20th June - Sabbath Service - Pr. Mark Finley - SEC Virtual Camp Meeting 2020

following on from the first South England conference virtual count meeting the sec personal ministries department presents discipleship as a lifestyle training to be a disciple and disciple this training program features lectures by dr. Malak who is the ma BTS program leader in the theological seminary at the offenses University of Africa Pastor Samuel Missoni president of the West Kenya Union conference pastor Samuel whoa South England conference ministerial director and pastor Anthony our Mensa air is 60 coordinator and evangelist it starts this Sunday the 21st of June at 7 p.m. and concludes on Friday the 26th of June so join us for an exciting discovery on discipleship the July 20 2000 of the sec communicator magazine is available online at sec communicator comm for next Tuesday our world has changed so rapidly since the last edition on climate change we are now focused on confronting a new enemy the corona virus in this new edition we explore the implications of the corona virus for our health and well-being topics include your vision for 2020 by dr. Chile in guava boosting your immune system with the appropriate recipes you've experienced of the lockdown kovat 19 and the implications on your human rights and much more read download and share the new issue and find previous editions of the sec communicator magazine at sec communicator comm or visit the South England conference website at sec adventist UK I bring you Sabbath greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of my fellow officers and directors of the South England conference I extend a very warm welcome to each one of you and so wherever you're tuning in from we are just so thankful that you've taken the time to join us this week has been as celebratory we guess we have met morning with our devotional praise testimony and prayer time we have met in the evening with our health lectures followed by our commitment service we've also tuned in to our young adults who have held discussions on relevant issues the Lord indeed has blessed our virtual camp meeting perhaps this is something that we can look into further as we go into the future it's certainly cheaper and more of our members as well as our friends and visitors have been in attendance and have benefited from these meetings we give glory to God after our midday service please be sure to tune in at 4:30 p.m. for a great presentation by Pastor Chuck Hagel this is a very important program especially for our young people and parents as they have to deal with practical issues of media and addiction and how parents can best parent children during these challenging times we have our concert at 7 p.m. which you wouldn't want to miss and our Vesper service will take place at 8 p.m. when Pastor Justin Kim will speak to us so please plan to stay with us throughout this day and let us bask in the presence of God Almighty welcome to Hope Sabbath school an in-depth interactive study of the word of God we're coming to the close of an amazing series on how to interpret the Bible it's been such a blessing if you've missed any in this series go to our website Hope TV org slash hope SS you can watch the entire series today how to deal with difficult passages of Scripture have you found some if you haven't we'll share some with you today but we know much of Scripture is very simple and clear to understand but sometimes it can be challenging we'll learn some strategies today that will help us so welcome to hope Sabbath school and welcome to the team have you learned some important things in this series yes I know that I have it's been a great blessing what I've learned more than anything is to keep Jesus at the center focal point of all Scripture we're always happy to hear from you our hopes have a school family here's a note from Dexter in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines hmm no he calls that the luxury island so we don't like to come visit you Dexter he says hello saints of God you same please invite me I love to watch hope sabbath-school indeed it is a blessing for me out there in an island in the Caribbean someone's part of our hope service school family amen Dexter thanks for writing to us here's one from O'Connor in Ethiopia and Oken writes and says I just wanted to write a quick note to let you know how much I appreciate everything you do through home service school your discussions are always thoughtful and well delivered and it really lets me feel like I'm special to you I'm wishing to be among you well you know the amazing thing is that you can when I ask a question you can raise your hand you can make a comment you can send us an email at SS Hope at Hope TV org we'd love to hear from you as we interact together you know Bible study shouldn't be a monologue should it it should be a dialogue we in act with each other so okay all the way from Ethiopia thanks for writing to us here's a note from Lyndon in Canada anyone from Canada anyone oh that's right Addison wave to Lyndon in Canada would you do that all right greetings to the team in depth interacted Bible study team hope Sabbath school all praise and glory be to the Most High God I started watching hope Sava school several years ago and today my simple testimony is that my life has been changed any man I love that imperceptibly and slowly at first but now looking back I'm not the same person I was before somebody say man that's like awesome isn't it this change has also positively impacted my family parenthesis tears in my eyes as I write this I just want to use my favorite Hebrew word I praise God for the Ministry of Hope service cool the reading of the word the testimonies of the team members of what God has done in their lives I'm also humbly grateful for God's recent blessings that have allowed me to give a modest monthly gift to support ho Sabbath school amen I just want to thank our donors all around the world you know God may bless you so that you can bless others right my prayer is that this ministry continues to grow so that someone else might also experience transformation of heart and life and hope for eternity with Jesus amen that's a powerful testimony all the way from Canada Hector writes from the Dominican Republic Oh Gladys does that little dance mean that you're from the Dominican Republic all right hello hope sabbath-school family hope Sabbath school is a good program jesus is coming back soon I asked you to pray for me because I'm passing through a difficult test and at night I can't sleep but I know God is going to be merciful amen please pray for me god bless you fellow family well Hector we want to remember you in our prison you know sometimes we go through difficult times don't we I'm thinking of what David said even when I pass through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil well you're with me right what encouragement that is one last note here from Adrienne in Zimbabwe Adrienne writes that says high hopes Sabbath school family well I'm being blessed with your interactive Bible study I'm getting inspiration for my personal Bible study god bless you all from Zimbabwe well we've got hope Sabbath school members in over 200 countries around the world amazing to know how many lives are being changed if your life is being changed we'd love to hear from you you can write to us at SS hope at hope TV org but right now we need you to sing with us our theme song for this series on how to interpret the Bible is a scripture song from Colossians 3:16 let the word of Christ dwell in you let's sing it together teaching spiritual and spiritual songs say ritzy and amongst a one never and spiritual swing amen beautiful song beautiful song father in heaven we thank you that even when we come to difficult passages in the Bible that you have promised that your word will be a light to our feet a lamp to our past that your Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth so today as we continue our series on how to interpret the Bible may your Holy Spirit be our teacher we pray in the name of Jesus amen amen in the same letter where Peter writes to believers and says that prophecy doesn't come of a private interpretation but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit in that same chapter in that same letter Peter has an interesting testimony I'd like us to begin our study there in 2nd Peter chapter 3 beginning with verse 9 and Christian would you begin our study today I'd like to read down through verse 18 and you'll notice some things about how to interpret the Bible even but also a powerful testimony ok I'll be reading from the New King James Version 2nd Peter chapter 3 beginning with verse 9 the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness but is long-suffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up therefore since all these things will be dissolved what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness looking for in hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent Heat nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells verse 14 therefore beloved looking forward to these things be diligent to be found by him in peace without spot and blameless and consider that the long sufferings of our Lord is salvation as also our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given to him has written to you as also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction as they do also the rest of the scriptures you therefore beloved since you know this beforehand beware lest you also fall from your own Stephan's steadfastness being led away with the error of the wicked but grow in the Grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be the glory both now and forever amen amen so what encouragement do you see in this inspired testimony by the Apostle Peter anybody lots of things we could share Pedro is coming soon when I lose faith all right so the day of the Lord will come he is coming even though there's an apparent delay in his mercy he doesn't want anybody to be lost what else do you see that's encouraging Andre I see that our God's people know these things beforehand and so we're not like caught out caught off guard okay so we have that more sure word that he talked about that prophetic word that will give us courage as we wait Gary and say even though Peter himself he had issues understanding other writers so I mean he was an apostle he was with Jesus and yet despite all of that he still had a hard time understanding Paul the time and let's focus on that shall we why do you think Peter in this letter by the way he's writing to believers why do you think he openly admits in verse 16 you're referring to right there's some things that our brother Paul has written which are difficult to understand why do you think he admits that Jason well I think he wants to be honest and share look I love the scriptures I love what they've blessing and particularly Paul's letters but there are some things that Paul says because he deals with a lot of different topics and some of them if you're not careful you can misunderstand them so he's kind of giving a caution here right okay so an admission that he's challenged at times but also a word of caution what is he also testifying what witness do you hear when he speaks about Paul's writings yes Travis that some are just simply hard I mean yeah but I mean about the writings themselves besides the fact that he finds some difficult their Holy Ghost inspired right Holy Spirit inspired writings because he speaks about the wisdom given to him and as they do the rest of the Scriptures which tells me that even though Paul's still alive the Peter is saying this is also inspired testimony just like the Hebrew writings of the Hebrew prophets hadö but we see two here that the the background of both both Paul and Peter Peter was a fisherman right oh he his literature was not his best Paul was a was from the Pharisees so he knew a lot of words that Peter my not knew so he was more educated into writing so Paul when he wrote he wrote very eloquently but Peter wrote more simplistically because of his background and he's probably writing to those who have the same struggles that he had right reading Paul's writings because some of the words might be clear to him says be careful because even though they are not clear there has a meaning don't let other people to interpret in the wrong way to you okay so you know he you're right I mean if it was today he'd say let me look at that word see what it means right yeah he though he had grown a lot by the Holy Spirit he had matured his writing doesn't sound like an L fisherman does it he's guided by the holy spirit but he says some things some of his sentences are a little long you know if you read some of whole sentences along it's not simple writing but he recognizes as was pointed out Holy Spirit inspired writings wisdom given by God but some things are not easy to understand Andre yeah there's an old saying that says knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit but wisdom is knowing not to put it in fruit salad and when you can so where we read that particular verse there about the wisdom given to Paul is maybe that Paul had been in a lot of other situations that maybe Peter had not been in and and in sharing those they're cops complex issues at times and Paul understanding how what to do about it it gave us these writings in that regard so I was gonna ask you what you think but maybe I should ask you what you think Peter did when he came across something in in a fellow apostles writing so he went ooh that's difficult to understand what would you think that Peter would do at that time he's not being critical is he he's just being honest what do you think he did what should we do anybody we need to dig deeper okay so he'd say well let me compare what Paul's saying here with other things she said war with the rest of the scripture Gary I was gonna I was gonna say I would ask them I mean that's right great answer the letter is still alive yeah you can call on your cell phone right or medium person it's a great answer if they're still living you could say what exactly did you mean by that right but of course today we're looking at Paul's writings he died almost 2,000 years ago yeah what else Christian you know when he speaks of untaught and unstable people for me what he's implying is that some are untaught because they're not teachable they don't think to understand so therefore there untucked some are unstable they don't have a sound mind and that's something that the Holy Spirit gives and so for me that what I get from that is that one has to be willing to be taught and not remain untaught okay and then one has to pray for the Holy Spirit to give understanding and not be unstable as a result so what is he going to do what would we do let's put ourselves in that situation Travis well I was just thinking as he was speaking that we can still go to the author because it's a Holy Spirit inspired and so we can still go back to beautiful so so the the source of the wisdom that we talked about is the Holy Spirit not Paul we go to the Holy Spirit and say Holy Spirit jesus promised that you would lead me into this truth help me to understand how do I do that how do I go to the Holy Spirit I pray in the name of Jesus if we ask anything according to his will is it is well that we would receive wisdom yes we can come confidently right and we can know that he will guide us well we're gonna continue Paul who apparently wrote some things that were difficult to understand give some counsel to a young pastor named Timothy who well he had much to learn let's put it that way let's look at 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verses 5 through 7 Addison would you read that Timothy was about your age as you hear what counsels given what encouragement does that bring for you today and I'm reading from the King James Version when I called to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice and I am persuaded that inde also wherefore I put the remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands for God hath not given us the spirit of but of power and of love and of a sound mind why would Paul say to timothy god has not given us the spirit of fear why would he say that he's young because he's young Timothy Gian inexperienced maybe there were times she was afraid right and he's saying that is not a gift from God God has not given you that gift of fear but of mine so accept that gift you're gonna face difficult situations you're gonna face difficult scripture that you have to understand let's keep reading in chapter 2 verse 15 Gladys if you could read Paul is still counseling young Timothy well let's see what he challenges Timothy to do 2nd Timothy 2:15 I'll be reading from the New International Version 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 and he says do your best to present yourself to God as one approved a worker who does not know then that need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth I like that my Bible says be diligent but your Bible said do your best best so what tools has God given to Timothy and to us that can help us to rightly interpret the Word of God what have we learned from my study what are some of the tools Haiti the Holy Spirit absolutely so I asked the Holy Spirit John 16:13 to guide me into truth what else Dilla Jason the rest of the scriptures all right so I get acquainted with the rest of the scriptures have you ever had this happen Travis you're reading the Bible trying to understand it and the Holy Spirit flashes another Bible text in white mm-hmm it just happened what are you were Howard how is the Holy Spirit able to do that let me ask this question Nicole is the Holy Spirit able to bring a text to your mind that you never read technically is not a trick question did the boys burn is all powerful so they could get so it is possible that he could bring a text to your mind and you go wow where's that found open up my Bible and try to find it but more likely what more likely a reminder Bible and the Holy Spirit says remember because it says who bring it to our remembrance remember what you read remember what Jesus said bringing it to our remembrance bedroom I think that's a very important question because God wants us to be sharp on his word you know is that spirit can't bring into our mind what he wants us to know but we'll be sharper if you already know that what God said to us and we'll be able to apply according to his world to his word so part of doing your best or being diligent to be a work who doesn't need to be ashamed would be studying the Bible prayerfully asking the Holy Spirit to guide you so that when you find a difficult situation the Holy Spirit can bring that word to your remembrance look at the next verse yes Haiti and I think that this is also that we need to remember that we don't have to interpret everything by ourselves God said it is not good for man to be alone and it's good for us to come talking about interpreting the body probably another text that would explain what you say we don't have to face it by ourselves right yeah so I can listen to counsel and receive instruction that I may be wise yeah that is from proverbs chapter 19 yeah sometimes people pull a text out and say go and do likewise and it's nothing to do with it right but you're right we don't have to study by ourselves look at verse 16 of the same chapter Gary Oh second Timothy verse 16 okay sounds like you're boarding somewhere else yeah Tania do you have it yeah second Timothy to verse 16 would you read it for us yes I will read for the Persian kings James but shun profane and vain babblings for they will increase unto more ungodliness how does a careful searching of the Bible enable me to shun what is the word shun mean idle and vain babblings profane and idle babblings how does a careful study of the word help me to shun those things anybody it elevates it elevates your mind and your thinking the toiling on god's you know some people will listen to anything right yeah what's the latest gossip fanciful interpretation well not even discuss it but something about the Bible but just some other isn't there a place in accent always wanting to listen to some new idea yeah you're talking about the people there in Athens but I need to be able to say wait a minute that is not in harmony with the Word of God if I'd been diligent about it Christian you know I was comparing that verse to other versions and the NIV the New International Version says godless chatter godless chatter and you know when I think about the Word of God it's the voice of God as I as I spend time in the word my mind and my my senses are are listening to the voice of God and when the voice of God is heard the godly voice of God that puts away godless chatter godless chatter well so the enemy's constantly trying to distract us right with chatter to silence the voice of God Pedro I find it interesting because I have encountered that in my life for example the tax on Peter I have if you do not understand why what is written or diligently read what is written you can get to see if and this babbling here it can happen throughout Scripture I have a person who came to me once and said that Peter Peter was rebuking Paul of teaching and untruthful words but that's not what Peter sayings clearly on the text that he's telling other people are using false writings exactly but somebody might least read or might be misguided to believe that Paul was was was the one that was being twisting twisting and that's not clear on attack that's very clear that Paul is teaching the right thing but people can just read through it very simply or be following someone who are babbling as I can see here come back to something hideous ed if I'm reading I don't understand it I can't talk to someone else who I know loves God and loves the word but then like the Bereans what will I do those things so and the Holy Spirit can bring confirmation and say you know what Andre said that was true in harmony with my word can you share time in your experience where the Holy Spirit guided you to avoid vain and idle babblings it's just like anybody have an experience that you can relate to Gladys yeah I went to a funeral and he was a 7-day Adventist funeral yes and the preacher was talking about the state of the Dead and and all of a sudden he just wanted to say you know and we know that he's watching us and will protect us and we're gonna pray and I just like why didn't going on you know and people were just whether he's just like the Holy Spirit my ear was just like that you know he was just like twisting mixing the truth with and with you know fitting now through the stuff and he won't do that why would the president I'm sure the person was sincere yeah they may be watching hope service school right now why would a person mix some things that are biblically true and some things that aren't true boy any ideas Travis maybe not to try to avoid controversy exactly okay they don't offend someone because the person on Row 1 is sure that they were up there looking down on us yeah that's one possible reason why else Pedram well they might not be aware or what the bob was is saying completely they might have understood by somebody else like untaught person have given the wrong interpretation but they haven't checked like the Bereans it says that's what the Bible says so so the only way I can know is to have to know the scripture myself right yeah I think we need to be careful that we don't judge a person who's sharing mixed-up ideas they may just be mixed up yeah and so we need to come and say can you explain that to me from the Bible is there anywhere in the Bible and it says grandma is looking down on me right now please show me that because jesus said the death is like a right so please explain it to me right yeah but only if I know the word can I recognize any babbling so to speak let's keep looking at some counsel that Paul gave to young Timothy when dealing with difficult teachings 1st Timothy 4 Jason if you could read verses 12 through 16 why do you think Paul gets so much counsel to Timothy opportunities getting so much why do you think he gives so much counsel to him he was mentoring him he was mentoring and Timothy was open to receiving right this isn't this is second Timothy so it's like he listened to the counsel in the first letter mm-hmm here comes another letter Jason 2nd Timothy 4:12 to 16 I'll be reading from the New King James Version 1st Timothy I'm sure it is 1st Timothy correcting that first Timothy chapter 4 verses 12 through 16 let no one despise your youth but be an example to the believers in Word in conduct in love in spirit in faith in purity will I come give attention to reading to exhortation to doctrine do not neglect the gift that is in you which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership meditate on these things give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all take heed to yourself and to the doctrine continue in them for doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you so Timothy's facing some challenges maybe some difficult teachings and he's got to try to discern what's true and what's not true what what counsel did you see here from Paul that would be helpful for us when when dealing with the other difficult passages of scripture or difficult teachings paper you see continue in reading and in future okay give attention to ongoing learning all right Gary meditate upon the things that you are trying to wrestle with okay so in order to meditate on those things you've got to slow down right yeah we're not talking here about Eastern meditation everything you mind we're talking about focusing on the word with the Holy Spirit with prayer yes yes in verse 14 it says that you know the elders laid their hands on him so he was already like set apart for a special job in the church so Paul is just keep telling him you know just just dedicate yourself do not doubt you know you have like a gift thank you what see the gift that is in you it's a gift of the Holy Spirit right they've laid hands and prayed for the Holy Spirit to empower this young preacher to be a faithful teacher of the word of God and so you say remember the blessing keep studying the word take time to think about the things that you've learned these are strategies that can help us there's one other strategy he doesn't mention which we're gonna find in the book of James Andre well you know also you're seeing here that when you do this give attention to reading exhortation and doctrine you're able to filter use this wonderful mind that God has given us to filter so that you know somebody can't come along and impress their personal belief and put it forward as a doctrine one one last thought before we look at this other quality this crucial and that is verse 16 don't just know it yeah continue in them that's what's gonna make your witness powerful right for example don't just say we need to love each other but live live what you're talking about yes in verse 12 it says let no one look down on your youthfulness and so you know but rather in speech conduct love faith purity showed yourself an example so sometimes when we're young older folks may think oh I can tell them what the Bible says because I know and they don't know what the Holy Spirit can speak to all of us absolutely and sometimes all the older people like me cuz I'm older right we may we may have carrots and false understandings we need to learn from God and from each other but we need to do it with a certain attitude and that's what I want us to go to now in James chapter 4 Tanya if you could read for us James for verses 6 through 10 okay for the version King James James chapter 4 verse 6 through 10 says but he gives more grace wherever he fate God resisted the proud but giveth grace unto the humble submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee from you there are night to God and He will draw nigh to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded be afflicted and mourn and with LED your ladder be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up that's a song isn't it humble yourself in the sight of the Lord why is a humble spirit so important especially when dealing with passages of Scripture that are not easy to understand Christian you know Jesus himself said that the Scriptures are they which testify of me and when I when I become prideful the focus is turned towards me I'm focusing on myself and so as I as I come to scripture if if I don't have a humble spirit I'm not gonna see the Jesus that is being revealed in the word have you ever met someone that came up with some new interpretation and they were very proud they found it and that's all they talked about right it's like a we call that a monomaniac that's all they talk about and you go where is Jesus here right I hear you saying a humble spirit might be you know I was thinking about this but I don't want to talk about that I want to lift up Jesus right a humble spirit is also a teachable spirit amen and so when we look at verse 9 lament and warm mourn and weep let your laughter be turned and it's almost as if when we're humble and God can teach us we see things about ourselves and and and sometimes when I see things about myself I actually cry because I'm like wow I really was like that hmm and so I think founders got a really important point which leads us to our other texts in James 1 verses 5 and 6 and that is a teachable spirit excuse me a humble spirit is also a teachable spirit right you're not pretending that you know everything by the way you'd have to pretend may I remind you you don't know everything right Haidee could you read for us in James 1 this is a beautiful promise especially when dealing with oh I don't think I understand what that means let's read the promise in James 1:5 and 6 I'll be reading from the New King James Version and it says if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach and it will be given to him but let him ask in faith with no doubting for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind so encouragement tell me what do you seeing that that's really encouraging really encouraging but I've got to make sure it's in harmony with the will of God Lord if it's your will for me to have what we know it's his will for us to have divine wisdom right so ask what else do you notice there that's so encouraging it isn't he gives liberally in all he doesn't have a restriction forgiving you with him literally what is the word liberally made really really bonded Lee he's not generously without going brother you asked didn't you ask for wisdom last week that's another word that comes to mind is unconditionally unconditionally but also with an unlimited amount right no condition but you have more wisdom the angels go yes if anyone what else was there besides that then I'll come to your point besides liberally your Bible oh we don't all and without reproach without should we approach what does that mean without reproach you talked about a moment ago you said he doesn't like say well you again like you're coming back like without some kind of rebuke or yeah he's happy right but come back to the hall well I was gonna also say with without fault or my Bible says without fault I would always think is if I mess up today he's not gonna look at me and say you can't get it tomorrow if I asked for it tomorrow so I look at it that way that's it's it's kind of conditional he keeps giving it to you as long as you ask and you're willing to ignore it beautiful liberally to all without reproach so why would we not ask for wisdom especially if we're studying the Bible and we come across a difficult passage why would we not ask God for wisdom back to your text why would we not do it because right right you know well I go to admit I don't know everything you know I want to tell you the most dangerous people are the people who think they know everything they're dangerous mm-hmm but a humble spirit is a teachable spirit well with that background Pedro you had a comment to make before we look at some difficult passage oh yeah Dane we looked here that is important for us to have faith but without faith God wants to give freely he wants to bless us but if we don't trust that he will do it it's like not asking you can say God can you save me but I'm not sure if I can receive it you have to be willing hard to to accept that bless and by the way one of the things we've learned here on hope service school is that even faith is a gift of God faith well I'm happy that you asked I'm going to give it and without reproach well let's look at a couple of difficult passages I don't know which one specifically Peter was thinking about when he said there was some difficult things that Paul wrote but I'm gonna just take a few not just in the writings of Paul I'm gonna go right to Jesus said something that well it may be difficult to understand Luke 23 and verse 43 Luke 23:43 Nancy if you could read that for us after Nancy's read it some will give us the context because in order to correctly interpret we need the context right so Nancy would you read for us the word of Jesus yes and I'm reading from the NASD and he said to him truly I say to you today you will you shall be with me in paradise and he said to him now that's the you know those pronouns are tough who's that he said to him okay who's the heat Jesus right if you have a red-letter addition it will be in red letters jesus said to him who's the him a thief who's dying next to him on a cross he said to him why did Jesus say something to him here's the context now Nicole what's the context well the thief on the cross actually spoke to Jesus first and said remember me I'm in your kingdom Lord remember me when you come into your when you come into your kingdom right the other thief was cursing right you can say save yourself and us you know Lord remember me so that's the context and in response Jesus says it's read it again for us Nancy in verse 43 Jesus says to this dying thief Jesus also on a cross truly I say to you today you shall be with me in paradise truly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise now this is difficult you know why because in John 23 days later what does Jesus say Christian to Mary Magdalene when he realizes he's risen from the dead yes in in John chapter 20 verse 17 I'll give us a moment to find that yes I knew it was there yes John chapter 20 verse 17 and you have with version known as New King James and what did Jesus say to Mary Magdalene this is not Friday when he's dying oh this is abbath when he's resting in the tomb but the first day of the week when he's raised from the dead what does he say to us the first day of the week and Jesus said to her do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to my father so Jesus wasn't in paradise on what we call Good Friday when he died he says on what we call Easter Sunday I'm not yet ascended to my father so you say Derek that's difficult to understand and what did Peter say some can do what list it to their own destruction so how do I deal with that difficult text well what's the basic principles we've learned so far pray ask the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom I'm here scripture scripture which is what Christian did when you read from John 20 verse 17 where Jesus said I don't know what you're interpreting there but I've not yet ascended to my father on the on the first day of the week right so how do we understand that difficult text can anybody help us Pedro well one interesting thing about translation is that somebody pick up from the original which is this case Greek and translate it into English or Spanish or Korean or whichever language they're reading in right yes and when we see it in a Greek there was no punctuation and we see a comma here on this text so would we say that the comma is an interpretation is that right the comma is an interpretation yes now we're talking about how to interpret the Bible yeah by the way have you ever noticed sometimes a chapter seems to end right in the middle of the thought yeah but the chapters aren't inspired either you know when the chapters and verses were added to the to the Bible anybody know anybody know approximately I think there's about the 12th century something like that okay that's a long time after the book was written but Pedro let's work with what you've just told us because you're absolutely correct there is no punctuation in the text so where you put that combo after today makes a lot of difference doesn't it give us an illustration of how where you put the punctuation will change the meaning well we can see here that Jesus saying I should have say to you today you will be with me in paradise if I put the comma after today I we can see the Jesus talking to him today so I can come to Derek today I'm telling you that we're gonna have a meeting tomorrow okay okay I can remove that tomorrow is it today I'm telling you today we'll meet so the dying on the cross Jesus says one other you say well I can't be sure cuz the commas not either place you're right I'm going to have to look at other scriptures to come to an accurate conclusion but if I if that comma could be put after today after I tell you today you will be well I'm dying when you're dying too but I tell you today you you will be with me in paradise is that true absolutely when the dead in Christ shall rise because by the way that thief would die that day wouldn't it Jesus would be raised on the third day and say I'm not yet ascended to my father I know you're gone yet gone to paradise I'm going to ascend now to my father and your father right my god and your God but the day will come mm-hmm when the dead in Christ rise and we'll be together in paradise amen amen so you said well you can't tell where the comments exactly I've got to look other places do you see how important that is and I've got to compare other scriptures Audrey's got a point here the ass do I go straight to heaven when I die that's another question what did Jesus mean when he said the last day they'll hear his voice and they'll come for it brave and in finding context here as well besides the misplacement of the comma the you know you go back a little bit you see where the soldiers are mocking him if you're the King of the Jews save yourself and then the one thief curses em says whatever he says and then this one says in verse 42 then he said to Jesus Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom acknowledging his lordship acknowledging his kingship and if you know Jesus used parables to help the people understand different things and even in this Jesus is using something that he may have understood being under a monarchy or in that circumstance one of the highest honors a king could bestow on you is it to invite you to walk in his private garden and so it was if he when he said remember me when you come into your kingdom it was an assurance that Jesus gave him oh yes you will be with me in paradise I'm going to take you to another difficult passage I wrestled with this one because I didn't understand it Exodus 10 and verse 20 and if you think it's just isolated you can read verse 27 in chapter 11 verse 10 and you'll read the same thing so Nicole if you have Exodus 10 and verse 20 what does it read there in your Bible the New International Version of Exodus 10 20 says but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not let the Israelites go wait I thought the Bible says he's not willing that any should perish I thought it says God so loved the world so let me check I mean look at the context right so I'm gonna go to verse 27 of Exodus chapter 10 and what does that say and it go the New International Version of verse 27 says but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he was not willing to let them go but that's what it just said go to chapter 11 and verse 10 Nicolle if you could we're just looking at the context here the New International Version says Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country if I don't do my careful Bible study what conclusion must I come to from reading those three verses the Lord hardened what must I come to the Lord there is heart and someone say well see I told you God doesn't love it one he doesn't want everyone to be safe but there's so many Bible passages that tell me he does love everyone and whosoever will may come so I've got to look in the context is there anything else in that story which talks about a heart being hardened and the answer is yes yes how could I find it oh I could look up in the concordance hardened right I can see where else I might find Exodus chapter 8 verse 15 Exodus 15 and Gary looks like you're almost there would you read verse 15 for us yes Exodus 8:15 and the New King James Version says but when Pharaoh saw that there was relief he hardened his heart and did not heed them as the Lord had said well that's different it says that he Pharaoh hardened his heart well I can see I'm gonna look at the context why don't you look at verse 32 of the same chapter by the way this is the same book Moses under the inspiration of God it's the same book you're not saying well that's just another writer with another idea same book same author under inspiration Exodus 8 verse 32 32 from the New King James Version says but Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also neither would he let the people go so I'm still a little bit confused so that helps me a lot because we all know that we have a choice right yeah it says he hardened his heart so why didn't the other place does it say God hardened his heart Haidee well when I look I I was reading this a few years ago with kids and I was thinking the same thing like what God hardened his heart but when I look at the Bible I just see this all loving all merciful I'll compassionate God and I see other times when there are also pagan leaders like Neb you can who did surrender to God and God accepted him and I see Darius and I see other people like roof like Rahab the people of the whole city of Nineveh who repented and God forgave them then that gives me confirmation that if the Pharaoh had repented God 100% would have forgiven him but he chose on his own to reject the Lord and when he continued to reject the Lord the Lord I'm sure was brokenhearted and he said oh man he's not gonna accept me but I'm gonna use it because there are other people here in Egypt who haven't rejected me yet and there are other people in Israel who have not rejected me yet and I'm gonna use this for my advantage so that they can see that there is a true Living God in heaven and I'm gonna continue to do these miracles and their hearts will be turned to me and they were because we see that after that you know maybe the Pharaoh would have stopped after the second or third plague but the Lord used his rejection to go to plague number three four five and when they left after the tenth plague it said in Exodus chapter 12 I don't remember the verse I think it's 14 but it says that other people went with them okay meaning that some of the Egyptians went with them so if God worked something good out of that I still want to know why it says in those verses God hardened Pharaoh's heart I wouldn't have been simpler Christian to say in all of them Pharaoh hardened his heart so I'm just being honest like Peter and saying that's a little difficult why do you think in one place it says Pharaoh hardened his heart and the other place God hardened Pharaoh's heart you know at the end of the day it's not it's not so much God's doing but it's really my doing in the sense that I can choose to exercise faith or unbelief you know and just like wax you know or clay you know in the presence of the same Sun you know wax will just melt but the clay will harden you know and it's the same Sun you know so us we come before the same God you know I I can choose to exercise faith and when I do that my part is softened but when I exercise unbelief my heart is hardened you're absolutely right but you didn't answer my question but I've got to be careful that I don't distort the picture of the character of God because in other places it says Pharaoh hardened his heart and we know that God's not willing that any should perish one last question for you by the way if Peter can be honest we can do right yeah one last question boy we've just got two minutes why is important Travis in all of my study especially with difficult passages to remember that it's all about Jesus hmm to keep Jesus at the center whatever I'm studying why is that crucially important jesus said we should do that right why is that so important because he's the way the truth and the life so the remember of Bible verses says thank to that by them by your truth your word is true and so if we want to live a sanctified healthy life we're always going to focus on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith he is the way he's the way he's the truth he's the life keep Jesus at the center so I find a passage that's difficult to understand keep talk to Jesus yes say Jesus you promised the Holy Spirit would come and help me and by the way if I don't fully understand it all now most important is I have a living connection I can ask that question when we get there what did you mean and he might say that's really what is important is that you gave your heart to me and you trusted me as you well he might give us a simple answer and we'll say why did we have so much to learn don't wait yeah but you know the enemy would say give up on the Bible because there's some difficult passages don't give up on the Bible the Bible is a lamp to our feet a light to our path ask Jesus to guide you he will lead you by his spirit into truth and if there's a few things you don't understand we'll talk to godly people check in the Bible again we're live with the question until you see your Savior face-to-face because then all will be well let's pray together father in heaven thank you for your word we know there are some difficult passages but we thank you for your Holy Spirit's guidance to be our teacher we thank you most of all that you lead us to Jesus who is our perfect Savior may we trust in him today and let him lead us day by day in Jesus name we pray amen well thanks for joining us for hope Sabbath school I was going to ask you to send all of your difficult passages but I'd rather have you spend time getting to know Jesus he filled with His Holy Spirit and then go out and be a blessing to those around you do Jesus to we entered into 20/20 with excitement optimism and hope confidence that the Lord would do great things in the South England conference we shared our vision with you and the evangelism Expo in January emphasizing our theme for the quadrennium making disciples building communities as a church we have been far too insular and as a result we have developed this fortress mentality the physical church has become a fortress where we can hide and feel safe and we are selective of those who we welcome into our congregations many believe they must look like us dressed like us eat what we eat and behave like us and however once in a while we open our doors in public evangelistic campaign and we let a few in after which we shut ourselves in our fortress again this practice has gone on for years without achieving the success we really would like to see and as a result of acknowledging this trend we were inspired to place the emphasis on the importance of our members leaving the comforts of our churches and engaging with those in our communities this vision was well received and as plans unfolded to put the strategy into action we were suddenly hit with a Cove in nineteen and although we are saddened by the many who have died as a result of this dreaded virus our heart goes out for the families of the bereaved this pandemic has forced us to close our churches and go into our community and engage with people God has used a horrible situation and turned it into a blessing may he continue to lead our great conference I'm Don Roberts bringing you the news in sixty Seconds the SE C's first virtual camp meeting started on Sunday June 14th under the theme in times like these the 17 strong speaker lineup features some of the most recognizable faces within the UK and worldwide event his church the NEC and Welsh mission joined the stream and hope channel Ghana was granted permission to board hostel week long program which has attracted a global audience of thousands on day one past the March she'll go Alda of new ball Church gave the morning House of Prayer version all dr. Elizabeth Talbot speaker and director of Jesus 101 presented the evening commitment service and sec health director thought to Chile in guava gave the first of his daily health presentations guest speakers have included dr. Charles Wesley Knight and kami etemon to name a few a concert and Vespa surface on Saturday evening will bring camp meat in 2020 to a close thanks for watching see you next week springtime must be my favorite season of the year I love to walk early in the morning there is the promise of summer in watching nature bloom but I also love to go for walks so that I can breathe in the fresh air fresh air helps to cleanse your lungs and reinforces your immune system to freely inhale and exhale is a god-given gift since creation we are told in the book of Genesis that God breathed into Adam the breath of life and he became a living soul but what happens when that divine life-giving act is compromised or contaminated what happens when it is stealthily taken away by kovat 19 or brutally removed by a police chokehold or slowly sucked out of those who have traveled hundreds of miles in search of a better life only to drown at sea this is the reality of 2020 a world that suffers from gross inequalities daily abuses and systemic injustice Jesus was a breath of fresh air when he entered the scene 2,000 years ago he introduced himself not by a title but by his mission the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor he has sent me to proclaim Liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor addre seeks to be a breath of fresh air in a world where people are struggling to breathe the effects of Kovan 19 not only causes physical distress to those who experienced it but will cause economic breathlessness for many worldwide in the UK 73 addre community hubs have been feeding the hungry supplying PPE for frontline workers and providing psychosocial care to the vulnerable and the lonely but the fallout from the contagion is far from over as the UK opens up again the demand on food banks and charitable services will increase addre is planning to be at the forefront breathing life into the communities infected with economic despair racial justice is currently the hot potato on everyone's lips and rightly so each of us is equal in the eyes of the Creator and each of us has a responsibility to our brothers and sisters regardless of their race ethnicity gender age or status embedded in address principles are justice compassion and love for all but talking about racial justice without solutions is simply adding another voice to a very big conversation addre is an action orientated organisation and one of the ways in which we have tackled racial injustice is to work with black and minority ethnic individuals living with HIV and AIDS during the pandemic we are also a delivery partner with a large mental health charity in the UK to provide support to black a minority ethnic women who are isolated excluded or abused and our I am urban team is working on a joint initiative with the programmes team around racial justice education and health inequalities adjure is taking a leading role to inhale solidarity while exhaling unity while we tackle racial injustice in the UK and abroad for many the phrase refugee is a dirty word it has been politicized over the years to push nationalist agendas throughout the world a refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war persecution or natural disaster addre as a network continues to breathe hope into the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who are displaced around the world after the flood God breath life back into the world after days of flooding and the devastation that only water can bring Noah sent out a dove and on the Duff's first trip she returned empty-handed on her second journey she returned with an olive leaf in her beak breeding hope into the eight people who had survived new life was springing up the days of being in lockdown were coming to an end address excited about the hope that we can see on the horizon and we would love you to be a part of our breeding exercise for us to effectively continue to breathe life into the community hubs work for racial justice and support the most marginalized peoples in the world we need some financial breeding support which you can help to provide you can support our appeal by donating at WWF radhaji UK thank you for helping Audra to bring hope and restoration to a world that is suffocating under the strain of poverty inequality and injustice help us to breathe help audre to help others to breathe the Julie 2020s you of the SEC communicator magazine is available online at SEC communicator dot-com for next Tuesday our world has changed so rapidly since the last edition on climate change we are now focused on confronting a new enemy the coronavirus in this new edition we explore the implications of the corona virus for our health and well-being topics include your vision for 2020 by dr. chilly in guava boosting your immune system with the appropriate recipes you've experienced of the lockdown kovat 19 and the implications on your human rights and much more read download and share the new issue and find previous editions of the sec communicator magazine at acc communicator calm or visit this South England conference website at ACC Adventist dot UK the savior is waiting to answer don't there's nothing in this world to keep what is your answer hi he's waited again Oh if you step toward his arms oh and world receive and your darkness he's waiting he wants to yeah today's story is all about being a friend do you know what it is to be a good friend I'm sure you all give me wonderful answers such as being kind loving sharing and caring and those are all really good things to practice today's story is about a little girl called Heather and it's called a shining light Heather learns all about what it is to be a friend now Heather and her family had just moved from America to India her parents had just become missionaries and this was their first trip heather was finding it really hard to adjust she missed her big house her friends her toys she wanted to make Jesus happy but she just didn't feel like she fit in she felt so lonely every day Heather would just sit by herself in a corner and moan I really don't like it here I really just want to go home one day her mum said to her Heather you can't continue to do this you can't sit by yourself every day and just complain you need to make friends with the other children I know mom she said but they talk differently they act differently they behave just in a different way I just don't fit in with them Heather you need to try her mum said remember your hair to represent Jesus after that conversation Heather thought she would try to find a friend she looked outside and saw a little girl that looked about her age so she decided to go over to her Heather walks slowly and when she was a little way off she lifted her hands shyly and said hi the little girl didn't react she didn't turn her head Heather thought maybe she didn't hear me I'll try again so she lifted her hands and said hi there was no response from the little girl well that does it I tried to make friends and look what happens they just ignore me I've had enough Heather stomped all the way home if she could get a plane back to America right that instant she would just at that time her mother walked in pepper whatever is the matter with you I tried to do as you said and make friends but it's no use they just don't like me I walked over to that little girl and she completely ignored me Heather did you actually speak to her well I waved Heather what Heather that little girl is blind and if you want to make friends with someone you need to actually speak to them oh said Heather how was I to know I suggest you try again said mother so Heather got up slowly and started walking towards the little girl until she was right in front of her did you come all the way from America just the stand in front of a blind girl the little girl said Heather was shocked and stepped back I I s'alright ever sit down you know my name of course I know all about you I'm here because my mum's our nurse and she wanted to come to the village to help people Oh does it hurt said Heather what the fact that my mum's a nurse no never felt a bit silly no being blind the little girl thought for a minute it only hurts my heart she said when people treat me differently Oh said Heather Heather had never met anyone like this little girl what's your name Sheila she said now can I ask you a question said Sheila sure said Heather now I said it hurts because other children treat me differently because I'm blind but why don't you have any friends Oh aye aye Heather didn't know what to say do you want to know what the other children say about you what said Heather they say that if you're as unkind as your god they don't want to know him what said Heather how could they say such things God is so loving and kind and he died to save us and I know Heather I know that but they don't see I can see your heart and I can tell you're a good person then they see with their eyes and what they see is someone very unkind unfriendly and just a bit stuck up Oh said Heather he loves that Heather you would make a really good missionary she said to Sheila Sheila responded I would rather make a really good friend Heather thought about it for a moment I know what we can do we can be friends and we can help each other to make other friends and when the children see that we care for each other they'll understand the love of God now that's a really good idea said Sheila and I'm sure all the other children will like him so Heather said let's get started right now and they both got to their feet and walked over to the little other children you see boys and girls the best way to witness about Jesus's love is to show love we all need to try to be a friend to someone to be kind to be loving to be sharing even a smile remember jesus said let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven so let's all try to be a friend to someone you need this rock is in times like these you this rock be very sure hello and welcome back I'm dr. chilly and here we are in the last phase of the health talks about Cove in nineteen in fact the title today is something different it is the race against Cove in nineteen now right now hundreds of thousands of people have died from kovat all over the world millions of people have been infected but there's been something different about how people have fared with this disease let's have a look in the in Great Britain curve in 19 kills black people disproportionately higher then it does white people in this graph you can see that the black population is 3.5 percent but the population of people who are dying from Kobe 19 is 5.8 percent so you're approaching double their number hospital deaths black and Asian are higher than white people's depth let's go over to America the United States in this states in these different states it shows that for example Louisiana you can see as a pot of black an african-american population of 32% but the proportion of people who die among the African American population are 70% Illinois fifteen percent population forty-two percent of the deaths Michigan forty-one percent with a fourteen percent population something is going on and we're trying to find out what it is now there are lots of theories out there when I get lots of Theory sent to me by email and text all the time the theory is well you know maybe it's because black people are poor you know that they're in poverty that may increase your risk racism perhaps is racism other conspiracy I've seen all sorts of weird and one who conspiracies please don't send me anymore I don't read them anyway okay but let's talk about poverty there is no doubt that for every disease that we know of the poorer you are the poriyal conditions the poor your your home circumstances the less likely you are to survive and the more likely you are to have the disease that all the research points to them there is no doubt about it but but have a look at this in Africa the African states this was done in April very few people are dying of Kovac 19 you go to somewhere like Nigeria right today we have fewer than a hundred and few hundred thousand people have died from covert 19 they are not the richest state in the world either so something is going on so black people are dying disproportionately in the West whereas in Africa they seem not to be dying at such high rate what is going on well there is one factor obviously the sunshine we know that a virus when it's out in the open - and it's exposed to ultraviolet light the effect of the virus goes down quite dramatic that we know that that's absolutely true but but have a look at this study this study shows that during winter spring summer and autumn the numbers of people who get influenza virus are dramatically changed with regard to how much vitamin D they have so the placebo with people with the placebo that means they have it they're taking a tablet but there is no drug in it there's no vitamin D in it they have a high rate of influenza infections people with 800 you interact international units of vitamin D very few people get the influenza and if they go even higher almost none of them get influenza so vitamin D is related to influenza we've known this for a long time the greater the vitamin D levels the incidence of influenza but what about kovat 19 there's not been lots of studies but in this study you can see for people who have mild symptoms of Kovan 19 the majority of them over 96% have reasonable levels of vitamin D in their blood but ordinary severe and critical and symptoms with this disease have much lower levels of vitamin D it seems to be a link and how about this this one was done it was taken from Indonesia population of 780 Indonesian patients which shows quite clearly that if they were deficient in vitamin D they had a 98.9% risk of death from Kovac 19 if they had insufficient amounts of vitamin D it went down to 87 point 8 but if they had normal levels of vitamin D their risk of dying from covert 19 went down to 4% so this is a significant discovery and I mean I talk to scientists and doctors all the time and I think I present some of this evidence to them there is I meet a bit of resistance many people say well you know there's no evidence to suggest even though I'm presenting them with some evidence and I just want to explain to you something that happens in the scientific community they will say often well you know there's no evidence of an effect well when they say there's no evidence of an effect it is not the same as saying there is evidence of no effect let me explain to say that there's no evidence of an effect just means well we haven't looked we haven't discovered it so far you know it's a bit like somebody saying to me have you found the keys no I haven't well I haven't been looking yes oh I haven't found the keys but to say we have evidence of no effect is slightly different that means we have looked and we found no effect so please bear in mind when you're hearing these terms being bad about in scientific communities when they say there is no evidence to suggest it really means we haven't been looking hard enough okay look it's true that there must be some link with vitamin D the more vitamin D you have in your system the more you are able to cope with viruses like influenza and of course covert 19 the reason why black people in the West are more susceptible is because we have dark skin we don't get enough sunlight remember we make vitamin D by the Sun hitting our skin converting cholesterol into vitamin D so if we are dark and we're covered up most of the time our vitamin D levels are usually lower and that means we are always going to be more susceptible so we have to make sure and especially even when Co fit 19 passes there will be flu seasons every single year we have to make sure that our bit of in D levels are sufficiently high now what does that mean how much do you have to take what is very difficult to say and in that experiment of somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 international units sometimes you might need to go even higher okay but we have to make sure that we have enough vitamin D in our system to combat the influenza virus earlier in the week we mentioned how vitamin D is related to other diseases autoimmune hypertension diabetes so it is generally good for us we're not getting enough because we're not getting enough from the Sun but you know there are other important influences that we need to consider yes we've talked about diet we talked about exercise we've mentioned vitamin D but there are some other matters that are quite important right now the Bible says is a time for everything including a time to mourn Old Testament prophets knew how to lament in fact we have a whole book called lamentations this is a lament for today the matter of black lives I can't breathe a toxic virus engulfs the globe and no vaccine can save us from its vicious grip some say it's a new strain but it's already claimed millions of lives throughout history those most likely to die all have an underlying chronic disease it's called melanin higher doses will leave you particularly vulnerable no one is quite sure where this strain emerged from but increasingly it's thought to be a neural malfunction linked to the respiratory system that these victims aren't able to breathe the results have been devastating on a global scale people are dying on the streets of this race hate pandemic nine minutes of shame that exposes the nightmare in broad daylight of the American dream brazen disregard for the sanctity of life a very public lynching strange fruit floyd life hanging by a thread cold contempt for the noble institution of law and order that trusted him to be judge and jury and executioner too no need to call CSI this crime scene has been seen on every screen the world over no more undercover cop this was the hardest of the diehards to watch I can't breathe not the cry of a single voice but the chorus of a world in shock the refrain of a people of a particular hue I can't breathe said George Floyd Eric garner said Tamir rice said on board our Barry said Barona Taylor will need to build many more memorial walls to etch the names of all our fallen soldiers there are no winners in this war not even the architects of hate who have bent on building yet more walls it takes an earthquake to make us build again and our indifference was ripped off the Richter scale on an ordinary May Day but made a repeated is always a distress call and the world is waiting to see if you will answer the people can only hold their breath for so long before they finally expire and 400 years is long enough now it's time to do or die here I stand I can do no other even gentle Jesus meek and mild when he saw the wanton murder of an innocent brother wailed to the perpetrator what have you done your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground brother Martin walk the talk stood like a brave marched side-by-side so we listened when he said let justice roll like a river and righteousness like a never-failing stream he was not seeking consensus but revolutionary change a preacher not afraid to leave the pulpit and Trek the Via Dolorosa the long and winding road of Sorrows but herein lies our resurrection the willingness to act for the greater good to sacrifice for the next generation even men of the cloth like Sam sharp and Paul Bogle understood from the master that there is no victory without the shedding of blood we see progress has always been preceded by protest and there's always been a price to pay for freedom that's why King prophesied I may not get there with you he knew what was coming but carried on anyway what really matters most is what we do next after we vented our rage and the last protest is done and the media is moved on we moored for George Floyd but because he's a hero but because we are George Floyd there but for the grace of God go I is our silent prayer but if we really want to change we cannot only pray we have to take the knee as Kaepernick did before it became the thing to do Colin took the knee and they took his job Rosie took a stand by sitting down and started a revolution that's still rolling today Mandela took to jail a long walk to freedom pace in prison cells for 27 years Martin had a dream and they killed him for it but you can't kill a dream by bullets if the brothers still believe there's a pattern here and a paradox to be prepared to die if you really want to live only those prepare to lose can really win what are the chances of a convict on a cross being the sign of victory what are the chances of two twinned infections interweaving their narrative arcs on the global stage at the same time a double dose of viral impacts so no one can miss the point God is speaking are we listening all over the world people are dying from the pervasive present persistence of this race hate pandemic the atmosphere is toxic we thought the oxygen was for all of us but some of us still can't breathe black lives matter thank you thank you very much not something you usually hear in a in a health talk I know but we're living in different times we're living in very different times look racism has always affected our health and we have certain researchers out in Harvard dr. David Williams being one who consistently talks about how racism affects our own bodies there are many studies that have suggested that if you're the victim of racism your risk of heart disease cancer high blood pressure goes up sometimes threefold and I was used to think well that's that doesn't seem fair so you're the victim and you get sick I always ask myself I would like to see another study and that study would be of the racists what happens to their bodies when they are the perpetrators of such racism I kind of know that that would be a difficult study to do I mean how did you do how do you recruit racists for your study early you know calling all racists sign up here you know it doesn't work so we'll probably never know but we have suggestions because we know that bitterness hate lack of forgiveness lack of compassion they all have negative indicators for our health and I also know this because even in the Bible it tells us that he who leaves into captivity will go into captivity you can't be an oppressor without being oppressed now you might think you're an oppressor but your body will keep a school and the interesting thing in that text it also says here is the patient patience and faith of the saints that tells me that it now requires patience and faith to deal with this issue I saw a a TV show it was called why we hate and it focused on one gentleman who was a white guy he ended up going to a school in the deprived area it was mainly black of black school and he was kind of bullied he was kind of picked on he didn't really want to go to school after that he was really really down left school started to mix with some other people who started to say well you know what these black people join this this white pride group ended up doing all sorts of different things tattoos racist tattoos up his body ended up going to jail coming out of jail he's covered in tattoos can't get a job his probation officer said well the only job that's going is in this shop and it's a Jewish owner and he's all my goodness a Jewish owner well I'll take it as long as I don't have to talk to him yeah amazing the guy still takes him he does the job when it comes time to being paid he says always this Jewish guy he's not gonna pay me well is he the Jewish man pays him in full gives him a bonus because he said he's a good worker and this gentleman who was a white pride activist racist said look at that point I was broken he says I used to march through the streets with our white pride enough flags and our swastikas and people would throw bottles at us hurl abuse at us and he could dodge that in fact every time it happened to him he just gave him more energy more strength but when this guy who he hated treated him with respect he was changed he had to leave he spends all of his time now trying to educate people about why people join these racist group why am I telling you this I'm talking about health I want us to be healthy but we're never going to get there just with hate and I mean hate on both sides we should never be tempted to lower ourselves to start hating and I remember what Jesus said in Luke 6 and verse 32 to 36 he said look if you just love people who love you there's no benefit in that everybody does that hateful people do that he's saying look when people hate you what you should do is love them back listen I know that's a difficult thing to do but our healing and our future depends on that it depends on us being able to forgive all the indicators in science tell us that people who are able to forgive people who are seeking peace those are the people who live longer and live better I'm not saying we condone anything absolutely I think we should do more I think protesting is fine but once when that's over when all the celebrities have gone back to their day jobs we still have to fight this thing and if you're gonna protest sure absolutely but make sure you sign up to vote too if you got to make a difference make a permanent difference I'm saying all this because I know that at the root of our healing at the root of our health has to be love forgiveness and seeking unity jesus said blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God being a peacemaker is not an easy job being a peacemaker is a very difficult job especially when you're trying to make peace with people who don't like you but that is what we've been called to do now I love talking about health I love showing people how to reverse disease it is a joy and a privilege but when I get to the heart of disease we talked about stress and worry at the heart of it must be learning to love ourselves learning to love each other as well as loving God learning to forgive ourselves learning to forgive each other when we're able to get on to that path there is a there is a future I personally I'm still on that journey I mean I find it difficult even to watch what happened to George Floyd I I really can't do it yet but I have the feeling that God is asking me to forgive that police officer as I say I don't I'm not there yet I don't feel at peace when I see that but that is what lies before us if we're going to get to a place where we can have healing you and I are going to have to start trying to work together for a unity yeah I like what Martin Luther King said he said darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that I know we're all being tempted to hate right now at each other hate you know looking back into everybody's past trying to take down this take down that that's that's natural but I will remind you that over the years over the decades there have been riots there have been protests there have been commissions there have been reports and studies and we're still in the same place so what once they do the report out for this one will be it back in the same place the only way we can make a change and I believe we have the tools to make the change because first of all we've been forgiven by God if we've been forgiven by God we can use that power which is what grace is use that power to start making a difference in our community starting just around us it has been my privilege to be here over the last week I have enjoyed sharing whatever knowledge I have in terms of reversing disease but this message is bigger than even healing I mean this is a message really of hope and I hope that you take it use it and share it but until we meet again goodbye happy Sabbath church family and friends I praise God the despite of what is happening around us he has given us this wonderful opportunity to come together in this fashion for a sec virtual camp meeting 2020 I am sure that we are all blessed throughout the week with a powerful and inspiring messages morning and evening from both local and international speakers what a privilege to be part of this momentous occasion for the past six days we have been worshiping together through songs and prayers through testimonies and God's Word today we are adding another dimension to our worship which is through giving by returning our tithe and giving our offerings giving is an act of worship as we acknowledge his sovereignty and we recognize that the blessings of God come to us because of his goodness we then respond out of our love and gratitude we love him because he first loved us we give because He first gave everything we have is his therefore giving must be the easiest thing a believer does giving opens heavens as promised in Malachi 3:10 tithing is not about money but our faith and faithfulness it touches the heart of God and releases blessings in so many different ways I am fascinated by the story of William Colgate the soap industrialist who founded in 1806 what became the colgate-palmolive company Colgate was a spider throughout his long and successful business career he gave not merely one-tenth of the earnings of college soap products but he gave two-tenths then 3/10 and finally 5/10 or half of all his income to the work of God in the world some articles even went on to suggest that he gave up to 90% and leaving on the 10% during the latter days of his life he revealed the origin of his devotion to the idea of tithing when he was 16 years old he left home to find employment in New York City he had previously worked in a soap manufacturing shop when he told the captain of the canal boat upon which he was travelling that he planned to make soap in New York City the man gave him this advice someone will soon be the leading soap maker in New York you can be that person but you must never lose sight of the fact that the soap you make has been given to you by God honor him by sharing what you earn begin by tithing all you receive William Cole did felt the urge to tithe because he recognized that God was the giver of all that he possessed not only of opportunity but even of the elements which were used in the manufacture of his products one might argue that it is easy to give in abundance but let us learn to give in our need in times like these where we experience what economists say as the deepest recession in 300 years God gives us this challenge try me now prove me now test me now and see if I will not open the floodgates of heaven in times like these we remember the widow in the Bible who gave what she had left her story is told in the Gospels of both Mark and Luke she trusted in God to provide for her she obeyed God's command knowing that he would fulfill his promise to care for her in return we must trust God the same way Matthew 6:33 says seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you we also remember the widow of Zarephath we read her story in first Kings 17 God showed his power by providing a never-ending supply of oil and flour for the widow in times like these all we need to do is to trust God and remain faithful to him by returning our tithe and giving our offerings shall we pray Heavenly Father we thank you and praise you for you are the source of life the giver of all good and perfect gift please accept our tithes and offerings that we have given or about to give in various ways as an act of our worship to you and may your peace which surpasses all understanding guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus and he in his powerful name I pray amen the Treasury Department of the South England conference has worked closely with the stewardship department to provide a range of methods for returning our tithes and offerings from check payments to Mobe cash an app that enables us to give our donations through our mobile device on your web browser if you type SEC adventists dot uk' you will see the donate button in the top right hand corner this will lead you to the tithe and offering donation page follow a few steps and you will be able to securely make your donation alternatively you can set up a standing order via online banking the SEC account details that on your screen if you're registered to Gift Aid please put your Gift Aid number in the reference some of us like to write checks and this can still be done post your check directly to the SEC Treasury Department and we will process the check but please remember to write the name of your church on the back as well as your gift aid number if you would like to call the SEC office we will happily receive your calls between nine and five on Monday to Thursday and from nine to twelve on Fridays if you would like to give via your mobile device text SDA followed by the name of your church to any of these four specific numbers this means you will be able to give continuous weekly donations of either one-pound three pounds five pounds or ten pounds if you would like to make a one-off 20 pound donation to your local church please text the name of your church to 705 7 / Moby cash is another way for you to return your tithe and give your offerings to your local church point your phone camera at this QR code download the movie cash app register your device and then re scan the QR code to get to the donation page then you'll be ready to go so in summary to return your tithe and give your offerings securely you can give through the SEC website or set up a standing order via online banking you can post a check or call the SEC office you can give via text or you can give through the app mobi cash you are able to assign your Gift Aid number to each method of giving for more information please go to the SEC website thank you and God bless it does pray Oh Lord our Lord our excellent is the name in all the earth you have set your glory in all the earth therefore we praise you O Lord with all our hearts we will sing praise to your name almost higher please hear our prayer o God to know hide yourself from our supplications be merciful to us O God be merciful to us indeed we are the constant recipient of your grace and mercy your mercies never come to an end new every morning new every morning great is your faithfulness o Lord great is your faithfulness son David once said when he considered your heaven work of your fingers the moon and stars which you have ordained what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you visit him and indeed father we acknowledge our transgressions and our sins our sins are always before you you told us if we confess our sins you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness so please cleanse us from our secret sins according to the multitude of your tender mercies blot out our transgressions kind and merciful father at this point I bring before you your children in the comfort of their homes you know how we have been impacted by this pandemic some of us have been put on furlough some of us have lost the jobs and are facing serious financial difficulties serious financial challenges our families are going through difficulties to say the least new words have come into our vocabulary words like knocked down and confinement and our part of our vocabulary others have lost a loved one we lost colleagues friends and family members all of a sudden we have become orphans widows and widowers we are facing heavy burdens and be whittling the tragedies though we are worshiping you today on this wonderful Sabbath our hearts are heavy heavy and if Kovach 19 and it negative impact in negative implications were not enough you are facing something worse the covered 19 facing an unprecedented systemic racial injustice if the truth be told church your church and its various institutions instead of being part of the solution have been part of the problem we have not been brave enough to stand for the truth at times we have been good church members good pastors excellent administrators and others but we have failed to be true disciples of Jesus so lord please in the midst of a storm we turn to you and cry lord save us we know that the sea and the wings obey you we remind that you are a refuge and strength very have in trouble therefore we will not fear even though the earth be removing though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea the Lord of Hosts is with us God of Jacob is our refuge so please lost and stand up for us and say be still I know that I am your God remind us O Lord that the world is not our home we are just passing through our treasures our leader beyond the blue and we're looking forward to the Sun coming of Jesus our Lord although this is our blessed hope this is our best of time in the worst of time with this in mind Oh Lord we are ready to commit our reason to you we trust you on in everything we trust you and trust anything everything that you have promised to us therefore use your manservant to speak to us and to bless us with your words in time like this we need you in time like this we need a word from you speak to us a lot bless your church in prayer I pray in the beautiful name of our Lord and Savior Jesus ever attended my I see is where for the for the I God so it is worse I want to extend a very warm welcome to each one of you on this Sabbath morning from wherever you might be tuning in from we are just so thankful and grateful to God that you've taken the time to tuning to our 2020 virtual camp meeting so I say on behalf of my fellow officers and directors of the South England conference welcome and a very pleasant Sabbath to each one of you this morning I'm sure that many of you have tuned in night after night and in our morning prayer sessions and and and from the comments that we have heard we have received a blessing from God on this Sabbath morning I'm very happy to introduce to you our special speaker for the hour he's none other than Pastor Mark Finley Pastor Finley we say welcome to you and thank you for joining us thank you Pastor what a delight it is to address my friends it's something onto place that we have spent so many years and have so many warm friendships and so many people that we know on a personal level so it's just delight to be with you lovely now as I said you are not a stranger to the South England conference having spent some time there at the division office but we have been blessed and I must say pastor Finley we have grown to love you we have grown to respect you because we have listened as you have opened God's Word and shared those wonderful truths and you have blessed each one of us in fact we are just delighted that both yourself and your wife have been a blessing to us here in the South England conference but pastor Finley although we know you and your wife we don't know anything about your family I'm just wondering for the sake of these South England conference family will you just say a word about your family to us please well first my wife and I have been married for 53 years Thank You fester we've been in ministry for 53 years together we have three adult children our oldest daughter Deborah is a physician she's a neurologist lives in Tampa Florida our son Mark jr. he is our youngest child he is working in dermatology in the Chattanooga Tennessee area and then our daughter Rebecca who works a lot with us she directs a group we started a physicians called Amen the Adventist medical evangelism network and we have a number of physicians there that are really focusing on medical missionary work in Christ in the marketplace and so forth and so we have three children two girls and a boy we have five grandchildren and it is just such a delight for us to have our grandkids and you know it's wonderful that brain kids because you can take them into your home you can enjoy them but then at a certain time you can send them home we enjoy our grandkids a great deal posture Finley God has used you to preach his good news in different parts of the world and we recognize this but perhaps you can share with us your journey how did God arrest you and lay his hand upon you to become this great speaker this international speaker who has traveled the world sharing the good news of salvation would you mind just sharing that with us please you know I was brought up in a lovely Roman Catholic my I went to school first eight grades in a st. Patrick school Catholic school then in high school I went to a public high school large pop-up guy in school 3000 4000 students and my father was a Protestant who became a seventh-day adventists when I was about 12 years old and dad always modeled Christ he always would be studying a Sabbath School lesson each morning or each evening and you know I had really looked up to my father is really close to my father during my teen years in my senior year in high school my father knew that I was going to go off to college and he was his last opportunity to really powerfully influenced me and so we work together in my father's machine shop my father was a businessman and ultimately had a large mission does so we dad and I work together and Leslie rode in the car to work each day my father would share Christ with me share the Word of God with me and I became a seventh-day Adventist I was 17 years old and shortly after that made my choice to go to college went to Atlantic Union College studied for the ministry and then my journey in ministry so I look back to the influence of my father and I really would encourage each man that's listening to take the responsibility to nurture your children it'll make all the difference in the world that's that's wonderful thank you thank you so much and now pastor Finley you went into retirement but I understand that you're still in ministry somehow what is your present rule now for the church please well my official role for the General Conference is I serve as an assistant to the president of the General Conference now what that entails is giving working together without a Wilson he will assign me specific projects they may be writing projects they may be prying there may seek me for counsel I may do evangelistic meetings or pastors meetings around the world so that's my general roles with the General Conference in addition to that I direct what's called The Living Hope school of evangelism it is based in a local congregation that we helped to start a number of years ago the church has grown rapidly I don't pastor the church but we have a living up school of evangelist and pastors from all over the world come there there is no tuition we have about four days of courses intensive courses on evangelism so and in addition to that we have an online ministry that's very successful two hundred thousand viewers every month on our online ministry and we have also what we call The Living Hope school of evangelism online and I have about thirteen to fourteen hundred students online that we interact with so we have a variety of things that we still do a lot of writing of Sabbath school lessons and books and so forth so the only thing I retired from elder was my full salary so my brothers and my sisters I just want to say thank you to pastor Finley for the way God has been using him and I want to encourage you to just say a prayer as pastor Finley reveals Christ and allows God to speak to us through him and so pastor Finley we say welcome once again and we are here to listen to God's Word may God bless you as you speak to our hearts amen thank you so much pastor and we look forward to the powerful moving of the Spirit as we open the Word of God together hey everyone just wanted to encourage you to keep your head up to stay positive and be blessed and remember that Jesus is still the answer for the world today for your world for my world for our world today and he's got a whole world in his hands be blessed for the world today the way above him there's no Jesus is the way he is the way he's a comfort in the midnight when I was broke easy answer he is away he's when I was broke she see this is the end you live in tears god bless you like to give my warmest greetings to my friends in the South England conference I look back over the many years that I've spent in South England in Sint Albans at the division office have made so many friends in the British Isles it's just a delight to speak to you today in this virtual camp meeting let's bow our heads to pray father in heaven thank you for the opportunity to coming together with my friends there in South England although we are miles apart our hearts are one with a longing to know Christ better to understand his word more clearly and to prepare for his soon return so as we open your word today on this Sabbath morning come speak to our hearts and change our lives in Christ's name Amen my topic is how to thrive in life's toughest times as you look back over the last six months a pandemic has raged across the world millions have been infected in tens of thousands hundreds of thousands have died in the British Isles two hundred and ninety nine thousand people were affected with kovat 19:00 and there were 42 thousand deaths but yet the corona virus pandemic is not yet over approximately 1,200 people a day in Britain continue to be afflicted with this disease the corona virus has changed life the way we know it it's a strain of the virus family that we haven't before and as the result of this international borders have been closed schools have suspended their classes businesses have mandated workers to work from home restaurants temporarily closed movie theaters and amusement parks and other entertainment venues have shut their doors sporting events have been canceled and we've learned new terms like social distancing a term that most of us were unfamiliar with before as the result of the coronavirus the stock market has really teetered unemployment is high and people are asking serious questions about spirituality not long ago after I preached a sermon on the pandemic in kovat 19:00 and how to find peace a young woman wrote me a letter and this is what she said she said I've never been interested in religion before I had two friends interested in faith but for me faith was something for other people but based on the qoph at 19 I began to ask questions about what is the purpose of life what is the meaning of life where is God at all this as God caused this are these pestilences a sign of the end and she said when I began to think that way I started to search the internet and when I did I found on the internet a sermon pastor mark that you preached I listened to that sermon I don't know who seventh-day Adventists are I have no idea about what they believe but I know this that the Spirit of God touched my life that God spoke to me in that sermon and I want to know more there are scores of people that want to know more they are asking the question where is God in all of this are these judgments of God or they just random happenings what does the Bible say about pestilences and pandemic how can we overcome fear and have hope in a time of crisis and lastly as this aside at the end of the world now let me assure you that God is not the author of sickness suffering or death when God created the world he created it perfect in fact if you take your Bible and I know that if you are a member of the South England conference you have your Bible so take out your Bible get a piece of paper jot some text down because you're gonna be blessed today the Spirit of God is gonna speak to you today is gonna give you new hope and new courage today and you can share these things with your friends as well Genesis the first chapter the first thing that we want to establish is that God is not the author of suffering God's not the author of sickness God's not the author of disease God is a God who's the author of the good Genesis chapter 1 the Bible talks about God creating the world and here in Genesis chapter 1 the Bible says in verse 31 then God saw everything that he had made and indeed it was very good so you come to the end of creation week and God's created the Sun the Moon the Stars he's carpeted the earth with living green he's painted the horizon with magnificent flowers the birds are singing the air is pure the water is clear and God then creates Adam and Eve and there's no sickness suffering or death and God says it's very good but the Bible says that God created human beings with the power of choice and if you take away the power of choice you take away the capacity to love and if you take away the capacity to love you take away the ability to be truly happy so God gave to Adam and Eve whom he had created very good and put in a garden that was very good in a world that was very good God gave them the ability to choose and when they chose to listen to the voice of the evil one lucifer in that garden the phonemes you had come to take dominion of planet earth they were separated from God and separation from God because of sin brings sickness suffering and disease and so we find now a world of pandemics a world of suffering as the result of seeing a world of sickness it was Jesus that came to the snake pit of this world and as he came to this simple outen this disease rich old this death filled planet Jesus came to reveal what God was like that God wanted the people to have abundant health he wanted them to have life so Jesus came and he touched the eyes of the blind and they were opened touch the ears of the death and they were unstopped touch withered arms and they were healed touched palsy bodies and they remember they sprang to new life touch crippled legs and people ran and walked again when we see Jesus we understand more clearly John 10 and verse 10 but here in John 10 verse 10 the Bible points out that Christ is not the author of suffering or sickness or disease or death it is not God that's behind these pandemics Jesus says in John 10 verse 10 the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and destroy but I've come that they might have life that they might have it more abundantly so it's the devil that wants to destroy the image of God in humanity so the devil is behind every all sickness suffering and death now there may be a variety of reasons for it sometimes people get sick because of their own choices sometimes they get sick because of quality lifestyle habits sometimes they get sick because simply we're in an environment of sickness sometimes sickness can be linked to genetics and can be linked to the environment but my sickness is linked to our own choices as you study the Word of God you discover that it's the thief that comes to killed to destroy but Jesus has come that we might have life and that we might have that life more abundantly now what does the Bible actually say about pestilences when the corona virus pandemic began I started in my own personal reflection in study on this word pestilences in the Bible now the Bible uses the word pestilence in a variety of ways in fact the word pestilence is mentioned in the Bible eighty-one times and it uses pestilence at least in three different ways one pestilence is the result of living in a world of sickness suffering and death it's the result of living in a broken world and so sometimes the Bible uses pestilence in that way other times the Bible uses pestilence in the sense of God withdrawing his power and it's God withdraws his power Satan is actually at work and Satan is allowed to work in that environment I think a good example of that is Jobe Satan came to God and he said to God at the very throne room of the universe he says God look at your servant Jobe you protected him you've had your hand upon him and if you move that hand Jobe will curse God and die and God said okay so he withdrew his power Satan moved in afflicted job with these boils caused job's family to be devastated at his home but yet Jobe did not yield his faith in God why did that pestilence take place in Joe's body because God withdrew his power now why did God do that to demonstrate that nothing could break job's loyalty God was not behind that sickness God was not behind that suffering God was not behind that death but God withdrew his power and notice job's response to all of that when God withdraws his power you find Joe's response in two passages in the book of Job and it's really instructive to us today job the 14th chapter and you'll notice job's response he says if a man lies down shall he live again all the days of my hard service all the days of this suffering all the days of this pain will I wait until my change comes God you'll call and I will answer you verse 15 Joe 14 you will desire the work of your hands for now you number my steps notice what Jobe says all the days of my life I'm gonna wait Lord though he slay me yet I'm gonna trust him Joe cries out in job 19 there verse 25 he says I know that my redeemer lives he'll stand the last day upon the earth and in my flesh I'll see God whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold and not another how my heart yearns within me so God allowed Jobe to be afflicted God did not afflict job's satan afflicted joe but God allowed Jobe to be afflicted why to demonstrate that there's something in life beyond our houses something in life beyond our lands something in life beyond our physical health that is the knowledge that Christ is with us the knowledge that Jesus is there by our side we can cry out and say I know my Redeemer liveth there's something beyond this life and that indeed is eternity here the story of Job reveals this what happens when God withdraws his power Satan works now when God withdraws his power and Satan works some people when they face catastrophe some people when they face suffering when they do that they give up but other people's faith gets stronger the scars that they experience only reveal stars in their lives some time ago I read the story of a beautiful beautiful Muslim mosque there in dara Turan and when the builders were making that mosque it was called the Royal mosque when they were making it they were going to have a foyer an entryway where the roof was translucent glass and in that entryway they were going to put mirrors so that as you walked into the entryway the sun shining through the glass reflected off the mirrors and it reflected the blue sky and the clouds it was like you were walking through heaven to get into the mosque as the story goes as these beautiful hand-cut mirrors were being sent from Italy to terror and they were crated and brought into the airport and placed upon a truck that truck was in a terrible accident the mirrors were cracked the foreman and master architect of that mosque was called and he was told the tragic news that the mirrors had cracked and broken he said bring them here bring them here and so they brought them through the construction site he opened the crates saw all the cracks in the mirrors he said to his workmen make walls in that foyer of of wet cement they did they cemented the walls the cement was wet he took those cracked pieces and he began to put them in that cement play piece by piece he stepped back saw his work put another crack piece another crack piece another crack piece as he saw his work he said now watch when the Sun shone through the glass Rufe it sparkled off the Trant off the mirrors that were now cracked in jagged pieces and it was like you were walking through a field of diamonds if you'd visit that mosque there's a little placard on the bottom of it and it says this broken to be made beautiful broken to be made beautiful that entryway is more beautiful than one could imagine you walk through a field of diamonds they get into the mosque maybe you've experienced brokenness in your life during Kovan 19 maybe you have felt like you like job sickness has afflicted your body you've been unemployed and have a difficult time with even making your rent payment or your food payments or payments on a car you've really really struggled your kids have been out of school and that's what added stress on the family there's been stress on your marriage stress on your finances stress on your health and sometimes you throw up your hands the incredible good news is that God did not leave job during his time of difficulty that God was there by his side encouraging him God was there by his side giving him strength and Jobe said though he slay me yet why trust him because I know my redeemer lives and that makes all the difference knowing when God is alive knowing that God created you knowing that your redeemer lives now three things I discovered about pestilence is in the Bible how many times when pestilence is mentioned in the Bible that's right 81 times sometimes pestilences are mentioned because they're simply the natural result of the world we live in hurricanes famines fires floods you sometimes sickness is their the natural result of living in a broken world sometimes they're the direct result of God withdrawing his power and pestilences take place sometimes they are the direct result of God's action now let me give you an example of that when you look at the past once's that fell on Egypt they were not simply natural disasters they were the result of God's action in those ten last plagues in the ten the ten plagues of Egypt so that Israel would be delivered the plagues broke the back of the wicked oppressor and God initiated those plagues to accomplish a larger purpose we find that sometimes in Scripture what about the hundred and eighty-five thousand soldiers that were slain as these Assyrian soldiers approached Jerusalem to destroy it this was the direct act of God now some people have a very difficult time understanding that but let's look at it this way suppose you had cancer and your physician told you I have to do a very difficult cancer operation it's going to cause a lot of pain there'll be time of recovery but it's going to save your life if you knew you'd have to go through pain to save your life would you do it certainly so there are times that if God did not move in those plagues of Egypt if God did not move by the agent to destroy at the Assyrians what would have happened Assyria would have attacked Jerusalem would have destroyed it goodness and righteousness could have been blotted out of the earth if the Israelites were not allowed to go to the promised land over the centuries and time they could have been blotted out from Egypt all righteousness could have they could have forgotten the commandments of God so God at times does a preemptive strike on evil and he does that to preserve righteousness so that the light of God's truth and love will prevail in the world now we may not understand all of that but in heaven that's what the money is about God's going to explain a lot of that to us so three great reasons behind pestilences number one reason is the natural result of living in our world number two God withdraws his power Satan works number three at some times god works now when you look at pestilences how do these pestilences relate to the coming of Christ is kovat 19 a sign that Jesus is coming and coming soon there is no one sign of the coming of Jesus the Bible does not say that kovat 19 is the sign of the coming of Christ but the Bible does say that pestilences will be one of the signs so take your Bible and turn please to Matthew chapter 24 here Jesus has talked about the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem and after he's described the discussion of destruction of that temple at Jerusalem Jesus lifts signs that would lead up to the destruction of the temple and also signs that would lead up to the end of the world he blended those two events the disciples thought that something as cataclysmic as destructive as the destruction of the temple must be the end but in a masterful sermon Jesus describes these two events the destruction of the temple and the destruction of the world by fire signs that would lead up to both of those events and so Jesus says take heed Matthew chapter 24 let's go back to verse 3 now as he sat on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately saying tell us when shall these things be what shall be the sign of your coming and the end of the age and jesus answered and said to them take heed that nobody deceives you for many will come in my name saying I am the Christ and deceive many you'll hear wars and rumors of wars don't be troubled these things must come to pass the end is not yet for nation will rise against nation Kingdom against Kingdom there will be now don't miss this there will be what famines and pestilences and earthquakes in various places these at the beginning of the surah so Jesus says there will be pestilences so our pestilence is a sign of the time yes they are what a pestilence is strange diseases on our crops that's why we have some people have to spray the majority of the commercial crops are sprayed with pestilences pesticides so there's strange disease on crops strange diseases on animals a strange disease on human beings we have the Marburg virus very strange disease mad cow disease strange disease AIDS that is proliferated strange disease you have the SARS once ours to cope it 19 pestilences strange diseases that are increasing in our world now Ellen White makes some very fascinating statements about these pestilences but notice a couple of them that Ellen White makes here she says in nineteen manuscript releases page 381 famines will increase pestilences will sweep away thousands dangers are all around us from the powers without and satanic workings within but the restraining power of God is now being exorcised did you get that God sometimes withdraws his power but now the major restraining power of God is being exercised but soon the winds of strife are gonna blow but did you know that pestilences will sweep away thousands here is a prediction that was made in 1897 and over a hundred and twenty years later we find a fulfillment of that that pestilences are sweeping away thousands she said in third selected messages page 391 God had not restrain the powers of darkness from carrying forward their deadly work of vitiating the air now remember covet nineteen is airborne that's why people wear masks because the breathing of the droplets that you breathe in she talks about Satan carrying forward his deadly work in vitiating the air one of the sources of life in nutrition with a deadly miasma not only is vegetable life affected but man suffers from the pestilence these things are the result of the drops of vial from God's wrath being sprinkled upon the earth but a faint representation of what will be in the future so what do we see when we see these pestilences we see that God is withdrawing his hand we see pestilence is not as the sign but we see it as one of the signs of the coming of Jesus as predicted by Christ and as predicted in the Word of God now these pestilences will not get less they will get more so what are they an appeal of what are they a call to notice Ellen White makes a statement that is powerful we continue with that 19th manuscript release to 79 God has a purpose in permitting these calamities to occur God has a what what does it say God has a what a purpose they are one of this means now not the only means they are one of this means of calling men and women to their senses by unusual workings through nature God will Express the doubting human agencies that which he clearly reveals in his word so notice I continue prophets and Kings 277 they are among the agencies by which he seeks to arouse men and women to their sense of danger so what is an overarching purpose of these calamities these pestilences this God caused them absolutely not does it times he withdraws power absolutely and seyton take advantage of that and pollute the air and cause sickness and disease very definitely but what are they a call to they're a call to wake us up they're a call to get us out of our complacency they're a call to prayer they're called a Bible study they're called by Jesus Christ Himself to get serious about our faith this is no time for fooling around this is no time for playing games with religion this is no time at all about being super for a superficial religious experience this is a time to be on our knees this is a time to be seeking God this is a time to get ready for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ now when these things are happening what instruction does Scripture give us we take our Bibles and we turn to the Book of Luke Luke chapter 21 and here the Bible tells us about these events that will be taking place Luke chapter 21 verse 25 26 27 28 there will be signs in the Sun the Moon the stars we've seen those great dark day May 1917 80 stores falling 1833 these signs in the natural world are just preliminary to the great signs in the heavens before Christ comes it says there'll be distress of nations we see that they'll be perplexity seeing waves Roy men's hearts failing for fear men's hearts what failing for fear why in the expectation or looking on those things that are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven will be shaken why are they so fearful their hearts fail for fear you know heart attacks of going up during coded 19:00 this pandemic pandemic why men's hearts are failing for fear if Cova Dean Dean doesn't get them fear does I would like to suggest to you that fear can be more deadly than the pandemic of the corona virus that fear can kill more people and fear can spread more rapidly scores of people have their hearts filled with fear what is the antidote to fear men's hearts failing them for fear then it says verse 28 now when these things begin to come to pass look up lift up your heads because your redemption draws nigh see whether your heart is filled with fear or filled with hope depends where you're looking if you're looking at what's around you your heart is gonna be filled with fear but if you're looking above you - the christ that created you the christ that walks by your side the christ that will never leave you the christ that will never forsake you the Christ that is coming again for you if that is where you are looking your heart will not be filled with fear it'll be filled with hope now somebody says pastor mark helped me because really I've been kind of tense kind of stressed out kind of fearful can you give me some practical counsel in overcoming fear the Bible reveals some practical steps in overcoming fear we find that first step outlined in the Book of Isaiah and if you have your Bible please take it and turn to Isaiah chapter 41 verse 10 did you know that in the Bible now get this did you know that in the Bible there are at least three hundred and sixty-five verses that say fear not isn't that nice 365 verses that say fear not now I didn't count them I just read that from somebody else but that's one fear not for every day of the year isn't that great why don't I need to fear because God gives me a fear not for every single day of the year so Isaiah chapter 41 you're looking there at verse 10 god says fear not and tells you why - fear not here's why we don't fear fear not for I am with you so the first reason I do not fear is because Christ is with me in sickness he's with me in economic adversity is with me when have problems in my family he's with me so fear not because Christ walks by our side remember what it says in Hebrews chapter 13 it says law I'm with you always verse five to eight law I'm with you always even to the end of the world so fear not Jesus says I say a 41 verse 10 for I'm with you be not dismayed for I am your God I will strengthen you I will help you second reason I don't fear is because first God's with me second he's going to strengthen me second he's gonna help me he's not gonna let me sir come to my fear he's not gonna let me be paralyzed by my fear fear not I will strengthen you I'll help you I will uphold you with my righteous right hand now fear is an emotion all of us experience fear at some time all of us experience worry at some time all of us experience anxiety at some time so merely because you feel stress merely because you feel some fear merely because you feel some anxiety does not mean that you're not still in the hands of Christ we all experience some fear if I'm walking across the street in London and I think that I'm supposed to be looking this way but I look this way and the cars coming from that way because I'm an American and you know this whole issue of which side of the road you supposed to drive on you know that what I'm not gonna get into that debate but I look the wrong way and what happens the car must hits me idea I see him coming and I jump back what what did I have I had what fear that was an emotion of fear so if you have some fear that's an emotion there's nothing wrong with that but if that fear paralyzes you if that fear cripples you if that fear dominates your life if that's fears with you all the time so any motion of fear is a natural response but it's when that fear lingers that fear controls our life that fear dominates our life so what's the answer to that the Bible gives it to us fear not how many times in the Bible 365 in the days of the year I'm with you be not dismayed for I am your God I will strengthen you I don't fear because he's with me I don't fear because they have the assurance and he's gonna strengthen me there's another reason I do not fear I do not let fear me I do not let fear paralyze me I do not let fear take my joy away why because I know the end of the story disease will not have the last word Christ will suffering will not have the last word Christ will disaster will not have the last word Christ will death will not have the last word Christ will and Jesus said to his disciples you know it well don't you John 14 let not your heart be what troubled what does it mean to be troubled in the heart it means to be fearful means to be filled with worry anxiety John 14 one two three let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again to receive you unto myself and there you'll be with me always Jesus says in my father's house are many mansions there is room for you my friend there's room there for you he says don't be fearful look up know that he's coming again what does the Bible predict in the book of Revelation revelation is a book that's not simply about mystic beasts it's a book that's not simply about strange images it's a book that's not simply about symbolism that some people find difficult to understand although God has made it plain in his word but the book of Revelation is a book of hope and here why do we not need to be paralyzed by fear in Revelation chapter 21 the Bible to John says I looked up in I John saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he shall be with them and he will be their God and they'll be his people one day sickness and suffering and sorrow gonna be over one day heartache is gonna be over one day disease and death are gonna be over and Jesus says here in Revelation chapter 21 verse 4 God will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will be no more death nor sorrow nor crying there'll be no more pain for the former things have passed away then he who sat on the throne said behold I make all things new we are seventh-day Adventists we are the most hopeful people in the world because we believe that history is not going to go simply round and round and round and round in endless cycles of life and death we believe that death is not a dark hole in the ground we believe that the grave is not a long night without a morning we are the most hopeful people in the world because we believe that Jesus Christ is coming again he mentioned at more than 1500 times in the Bible for every verse in the New Testament one in 25 speak about the coming of Christ we are a hopeful people we are a buoyant people because we believe that Jesus is coming again we know that we will go through sorrow will go through difficulty will go through challenges in this life at times the mountain will seem high at times the journey will seem long but Christ will get us through he says I am your God I will help you I will strengthen you I am coming again for you hang on do not give up is there somebody today you're watching this program and you're saying I'm just about ready to give up I don't know if I can hang on any longer I've got incredibly good news for you Jesus is there speaking to your heart right now Christ is touching you right now open your heart to Jesus say Lord take away this crippling fear ask Jesus to give you the strength to cope with what you've got to cope with and tell Jesus so though the journey is long and the road is rough I know you're gonna be with me and I know one day you're gonna come again for me one day I can look up and see Jesus coming in the clouds of heaven one day the earth will shake one day the Lightning will flash one day Jesus will come with ten thousand times ten thousand angels in one day the graves will be opened one day the dead in Christ will rise one day the living will be transformed and together with the immortal bodies the righteous then the righteously we will send to heaven to meet Jesus forever and ever and ever and ever would you like to be in the kingdom of God would you like to live with Jesus forever wherever you are right now just bow your heads as we pray father in heaven in this camp-meeting service we bow our heads and solemn consecration and commitment to you where there has been fear I pray that you take that fear away give us peace and hope encourage where we felt so weak to cope give us strength may your strength empower our weakness and what we've lost hope revive our hearts again well we've been playing games with religion take away our superficiality help us be serious knowing that we're on the knife edge of eternity and Christ is coming where some have failed to make a full decision for Christ may be made today and if there are those who have not yet been baptized move upon their hearts help them speak to their pastor convict them right now to make that decision for baptism to walk into the water and one day soon Lord that should come again and they we meet you and live with you through all eternity in Jesus name Amen god bless you my friends I look forward to seeing you soon God be the glory great things he the Jesus fekra pension please we have tortoise great Daisy when she's Yuji I invite you to pray with me now father God in times like these it's really easy to feel overwhelmed by everything that's happening in the world I'm constantly turning my focus to the headlines to heated conversations on social media to all the different kinds of trouble and heartbreak in the world and in the moments when I feel like I'm drowning in it all please remind me to look up to come away and rest for a while even Jesus wasn't in it 24/7 he took time out with you and I know I need that more than ever right now the Bible promises that you will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in you all those whose thoughts are fixed on you so far they're helped me to keep turning my thoughts my attention back to you help me to grow in my understanding of who you are and what that means for me remind me of your promises and keep me in your perfect peace I pray this in Jesus name Amen

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Id: p7XY6k53MOY

Length: 206min 10sec (12370 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 20 2020