and as he speaks to us about prayer may we really understand what it means to be ardent and fervent in our prayers to you and in all our petitions we pray that you will hear our prayer and incline your ear to us grant us your peace in the name of jesus amen [Music] hey guys it's ryan daly and today i'll be taking the children's story for you guys today so the story that i'll be telling you today is the story of daniel and the lions alright so this story starts out in the year bc nebuchadnezzar the king of babylon besieged the city of jerusalem many of the king's soldiers looted the temple for treasures and took back young men from israel's royal family those who were healthy and intelligent so they can work under the king among these prisoners was daniel so daniel was taken from jerusalem all the way to babylon where he was to be trained for three years he had to learn literature and the king's language before entering the king's service but the thing is yeah it was a challenge for daniel he was a jew in a different environment with different customs and lords in babylon the king's students had to eat the royal food which was food that daniel was not supposed to eat lord steward please allow me to ask what is this meat where is it from and and how was it slaughtered the cattle are from the king's herd they are fattened along the river and strangled before the altars of marduk before their flesh is carried to the kitchens the swine or from the king's pens they are fed on choice food and it is rumored the king's executioner laces their feet with the entrails of his victims so that the king's chosen may feast and grow strong on the flesh of his enemies so because of this issue daniel asked the king's guard if he could not eat this food because it's against god's law so daniel suggested that for 10 days let them eat only water and vegetables then compare his looks with the others who eat the royal food give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink then compare our appearance to that of the other young men who eat the royal food [Music] so the god agreed to this and of course after 10 days daniel looked much healthier than the other men who ate the royal food so yeah guys you gotta make sure you eat your veggies anyway so daniel grew up and god blessed daniel with wisdom even giving him the understanding to interpret dreams by the time daniel was finished with his training he began working on the king nebuchadnezzar they are beltershazzer shadrach meshach and abednego hey yo don't forget me who am i well obviously you're king nebuchadnezzar you know king of babylon probably the most powerful man there is right now trust me bro that's not gonna last long because at some point you're gonna be going insane and be eating grass on that like a cow farm you come forth why should i allow you sons of my former enemies to serve in my court what bro that was the whole reason you kept us here you literally kept us here to study for you for three years do you remember you made my mind make us study all your history literature a whole new language but i'm on a whole new level of education right now so you better not let that go to waste big man thing this is good anyway so one night nebuchadnezzar was troubled in his sleep and had a mysterious dream that he could not understand he first called for his magicians and enchanters and astrologers for help and nebuchadnezzar wanted them to tell him his dream first but none of the wise men could do it my lord if only you would tell us your dream we could interpret it as we have always done always i know you're trying to gain time or trick me into revealing what i've seen either way i'll have none of it however after praying to god daniel was able to tell the king his dream a dream for telling that no matter how powerful a human king can be his kingdom will be defeated god is more powerful and eventually his kingdom will overthrow the whole earth a large statue awesome in its appearance the head of the statue is made of pure gold its chest and arms of silver its belly and thighs of bronze its legs of iron its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay as you were watching a rock was cut out but not by human hands it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them then the iron the clay the bronze the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces at the same time and the wind swept them away without a trace but the rock that struck the statue became a mountain and filled the whole earth after daniel revealed the meaning of nebuchadnezzar's dream he was astounded and placed daniel in a high position for many years daniel served under nebuchadnezzar until a man named belshazzar rose to power one day belshazzar was having a great banquet and gave orders to bring in the gold and silver cops that nebuchadnezzar had taken from jerusalem so that they can drink from them as they drank the wine fingers of a human hand suddenly appeared and began writing on the wall the message that was written could not be understood by the king and his wise men but then the queen suggested that daniel should interpret it since he did interpret nebuchadnezzar's dream when daniel read the message he said it means that belshashar's days as king are numbered and that babylon will soon be taken and divided between the medes and persians and of course that very night belsassar king of the babylonians was slain and darius took over the kingdom samuel desires the city's taken in his name as he is commanded i shall assume the crown [Music] hey yo i don't have a problem with that now daniel served under king darius and like before he was wiser than any of his wise men and excelled above everyone else so much so that he made the other administrators jealous and they wanted to get rid of him they tried to fight charges against daniel but they couldn't find any corruption in him instead they wanted to make praying to god something daniel did three times a day unlawful so that they can charge him against it the administrators came to king darius saying that he should be worshipped like a god and that he should enact a decree saying that for one month anyone who prays to any god except him will be thrown into the lines then king darius agreed and put it in writing in accordance with the law of the medes and persians so it cannot be repealed when daniel heard of this he carried on praying three times a day just as he did before the administrators then found daniel praying and took him to king darius no one is above the law yes sadly o king no one is above the law king darius then knew he had been tricked and had no choice but to have daniel be sent into the lions then what do you think this is going to work you know your net's right you know you're next because king darius liked daniel he couldn't eat or sleep at dawn when darius came to the den to see if daniel was alive he was alive with no wound on him whatsoever behold there is no sign of wound on him yes sir what did i say daniel said god sent an angel to shut the lion's mouths and as for the other administrators it was them who were taken into the lions then as punishment you fools did you not think i would punish you after all that the king then made a decree that everyone must fear and reverence daniel's god alright so that was the story of daniel so there is a lot we can learn from this the main lesson we can take from this today is sticking to your beliefs we first saw daniel being told he had to eat food that he wasn't supposed to eat instead of compromising his faith he instead requested to eat food he should be eaten and that turned out better for him even though he was working under these kings and was likely very busy he still made sure to find time for god i mean he prayed three times a day so guys whether you have work or school it's still very important that you still find time for god i mean as daniel grew in his relationship with god he grew in wisdom as well matthew 6 33 says but seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given unto you as well even when general's faith was challenged by the law he still didn't stop what he was doing and god protected him from the lions isaiah 41 verses 10 says so do not fear for i am with you do not be dismayed for i am your god i will strengthen you and help you i will uphold you with my righteous right hand so yeah that's basically it from me i hope you guys enjoyed today's story i hope you guys have a great day god bless and take care [Music] drifting lonely wandering soul it's so so dark it's so so cold no matter where you roam there is a road that leads back home [Music] still loved and yourself [Music] though you wonder though you stray going further further away it's not a hopeless case there is no limit to god's grace [Music] [Music] there's [Music] come from [Music] me [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] the story is always [Music] come here [Music] it's my great honor great privilege and great pleasure to stand before god's people once again thank you for being here today and good morning good afternoon good evening to you if you're watching us online from somewhere else in the comfort of your own home it's great to have you with us today there's a slight change you would have seen on the screen the title of the sermon nothing is wrong with that that was the title i gave the publishing team but as i began to think about the message that i believe i was asked to present to you [Music] i want you to bear in mind that the title the takeaway message is declare war what's the message and if somebody says to you what did that gentleman say on saturday the title the theme the takeaway message is to declare war the devil as you know is on a war path and we have been doing for the entire month of september presentations on spiritual warfare now i am speaking to seventh-day adventists and i know that most 70 adventists are pretty clued up at least theoretically about spiritual warfare so forgive me if you will that i will not spend too much time doing deep bible study today it is possible that i might step in your business although i wrote this for my own self i am a little bit sick and tired and fit to be tied spitting feathers if you will at the constant casualties that are occurring in god's church because god's people choose not to declare war and we sit around and we watch while another wounded soldier dies how many more children will grow up in the adventist church and leave the adventist church and walk away from god and we do nothing about it how many more marriages must crash and burn against the rocks because spiritual weapons are never used and we've become so blase about it it's no big deal anymore who if not you is gonna fight for your own home at what stage will you say enough is enough who is going to stand in the gap on behalf of the people the lord said i looked for a man i was looking for somebody to stand in the gap and i found nobody and thousands of years later god's church on the borders of the eternal promised land and here we stand and he's still looking for soldiers to declare war what are you going to realize that as a fellow christian soldier it is your duty and your responsibility when another soldier gets wounded the united states marines have a theme or a slogan which is this no man left behind enemy lines years later they will fly a corpse home to be buried in arlington cemetery because you don't left you don't leave your comrade behind even though fallen i am a bit fed up of the coward whimpers we sometimes send up to heaven and call it prayer have the audacity to call it prayer and so pardon me if you will but i am sick of business as usual let us pray lord god please pass by and shake us in jesus name you're turning your bibles to first peter chapter five first peter chapter five and you're gonna orient yourself around verse 8 to verse 9 first peter chapter 5. while you are turning there while you are turning there may i remember you that the first law of the art of war is to know your enemy know your enemy i never said you must respect the devil i didn't say you must admire the devil but you should know your enemy i'm in the new king james version for this one and it says be sober the original word means serious it means not sleepy it means wise be sober and be vigilant because your adversary the devil sits at home filing his nails he's waiting for happenstance to try you that what it says there seeks he goes about you see you might live your life on autopilot the devil is deliberate seeking whom he might spend some quality time with is that what it says there resist him be steadfast in your faith knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood elsewhere please understand that even though the devil is a defeated liar do not expect him to act defeated especially when he's so good at deception he can convince you that you are the defeated one in fact even a wounded lion can rip your head off and so here's one of the first things i want to leave with you today nothing about spiritual warfare is theory nothing about spiritual warfare is just theory this thing is more real than your present reality because it is often what happens in the spiritual realm that determines how you operate and what happens to you in the physical realm a lot of us come to church and we hear preachers preach these things and we leave and it's as if nothing ever happened but i stopped by to say to you that the spiritual warfare is real and we can see the casualties and every time i see the casualties peter i mourn i might not be a serving elder this year but i've been an elder for many years for many years and pastors have told me you shouldn't take things so personal but every time a marriage fails i take it personal every time i hear of a pastor who is powerful or a preacher whose ministry is tearing down the gates of hell and then six months later you can't find him where is he where is she what happened the ministry is silenced because of what you call these days an indiscretion and and some of us jeer and some of us are glad yes well i didn't know that you don't celebrate when satan is celebrating and this day as i walk by that home and i pause and i looked at the door there was no more laughter spilling out of the door there was no more joys coming from the inside the door was dark and and it it it's as if sivan if you please there was this dark foreboding resting upon the door and peter i felt like i was punched in the gut because i love the people who used to live there no more mourning worship no more evening worship that has been silenced because what satan was able to do successfully is go in the home and get mommy and daddy to start turning at each other and hurting each other and tearing each other until it was all over and boy i've seen many divorces in my time but that one hit me to this day it affects me because it wasn't necessary i could not see any reason it's like i never saw that one coming you see the most dangerous attack that you will ever face is the attack you did not know was coming and i stopped by to remind you that an attack is headed your way and when you see peace and safety in your life don't use that as an excuse to think all is well with your life let me tell you what else upsets me as i'm trying to manage the clock this morning because we've got a lot to go through you know in ephesians chapter six you've been here you've been watching ephesians chapter six we wrestle not against flesh and blood and so on and so forth you know something that i take personal umbrage at but we war against principalities you remember that come on you know the scripture you can talk to me you know what the principality is have you any clue what a principality is a principality you know is a rank of celestial beings when the devil's demons fell they fell in their rank definition number one definition number two a principality is an area ruled by a prince i'm coming home to you i'm coming home to you you will hear of the principality of give me one country principality of monaco for example do you know i've been doing so much research i hope to leave some of the research behind do you know that satan declares himself and what one stage declared himself prince of this earth do you know that satan declares himself prince of countries prince of communities prince of your home prince of your living room the cheek the nerve the gall the audacity to say he is your prince and that is why and i was looking for this quotation for one whole year and can't find it i remember sending it to somebody and then i can't find it ellen g white says he takes personal offense when you go and try and save anybody from his kingdom because he says how dare you how very dare you come and take anybody out of my principality and once you name the name of jesus and you call on jesus he he makes you his personal enemy principality declaring that you are his subject declares that your home is his principality let's look in the bible let's go into the bible and let's look at two examples two examples of warfare two responses to warfare my pa is going to help me this morning they're going to go to luke 22 luke 22 you're gonna have 24 first and then we're going to skip after 24 and go to 31. luke 22 we're going to go to 24. because i'm hoping that this sermon has some element of practicality so that on tuesday it might be useful especially thursday when that person get on your very last nerve luke 22 we're going to go to verse 24 first and after this we're going to go to daniel chapter 10. so we're going to stay in luke we're going to examine luke for a little bit that situation then we're going to go to daniel 10 see what we learn from there and then you can go home and eat your shepherd's pie vegetarian of course number one luke 22 24. now there was also a dispute among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest oh lord okay let's read it again now there was a word an argument massive argument disputation a thief a coffuffle a fight now when men dispute ladies a whole room of men is not a really silent affair 31 31 until i tell you to stop and the lord said simon simon satan has asked for you and that you there is plural that he may sift you as wheat now now so what is going on peter because exclamation means shout right jesus had to shout sivan jesus why do you sit beside me each time i'm preaching i'm going to call your name man you should stop it but you're my good friend sister george the war became so intense there is a time to fight you know and there's a time to refrain from fighting here they were fighting over position and the nominating committee think that they had time and not realizing what time it was and jesus like simon simon because his mouth was the loudest simon guys don't you understand and and this issue was not new years for the three years they were fighting over who is important years they were fighting over i'm coming into your business today so understand i'm mixing things up who makes more money in the marriage years they were fighting over who should drive what car years they were fighting over who is the better parent years they were fighting over bible study years they were fighting over rank and position and jesus was saying as pastor cavalla used to say that's the big issue but that is not the real issue you are missing the point you are caught up in this position business simon simon what's actually going on simon is that satan has asked for you and he wants to in jamaica we say sieve and we use the known and the verb sieve you like weed satan is like give me an opportunity or you have those twelve because you know you know there's something called the hedge spiritually right in psalms as the mountains surround jerusalem so the lord surrounds his people the angel of the lord and comes through and about them that delivers them you remember when satan had to go to heaven and ask permission for job you remember that in job chapter one and so he comes and he goes in the spiritual realm and he's like oh you have a church i see you're forming a church i see you've got 12. why don't you give me an opportunity for this 12 and we will see if there's 12 and so what he did he gave them an issue and he came in and here is jesus christ going to the cross and here are they quarreling over stuff first lesson from peter first lesson from luke always understand who your real enemy is your husband might not be the enemy even though he's making himself out to be the person at work who's getting on top of your very last nerve that person might not be your enemy satan's job is to create division to create diversion and to convince you that the person shouting at you is against you when that individual might be a victim too be used like a puppet understand who your enemy is none of the disciples stopped to ask how did we get here you know what some of the disciples did you know the story adventist you know what some of the disciples did my friends at home i'm looking at you they asked their mother to go to jesus to lobby for position did you get that did you make a note of that lobbying for position when that wasn't the real issue point number two point number two the destiny the the the destruction is not the destination i said it again can you miss it the distraction that the devil has caused is not the destination he throws that in to throw you off guard it's like a thief breaking into your home and there are some dogs outside who are bad and the thief takes a piece of meat and he throws over there and there are these people dogs ripping each other to shred and the thief is going in the house whistling on his merry way again pastor cavallo's theology it's a big issue but it's not the real issue stirred up their passions stirred up their passions causing them to debate nonsense when what the real issue was you hear what jesus christ said the devil has the desire to do what did you read the thing to sift you like wheat what was he trying to do what was he trying to do he's trying to destroy their faith he's trying to destroy their holding god he's trying to destroy the church that jesus christ was setting up he was saying to jesus christ the church that you leave i will go in that church and when i finish with this church i used to do sifting as a boy for my grandmother when we used to parched khan back in the early days and when you finish you would heave it up and you would blow and it would blow away and he said that is what i am going to do the issue is not who is texting who's ex-boyfriend i'm majoring in relationships today because relationships is what satan like you tear down the relationship you tear down the church the the the issue is not whose parent is calling and being the the issue is is not the size of the house the issue is not the size of your pay that is the big issue but what satan wants to do is to so cloud your mind so water down your mind get you so worked up that the real issue when the attack comes and it will come when the attack comes you can't even stand up because you've been arguing all the time do you remember mark 9 you remember mark 9 you remember what happened in mark 9. there was a boy demon possessed they couldn't cast him out you remember that and they said why couldn't we cast him you have no idea how deep this thing is they couldn't deliver the boy from demon harassment and possession possession because they were in a position to argue with each other so when when the individual turned up and say help me they were of no use because they were so busy arguing over the distraction that they didn't realize that wasn't the destination satan has you worked up about something that has nothing to do with nothing declare war wise up god's people and to the point peter that when jesus came off the mountain the father had lost his faith and said to christ if you can do anything and christ like if you're talking to me and said if if you can believe you remember that story our churches these days we we've become so worked up about nothing that people come here dying in spiritual chains leave dying in spiritual chains while we talk about a range of stuff stop being so easily triggered stop being so easily triggered parents let me come to you yes i'm stepping on a lot of coins today including mine why are you so silent croydon church is normally quite exercised the fact that the child teenager young adult should know better by now and is forming a right fool and getting on top of your very last nerve is the big issue but that's not the real issue the fact that they're rube is a mess and the socks is in the wrong place yes but what is really going on is that their heart is in the wrong place that is more important what's going on is that satan is trying to kill your child while you bicker and fuss and you don't even know it because all you want is some peace and so if there's correct behavior you are fine not realizing that under your very own nose your child is dying instead of shouting at the bedroom door why not anoint that bedroom door and pray at that bedroom door help your child to defeat the demons in their very own lives of course the picnic should behave i was speaking in tongues for you for those of you in denmark of course the child should behave you see what i'm saying of course your husband should be better than that but when that man is riding your nerve one night you get up at 2 a.m in the morning and you put your hand on his head and you anoint him and lift him up to jesus christ declare war stop majoring in minors because the destruction is not the destination because satan is softening you up for a blow one of my friends in jamaica like to say satan schools you in private and graduates you in public there is power in praying for your family that is not sufficiently understood not sufficiently understood i'm going to tell you a brief story my mother has a cousin who was her best friend when she was going to school cousin called me yesterday and you know oh you didn't tell me you were preaching and she told me a story no she had she told me the story before but a hit differently this time peter she told me that when they were coming from school they used to uh sometimes have to wait under a big rock and overhang to shelter from the rain and they were high school students teenagers teenage girls and my mother used to talk about life you know teenagers do where you want to live how many kids you want to have and my mother used to pray at that spot for her children which she did not yet have that they would stay in the church as a teenager she had no boyfriend but she had ideas of having children and when she had the idea of having children she started praying for her children who years before she had children as a little girl she was putting prayer down in the annals of time so that when they reach adulthood and they were in their 20s and in their 30s that they would be serving the lord and when she said it and she's sitting right there you can ask her if you think i'm joking and when she said it i realized why my brother had to come back out of drug addiction and gambling addiction and leave the gambling dance and come back because my mother had ordained him and he's the first elder for his church today she had put prayer down there and i said boy you could have formed fool but she had put warfare up there she didn't know what you would be involved in but prayer was there you walked into the dimension of holy spirit prayer the destruction is not the destination don't major don't major in small stuff fight for your child fight for your home fight for your husband stop making your home so toxic you know something you know something peter you know something here's what we don't often realize you see when you're at war sometimes the target isn't you are your wife it's your child who you don't see looking on and what he wants to do is to create an environment that is so toxic that your child makes up their mind to leave church from there are 12 and just waiting until they're 18. and so he wants to deliver a blow not just to you but to your child and your grandchildren not yet born wise up god's people number three number three we're going to daniel 10 now but let's finish with number three what did peter say when god said to him the devil has desired to sift you like wheat what was his response jesus you don't know me very well jesus you you don't know who i am you don't understand that right now i feel like i could die for you beloved it is not self-confidence that win spiritual warfare so point number three is this have the courage to tell yourself the truth about yourself peter had not yet fully surrendered he had delayed the work and there was an unconverted part of him but he had mistaken his proximity to christ for surrender to jesus christ he had mistaken his involvement in church work for hard work and he never confronted himself you see peter in reality he really thought he could die for christ that's why he chop off the man's air you remember that when pastor andrew peach the other day he wasn't trying to chop off the man's air nobody's that skill he was trying to chop off the man's head and caught his ear but physical violence is the easy part what he didn't know is that there was a part of him which couldn't take this grace and embarrassment and so when the standing with jesus became shameful he could no longer stand you and i have spent locked down some of us watching three sermons per day we started crying in the morning we go to andrews in the afternoon we have east jamaica conference we have the kenyan conference and we hear the messages and we hear god saying surrender surrender surrender because surrender is the key to victory and we said i'm okay lord not now lord i will get there lord one of these good old days i will give you all lord but one of these good old days when the test comes you did not tell the truth about yourself and the unconvert who you really are will rise up in battle and embarrass who you think you are we spend so much time carefully choreographing an image of self to convince people that that's who we are and end up believing the choreography and forgetting hey that part of us is not really dead and it gets up like a zombie and by the time you know your marriage is over have the courage to tell yourself the truth about yourself in this spiritual warfare because victory begins with the defeat of the flesh am i making sense somebody am i making sense go to daniel chapter 10 go to daniel chapter 10. now daniel chapter 10 daniel chapter 10. so essentially danny luke was about some of the things we probably should not do we probably want to want to know who we are we probably want to focus on the real issues not the big issues we probably want to focus on the right enemy and stop fighting the wrong individual but daniel himself encountered a war now you know brother daniel by the time you get to luke chapter 10 daniel chapter 10 i do beg your pardon i'm going to read this one quickly stay with me in the year cyrus king of persia a message was revealed to daniel a message was revealed to daniel a message was revealed to daniel are you there at home whose name was called so and so the message was true but the appointed time was long he and he understood the message and he had understanding of the vision verse 2 with me quickly in those days i daniel was mourning how long sorry come on man talk to me how long how long is three weeks in this are you sure how long was daniel morning let's go on move on next verse next verse next verse let's go quickly um and i at no unpleasant food no meat no one no no no i didn't even anoint myself with my perfume and all those kind of things man i had a partial fast like no no proper food for how long you see you're missing you're missing the message in the sermon you're missing because i keep asking you let's move on verse four um no on the 24th day of the first month i was by the side of the great river that is the tigress let's keep going quickly i lifted my eyes and looked and behold a certain man clothing linen whose waist was girded with the gold of ufa's he is now seeing an angel let's keep going to verse and um his body was like burial his face was like the appearance of lightning uh his eyes like torches of fire his arms and feet like burn his bronze in color sound of his voice like like like the multitude this is scary stuff verse seven and i daniel alone saw the vision for the men who were with me he did not see the vision but they became so afraid that they run and hide they had a sense that the atmosphere was disturbed they had a sense that a spiritual being had touched down and they're like we can't stay here anymore because something is about to go down uh verse eight and uh therefore i was left alone yeah man i fainted i i had no strength left nine yet i heard the sound of the words that he was speaking and and and uh i was in a deep sleep on my face i was knocked out but i could hear him you know and in verse 10 he says suddenly he touched me and i started trembling move on and he said oh daniel okay watch this watch this watch this in the lit in the few little time that we have left watch this what did he say first of all understands danielle's epitaph in heaven oh danielle man greatly beloved that's another sermon for another time understand understand this daniel one of these days remind me to preach a sermon if they allow me about a glimpse of heaven and what goes on in heaven and what heaven looks like and jesus looks like and what the angels do in heaven but take it from me for now at face value that i've done research in ezekiel and so on right understand that the words that i speak to you stand upright i have come to i've i've been i now have been what come on don't miss the message church i have been what i've been sent i've been sent now look at verse 12. oh you've been sent really don't fear daniel from what no you didn't see that from what from what from the first day that you decided to pray and to humble yourself what happened god heard you and day one peter with how long was daniel praying for he was heard on which day where was the angel in that time are you with me so far i want you to get mad and upset and angry in the spirit with me where was the angel now i want you to know that when ezekiel looked in heaven he saw the angel moving like lightning there are no clouds in heaven and irons and electrons to create lightning it's the speed at which they move angels move at the speed of thought yet it took you 21 days to reach here why god heard me god heard you he heard you on day one but what happened oh look at verse 13 have mercy jesus look at verse 13 but the prince of the kingdom of persia withstood me how long war fear break out lord have mercy and behold who michael had to stand up for i had been left alone with the kings of persia i have been left on there are two versions of the translation and interpretation of this and i will tell you them now two version version one or interpretation one you remember john 14 verse 30 where christ said the prince of this heir has come and has found nothing on me that the prince of persia in this instance it is satan who declared that persia was his what principality and when gabriel was coming himself oh hey hey you ain't going down there no you're not gabriel said get thee behind me satan and he's like today today we will see about that and day one danielle is praying and nothing happens and and don't ask me how they were fighting that's above my pay grade and and day five and which day do you give up are you with me so far which day do you get fed up and throw in the towel and day seven and danielle didn't know anything all he had the good sense to know was that something was into something and his response is i'm going to pray anyway good to god that god's people knew how to persevere in prayer lesson number one from daniel persevere in prayer you know i always wondered why jesus said in luke 18 men always ought to pray and never give up king james version says and not faint persevere because there are some things it is not god blocking it from you it is satan trying to war and fight and make sure you don't get your blessing next interpretation is that what was really happening here is that it was actually the kings of persia cyrus and darius and it was the time when israel should be released to go back and set up jerusalem and what was happening is that gabriel had to be trying to convince the these these kings but you had people bringing in messages to the kings and satan trying to win the heart of the kings i'm not going to fight over the virgins whatever version you take the message is the same see it and block daniel from being answered on the day when he was heard did you catch that for me so therefore i'm asking you to remember that you must persevere in prayer because flesh and blood cannot win spiritual warfare danielle did not go to the king and start interceding with the king all daniel did was to go and mine his own business and fast and pray for 21 days so many of us think that by wage by arguing and forcing and fighting that that is how you win and you see for years you know you're doing the same thing over and over and over and over again and have nothing to show for it insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result madness when are we going to start warring honoring these friends daniel stayed on his knees now let me say this to you anyone can pray daniel took prayer to military grade level what is upsetting to me peter and what i want you to be upset about and mad about is how dare now i know that this has been happening you know pharaoh children of asia israel 10 plagues delay but has have you ever looked at the bible and something hits you fresh it just hits you again like who gives satan the nerve the girl the temerity the audacity the cheek fresh bright feisty bang out of order to stand up in the way of my blessing you know the worst spot you know the worst part you know the worst part who gives you the gall the cheek the temerity to quit praying oh i give up i can't bother i am sending this child out of my house they are too cantankerous persevere in prayer oh i can't bother i am walking out on my marriage oh i can't bother that job is not for me because if it was for me i would get it already oh i can't bother oh come on god's people where is your patience you cannot win the war without some degree of perseverance you hear what we like to say you know if a thing is for you you will get it anyway that's not in the bible it's not in the bible what is in the bible is this men always are to pray and never give up pray without ceasing fight the good that is what is in the bible persevere persevere persevere you know the worst thing sivan how many blessings are at baggage claim waiting to be claimed when you walk on how many breakthroughs are at heavenly heathrow stockpile but you just couldn't wait any longer and walking up and down saying god this and got that when you were the one who could not persevere so let's end let's end let's let's cut this thing short because i can see that time has long gone how do we war second corinthians chapter 10 chapter 10 second corinthians chapter 10. while you're turning to second corinthians chapter 10 remember these words if satan is offering you anything it's because he sees what god is sending your way and he decide that he must give you something of a compromise so that you can take it and in so doing block your very own blessing if satan ever asked you to compromise and accept say but what are what was coming you with me so far yes i see this oh take this money yes what are you trying to prevent god from doing for me second corinthians chapter 10 let's go to verse three let's go to verse three second corinthians chapter ten for though we walk in the flesh come on somebody you know that this is a powerful scriptures we do not what we do not war after the flesh next verse for the weapons of our warfare i am calling croydon and my friends and croydon extension in saint martin and saint vincent and in canada and elsewhere i'm calling you to realize that the time has come to take of arms because the weapons of our warfare are not carnal they are not simple they are not weak there is incredible power available to god's church and god wants some people to rise up the weapons of our warfare aren't carnal but are what are mighty in god for doing what pulling down strong holes if you really want to see strong holes go to scotland and go to some of the old forts and see how big they were these are strongholds and paul is saying we've got some weaponry to tear down the strongholds might i remind you of pastor codra's sermon two weeks ago where he said and he quoted colossians 2 verse 10 it is jesus christ that is the head of all principalities and power yes satan can say what he wants but christ is the head are we together so far might i remind you of matthew 28 verse 18 where jesus christ said all authority is given unto whom unto me therefore go into the world go into satan's territory tear down break down pull up and reach and save and teach and baptize in my name i authorize you to go march back into that territory and take out your child out of that territory march back into that territory don't you don't you dare if you must fall if you must fail fail but never let it be for lack of trying are we together god's people is the jamaican boy by the name of claude mckay who when he was living in america he wrote a poem that says if we must die let it not be like hogs haunted and penned in an inglorious spot while round us bark the mad and hungry dogs if we must die then let us nobly die if you if your marriage must fail it mustn't be because you gave up how can croydon church sit by and do nothing about knife crime in crime take back this territory are we together friends take up the weapon of prayer that danielle knew so well did you know the name of jesus is a weapon however caveat is not abracadabra the power is not in the name necessarily the power is in jesus when you call his name you call him jesus is not a boy to be used by people who are flirting around that's why when the seven sons of skiva went and said we cast you out in the name of jesus whom paul preached the demon said we know jesus we know paul but who are you mate you don't even know jesus you can't use his name third party jesus answers his name to his friends the name of jesus is a weapon did you know that praise is a weapon you can praise your way out of hell you remember when paul and silas was doing the lord's bidding and got beaten to within an inch of their life and were put in stocks and were tortured and at midnight if if if they were like me peter they probably said lord where are you we were down here on our own money trying to win souls and look at what you made happen to us is that what they did the bible says at midnight you don't understand man i wish i wish i had a church today at midnight paul and silas started a song service and when they started the song service and when they were reciting the word of god you know the word of god is a sword what happened after that you remember the story there was an earthquake everything was open it is our clothes now are closed it is regrettable sad pathetic disappointing that people are being take taken out and we sit down and say don't don't don't affect me mate got nothing to do with me mate christian soldiers falling left right center and men men i wish you could see inside church men not many of us are in here and we walk around peter oh we are the head of the home well be the head of the home then be the spiritual head be the prayer warrior you're more concerned with manchester united versus chelsea you know all of arsenal's stats but you don't know scripture we major in nonsense we are so consumed that death is happening spiritually in our house and we do nothing how dare us how very dare us god forbid christian people amen friends no more christian soldier this is your call to arms enough is enough amen stand up stand up for jesus you soldiers off the cross you know in this mighty warfare some will have to die but we're going to hold up the bloodstained banner we're going to hold it up high and say stand up and fight anyhow somebody we will no longer sit by and do nothing and if your marriage is perfect and blossoming pray for somebody else's if nothing is wrong in your life call the prayer ministries of the church and say is there anything i can help you pray for amen friends enough is enough and god has put sivan my final point i'll tell you we have no excuse god has put enough don't come tell god that he cannot conquer addiction don't come tell god that this is too hard for him don't come and tell god i was worth a brother one time you know we were you know two o'clock had come in the morning and we were debating about his marriage and he looked at me and said prayer will not work as a prayer will not work if you don't want prayer to work satan is powerful but you remember what happened in daniel 10 when michael stood up michael stood up and said in jamaica and vernacular don't touch him again you know when i was a little boy i didn't say that was the final point but i tell a little boy i had a protector named ashman i have i don't know what became of ashman i was in grade one year one and i was in short trousers and i well year seven i was seven years old and i distinctly remember i distinctly remember one day i probably had a a flashy mouth you see and i went and troubled some people and i was colored up now i in my eye in my corner i saw ashman coming ashman wasn't really my friend he was wayne's friend now wayne was my best friend and and so he said since he's your best friend i will protect you both and ashman was a massive guy massive humongous guy and he came over and said to the guy touch a button that was a jamaican warfare talk back in those days this is so this was decades ago he said he moved my shirt and he said there are some buttons on his shirt and he said to the boy touch one and the boy understood that he couldn't touch a button and he moved off jesus christ is standing for you and he's saying to the devil touch a button but hear what we said satan is okay don't touch the button i will come with you because you've got power in the name of jesus it is time to declare war amen church god bless you amen amen church what a blessing we thank god for using elder neal this morning and he's reminded us so many times that we are his soldiers and we need to hold on to him so i'm going to ask you all to stand and we're going to sing a closing song today which is onward christian soldiers [Music] onward christian soldiers marching as to war with the cross of jesus going on before christ [Music] [Music] onward christian so just marching as to walk with the cross of jesus going moves the church of god [Music] we are not divided [Music] [Applause] in charity [Music] of jesus going on before grills and thrones they perish kingdoms rise and way but the church of jesus christ will remain the gates of hell cannot [Music] and can never fail onward christian soul just marching as to [Music] jesus going on [Music] before people [Music] in the [Music] the kings [Music] onwards soul just marching as to war with the cross [Music] [Applause] [Music] let's close our eyes for the benediction join me in prayer oh lord god of heaven we decree we declare it that somebody is delivered today that yesterday was their last day of bondage and that at this moment that person is freed we don't know what they're going through but we know who you are and we know how powerful you are whether it is their finances whether it is their marriage whether it is immigration whatever the challenge is lord we rise up against it and take it back and take victory from the hands of the enemy in the name of jesus and as david said and so do we let the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart be acceptable in thy sight o lord our strength and our redeemer amen yes i just want to say thank you for coming out and i hope you are blessed and inspired you

Channel: Croydon SDA Church

Views: 4,960

Rating: 4.9101124 out of 5

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

Id: Z2YDt6IaHN8

Length: 202min 6sec (12126 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021