BRINKLOW BROADCAST : THE NOTEBOOK

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] so [Music] don't [Music] [Music] happy new year everyone are we still saying new year yes girl because even though a pandemic is raging outside beautiful girls is still continuing their service to the community and to our girls by doing events such as virtual date with dad oh okay i can see that well let's talk about our first event of the new year the mother daughter event that's right march 13th from 7 to 8 30 p.m our annual mother daughter retreat will take place virtually and this year our theme is spilling the tea and we're inviting all mothers and daughters that means you don't have to be a phd or ygv member to be a part so we want you to prepare by getting your favorite tea your hats your fascinators your wraps or your nice hair accessory with your fancy pastel outfits we're gonna have some games some chatting mother daughter bonding and all around great time so bring your favorite tea be sure to rsvp by march 9th to beautiful girls at emanueleventus.org let's build some tea together so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Applause] [Music] with all and welcome to the service at emmanuel brinklow today we're excited to have you with us today and in maryland here we have a bright sunny day that god has given us there is a nip in the air but it's so nice last week sabbath we were clouded in rain but this week we have a bright sunny day and we welcome you to the worship service today i have just a few remarks for you this morning tomorrow is our grocery grab and go and we look forward to seeing you if you have needs i also need to tell you though that we are restarting our coded testing again starting on march the 28th at the grab and go until the last week in june we will be doing covet testing so why are we talking about covet testing when we've got vaccines why because we don't have a vaccine that is 100 effective which means some people who have gotten it still have can come down with the disease so you must continue to test especially if you have symptoms i'm really excited today the pastoral staff has started a new series it's called the notebook and it will be presented every wednesday night at prayer meeting time and every sabbath morning during the 11 o'clock hour this series is a focus on the bible as a whole as it relates to the final chapter of the the final book of the bible which is the book of revelation how all of everything that you've read leads to this one book you don't want to miss a single session of this conversation on the notebook sabbath school today will be as we celebrate women's history month we have dynamic women leaders and today we have a trailblazer by the name of linda emmons she is the widner university emeritus and trailblazer and she's going to be doing the sabbath school lesson dealing with doing the unthinkable also featured with her as a person very dear to me the former women's metro area newman's ministry director denise crary will also be participating on the sabbath school program this morning well couples it may have been a while since you've been able to spend some fun time together just the two of you well look no further bring blows family life ministry has got you covered put the kids to bed early and join us for a virtual game night next sabbath that's march 13th at 9 30 pm the first 30 couples to sign up and the link will be provided in the blast will enjoy a night to remember we can't wait to have fun together and you can't wait to have fun with each other as we celebrate together please pray please remember to pray for sister cabbage stock she lost her husband this week also please remember to pray for individuals who are recuperating and experiencing grief and loss throughout the month of march which is women's history month we will be highlighting amazing women each week of this month these are women in our congregation we started out last year with a special woman and we're gonna go back and take a look at that again sister helen martin be blessed enjoy the service and may the spirit of god rest upon you as you worship with us today god bless you [Music] as a young student applying for nursing we were limited to the number of schools that we could apply to in the north planning to be close to home i applied to freeman nursing school lincoln bellevue holland [Music] and one or two others the first one that accepted me was holland hospital school of nursing so there i entered in 1943 as a student [Music] looking back now it is wonderful that those opportunities were open to us before that we weren't we were limited to professionals coming out in 1945 limited were about three or four hospitals in the new york city area and basically they they were specialties such as seaview hospital which was the tubercular hospital of willard parker which was the communal diseases and a few others but those were the specialties this is the cat that was given to us as we graduated and i watered the entire time of my nursing career for my 33 years of active nursing i never was in uniforms without a cat the nursing cape was issued to every student on entering nursing we had three buildings to go through the clinical area the dormitory and the classrooms so our cake will put over our uniform as we travel as you notice on the inside it's maroon with your initials and every student was issued a case [Music] there are many openings many levels of nursing many [Music] divisions that we can work in today never limit yourself you we begin at one level and you can work yourself up be prepared take your basic high school academic courses that will prepare you to be ready for your college entrance to whatever professions you wish to go [Music] good morning boys and girls my name is leah and i will be telling the children story today along with my brother evan who made the stop motion video the story for today is called the parable of the talents the story starts with the man who decided to go on a long trip so we left his servants to take care of his house and money the man trusted that his servants would take good care of his things while he was away before he left he decided to give one servant five talents and gave another servant two talents he gave the last servant one talent in the story the talents represent money he gave them these amounts depending on their ability they serve him with five talents to use his money and receive five more talents the servant with two talents all sued his money and made two more talents but the man who had only one talent buried it deep in the ground because he was scared and wanted to keep the money safe once the master came back from his long trip he wanted to know what each servant had done with the money he gave them the man with five talents and the man with two talents told master what they had done with their money master was pleased and told them to come celebrate with him when the servant with one talent told the master what he had done the master was angered and took the talent away from him jesus uses this parable to teach us a lesson he tells us how we should use our talents for him and if we're trusted with them he will give us more if you have the ability to do something for god and you don't your talent can be taken away we all should want to use our talents for him let's pray dear jesus this week please help us to use our special gifts and talents for your glory please give us a good upcoming week and continue to bless us and keep us safe amen [Music] goodbye good morning church i want to talk to you today a little bit about giving talk to you today about giving and how kobet 19 has changed our giving prospective non-given culture for example in one community the people got together and decided to support that local restaurant for instance they decided to order more food from their local restaurant instead of cooking at home so that that business can survive kobe 19. and so they found an indirect way to be charitable to give to their local business by participating more by supporting more what will our covet 19 response be and post kogit 19b will we go back to normal because covet 19 requires activism in our given covet 19 is just not a money mindset in corporate 19 and post corporate 19 giving it's just not about giving money but kobet 19 and post covert 19 our giving will be measured by the substance of our community engagement see before corporate 19 we were given from a disinterested generosity perspective i repeat that a disinterested generosity perspective but covet 19 and post copy 19 the giving culture must change and so i ask you how much engagement will you get involved with now not just in covet but post code will you go back to normal just give and be disconnected with your community be disconnected with your affairs the word is clear and as much as you've done it to the least of these you've done it to me this is your given moment get involved get engaged and measure your giving thank you [Music] [Music] and bless sabbath church family it is time for prayer why think of psalms 28 the psalmist wrote in psalms 28 verses 6 and 7 while reading hearing blessed be the lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplications lord is my strength and my shield my heart trusted in him and i am helped therefore my heart greatly rejoices with my song i will praise him and with my song i will praise him think of the hymn well known him oh god our help in ages past our hope for years to come our shelter from the stormy blast in our eternal home let's bow our heads family god it's been over a year now it's been over a year that we have been facing this condemned and its ramifications this pandemic which has separated us from one another this pandemic which has isolated us into our very spheres and cocoons this pandemic which has prevented us from being able to rejoice as we usually do and being able to mourn as we usually do to be able to comfort as we usually do we can follow the example of our savior who both at the beginning of his ministry in the wilderness for 40 days and at the end of his ministry in the garden of gethsemane he prayed and offered his supplications to his god in heaven he did this in solitude alone so we can gain strength from the knowledge that our savior experienced but we have experienced this year we can gain peace to the knowledge that our savior was able to persevere and gain sustenance from prayer and it is from this perspective our heavenly father that we come to you today we think of all the things that are going on we think of the health issues and struggles that are going on in our church family we think of those who have lost loved ones we mentioned the cabbage cab stock family lost uh miss edith cabbage stock gloucester husband i'm sorry jerry cabbage excuse me please be with them and with their family as they go through this time we also think about the edith wright family and elder janet moore and the grandchild the entire family and the fact that once again we have not been able to comfort we've not been able to commune as we normally would please be with them and comfort as only you can we also think of all the individuals who are shut in or unable to get out we think of many of our in our church family the clarabelle brown family william hoover that family the pittman family the vanderhorst family stephen vanderhorst and elder van putten but we also think of others we think of those that we don't mention at this time for one reason or another we thank you for being the great physician the great creator who can who has all power we thank you and we ask you to once again comfort lead and guide but not only that help us to know as extended family what we can and should do let us be your hands and feet on this earth we also think of the missions of the church the grab-and-go we ask for your continued leading and guiding in that may this church be a light on a hill may we continue to be able to provide for the needs of our our community as we go forward we want to pray for our nation and our church the leaders we ask you to be with them to bless them it's i guess you've seen this before but this is new for us god please help us and help them so they may make the appropriate decisions and that your will be done we also would like to pray that we do not develop or live in fear but that we do what is necessary what you have provided for us to do be it if it be vaccinations vaccinations if it'd be wearing masks it could be social distance if it be helping others we ask you to to to allow us and help us to do what we can to make sure that we are providing and doing the right things and making the right decisions for us that you have provided for us we also ask for your leading and guiding in the in the young people of our our church not just the young people but also those who are going through psychological anxiety and stress during these times we know that you provide a peace which passed it understanding and we thank you for that and we ask for your leading and guiding in this direction also our heavenly father we thank you finally our heavenly father we as a church are embarking on a new message a notebook of love which will be presented by the pastoral staff we ask for continued prayer and leading as our pastoral staff carries us through this exercise and this learning experience please speak through pastor washington this morning you've done so much through him in the past we asked for a word from you this morning so as we continue this service our heavenly father thank you for your presence thank you for your leading and guiding may we be ready when you return in your name we pray [Music] amen [Music] just as sure as the sun sets at the end of the day then the darkness fades and the clouds they roll away just as sure as the hands on the clock keep taking away the time and trouble on my mind makes it hard for joy to find and then it turns to spring i believe deliverance will surely come for me just as sure as my heart will someday be made a new [Music] just as i do [Music] [Music] is there to make me perfect in your eyes it may hurt for a while but by faith i shall survive and just as sure as the rain falls on me only to make me grow no matter how i feel now i live as sure as trials come to pull me close to you in your presence now i see i know you love me yeah just says i do [Music] and even though the crowd sometimes gets loud [Music] it's faithful even when my faith i lose i know you'll love me just as i do love you love you and i trust you cause you know what's best for me and even though the crowd sometimes gets loved and it's hard to hear your speech just as your grace is faithful even when my faith i know you lose me just as i do love you just as i do [Music] when i should have died you love jesus i love you forever [Music] um truly we do honor the lord today for his faithfulness and consistency in our lives we praise god for the nello first said i was about to say uh mary mary but uh lord god we thank them so much for the uh for the message and song uh that warmed our hearts i really want to jaywalk right into this text uh for today if you are joining with us and weren't with us on wednesday you missed a treat as we started this wonderful series entitled the notebook as we explore the greatest lover who's ever existed uh and that is jesus christ and so i really just want to uh kind of get into the first part of the book i want you to do whatever you need to do you've got 10 seconds to go get your your bibles a pen some paper something to write with as we continue this journey uh through the book of revelation i want you to go to the book of revelation right now and i want to read just the first three verses um and we want to see what the lord has in store for us this morning as we just kind of get into get our feet wet a little bit into uh this book um bible says the revelation of jesus christ which god gave him to show his bond servant the things which must soon take place and he sent and communicated it by his angels angel to his bond servant john who testified to the word of god into the testimony of jesus christ even to all that he saw and blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and heed the things which are written in it for the time is is near i want to start this way as as we jump into the book when you first look in the book of genesis and look at adam and eve when they were first created in the wonderful image of god they enjoyed face-to-face communication with god on a regular basis the bible is really silent on how long they enjoyed this experience before life drastically changed but we know that there was a period in time before sin came into the world where adam and eve held frequent and regular conversations face-to-face conversations with god they could look into the eyes of god without fear guilt embarrassment or rejection they could listen to the voice of god and see god move his lips and with clarity and understanding and not wait or wonder if what they heard from god is actually what god was saying there was no mystery or confusion as to what god was trying to communicate to them there there was a place and period in time when there was never a moment of misunderstanding or ignorance as to what god's thoughts were concerning them communication always flowed freely and whatever god said was received without confusion don't miss me i promise i'm going somewhere today and i honestly can't really imagine i can't really fully grasp what this experience must have been like because for as long as you and i can't remember for as long as you and i have been alive our experience has echoed the words of the prophet isaiah when he said it was our iniquities that separated us from god and our sins that has hidden his face from us making it really hard to hear from god and since birth you would agree with me that more times than not it's been real hard it's been real difficult it's downright frustrating sometimes to really hear or understand what the lord is saying and the reason why what i'm saying is so important is because even now even right now as you listen to this word there are some specific things there are some stated things there are some serious things that you need to hear god's voice on with clarity clearness and simplicity but with with precision and transparency you need to hear god's voice on drop something in the chat i mean right now if there's something going on in your life that you for real for real no no games are you saying i got to hear god's voice on this one before i press on before i press on a little bit let me alert you to this fundamental principle let me alert you to something that you may not have realized let me alert you to something i feel god gonna do something today let me let me remind you of something that that that you may not have known and that's this right here god actually loves talking all right i'm sorry i'm sorry let me let me make it a little bit more personal so you can really understand like for real for real what i'm saying let me let me get a little closer let me come in your kitchen right now god actually really loves talking to you because of his great love because of his great and master's love for you god has so much to say to you he really does god has a whole lot to say to you that to be honest a simple five minute a day conversation won't suffice for the amount of information he desires to talk to you about david said it best he really did david said it best in psalm 139 i hope you still with me when he said how precious are your thoughts towards me oh god and how vast is the sum of them and then he presses this thought a little closer in verse 18 of the same chapter when he says if i should count god's thoughts about me i feel the holy ghost if if i should count literally count god's thoughts about me they would outnumber the sands of the sea and i challenge you right now go to any beach in the world i challenge you go to any beach in the world and pick up a handful of sand and then watch open your hand and watch the grains of sand leave your hands and fall to the ground and then think about the eye of exactness and precision that you would need to count just the grains of sand alone that were in your hand that left your hand and reflect on the endless possibilities and thoughts that consume the mind of god about you alone think about all the beaches in the world and think about for as many grains of sand that are on every single beach in the world that's how many thoughts god has towards you god he loves you so much that he always he always has something to say to you ever since the first recorded words of god let there be light god has really been talking and when looking at the history of god there are only really two times when i look at the history of god the only two times that he's really been silent the first is during the inter-testamental period that's the time uh between malachi and matthew when there was no word at all from god and then the second time is prior to the second coming of jesus christ where the bible says that there will be silence in heaven for about the space of 30 minutes but other than those two times god is always full of words especially concerning you and i really want to press your mind i really do i promise i'm a jump in revelation i got to set this thing up i i really want to press and push uh towards your minds a level of excitement that you've previously not experienced and let you know that in spite of what you may think or feel that god not only wants to speak to you but because of his great love for you he stops at nothing god stops at nothing to make certain that the line of communication is always open and so when adam and eve were expelled from the garden of eden and the dynamics of the relationship changed when they could no longer enjoy face-to-face communication anymore god was not out of options for how he wanted to communicate i hope you are getting this word today when he kicked them out when they were expelled from the god of eden god would not be outdone he he would not be out of options for communication in fact god was basically expelling them by saying this we can no longer enjoy face-to-face communication like we used to without me clothing myself in my glory in some way because if you look at me now you'll die and here is the grace of god here is the grace of god here is the power of god god says i still desire to talk to you i still want to talk to you so let me do this let me place you outside the garden because if you stay in the garden you'll eat from the tree of life and live and sin forever so let if you stay in the garden it's hopeless if you stay in the garden then talking will really be pointless so let me do this let me send you out of eden so that we can still have a productive relationship that's called prayer and even though we can't talk like we used to we can still talk to each other god was so intent he was so intent to keep the lines of communication open that he would not allow what we did to keep him from talking to us he he would not be defined or confined to the possibility but there would be an absence of his voice in our lives because of god's great love for us he he couldn't imagine not seeing us and also not being able to talk to us because though not always appreciated or understood god knows how much we need to hear his voice don't you ever forget that god loves to speak he showed up in the old testament and spoke in his personal audible voice he he spoke through clouds and through fire he spoke through old testament prophets i hope you're still with me and through visions god is so desperate to talk to you and for you to hear what he got to say that he'll even use things that are strange or weird that you and i probably wouldn't use to communicate but god has one thing in mind and that is his great love being manifested through his conversation so that god will and sometimes he'll even just because he wants to talk to you he'll even use a donkey to let you know that he'll use whatever and whoever and whenever to get his word out i'm filled with so many options god says that i'll never run out of options to speak to you he shows up in the new testament speaking through his son and then speaking through the power of his spirit and now we have the grand privilege of reading his thoughts and his will in his word and i know i've got company from at least somebody i know i've got company from at least one person who needs the lord to speak to them right now i know i'm not the only one in these crazy and callous times i know i'm not by myself in these unusual and unempathetic times i promise i'm not the only one in these confusing and conflicting times who desperately needs to hear god's voice right now matter of fact just drop in the chat if you if you aren't too proud to beg if you don't mind throw something in the chat i need to hear god's voice on my family i need to hear god's voice on my job i need to hear god's voice for direction and clarity i need to hear god's voice on my finances i need to hear god's voice because if there's one thing in mind god loves speaking to you and if you've forgotten and need a general reminder of the times in which we live in right now we're now almost uh really it's been a year in living what appears to be a blockbuster movie slated to gross millions of dollars and yet we have to consistently pinch ourselves and check our pulse to notice that this is no fairy tale or paramount film but this is in fact real life live and in color where politicians are confused and legislators have no answers the prophets are impotent and without a word kings and rulers have thrown up their hands in despair businessmen are struggling to project where fiscal opportunities will be moving forward and i don't know how you feel about it but in these times my heart breaks by what i'm looking at and with fear and worry we stand now in the moment in earth's history and live in what dr luke shares in his gospel when he records that people will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth for the powers of heaven will be shaken but i found an answer in the word of god i said i found an answer in the word of god because when man has nothing to say god has everything to say and what an amazing god we serve what an amazing god we serve who watch this in these uncertain times god has a certain word he he in these crazy times he he has a certain word we started dr medley did wednesday night with this new series titled the notebook discussing the greatest level who's ever existed and it should be noted again that we're looking at this book we often read the words of scripture and we miss the word of scripture in other words we can so often get caught up in the words of revelation that we miss out on the word of revelation and here is the word of revelation revelation please don't miss this write this down in your notebook at home write this down revelation is a book revealing the love the glory and the grace of jesus christ though heavily symbolic and filled with prophecies though frequently misunderstood and often used and taught as a scare tactic to get people in heaven this notebook from god is actually a love letter to the world expressing and exposing the great love of jesus christ and who better i'm almost done who better to give this letter than someone who has such a special and intimate relationship with jesus christ who better to translate this great love to the world than one who was given the special task of taking care of christ's mother at the closing moments of life on the cross god selects john to author this love letter and trust that based on his relationship with jesus that he will do this letter justice this john however is a little bit older than the young disciple traveling from city to city at a moment's notice with jesus this john is in fact now sent to a small rocky island in the aegean sea called patmos much like the freedom fighter nelson mandela who would come centuries later john is now living at this labor camp under roman emperor the missions orders where he's forced to work in the rock quarry and while john is there on the island confined and isolated where it appears he will live out the rest of his days on this rocky lonely island god was up to something church folk don't know when to say nothing i said while john is on this lonely island god was up to something while john is there god was about to give him a word that would change his life you miss what i just said while he's there lonely and confused and upset and frustrated god was about to give him a word to change his whole life and let me pause real quick if i promise to keep driving and let somebody know that in the most difficult and daunting and destruction and demonic and demoralizing and damaging i'ma get to yours in one minute and demanding and terrible times in your life the lord has a word for you you just miss what i just said i said in the most difficult times in your life all it takes is a word you need one word from god that will change your whole life one word from god will change your entire existence one word from god will set a captive free one word from god will change your entire life and so and so possibly possibly one day i hope you're still with me possibly one day as he's hammering out rock or maybe one day while john is returning to his one bed cell god speaks to him and john describes god speaking to him with such clarity as that of a trumpet john teaches us that there has been a perspective of jesus that until this time has been hidden i'm trying to rush through this thing but y'all stay with me no doubt john has detailed the master's love of jesus on the cross through his gospel john has talked about the work of christ in us through his three epistles but there was something that god had been holding something that he was waiting to share about jesus that will cause the world to further know and be prepared to meet jesus the revelation of jesus christ denotes god desire god's desire to reveal something that was hidden or secret and what is god about to reveal in this book some things that must take place this echoes the words in matthew 26 that jesus shared with his disciples there on the mount of olives and jesus describes what what what god is about to reveal about jesus is going to happen with certainty it should be said that god can really speak in a variety of ways but when revealing this revelation of jesus to john he sends it by way of an angel john says that god signified it it's the greek word meaning to signify to show by sign or signal to explain to make known uh or or to symbolize specifically it means to convey or to make known by some sort of sign what god is about to reveal about jesus will be communicated to john through figurative or a symbolic presentation please don't miss me what god is about to reveal to john about jesus is going to be done in a figurative or symbolic presentation now i got to pause real quick to highlight the genius of god this revelation was written in the first century and its initial recipients were first century believers in asia minor watch me now in the first century there was no facebook there was no instagram there was no social media or computers and yet because of the genius of god and god knowing the significance and importance of this revelation he uses a snapchat method of showing john a revelation of jesus he he uses god does in the first century a 21st century phenomenon in the first century to reveal to john a message about the love of jesus now i i i'm about done because i know we got to get to the lobby um um i know y'all tired of this i know y'all y'all ready to get to to your lunch i know i know the stuff is is about to uh overcook in the oven but but i got to give you these five things uh sheldon i'm about to put them up i got to give you these five things i got some more to say but let me let me just anchor on these i want to give you five things of of what happens when god speaks to us because i i just sense in in my spirit that there are so many of us that for real for real i i wish you would put it in the chat i i wish you would get with me like like like you need to hear god today right now this moment you it's some stuff going on in your life that you need to hear god on and what a wonderful opportunity of looking at the life of john that that john did not know what god was up to john did not know what was coming to him he he was minding his own business on a lonely island and out of nowhere god gives him a snapchat message that changes his whole life so so let me let me just share five things about when god speaks to us and and then i'm gonna let you go um first of all first of all please realize that hearing from is a blessed experience every time every time you have the opportunity to hear from god it's a powerful it's it's a blessed experience every time you have an opportunity to hear from god something special is going to happen every time god opens his mouth in fact there's somebody listening to me right now that's saying to god god clear your throat open your mouth stretch stretch your voice wide to my ear help me to hear you because where i'm at right now in life see see there's somebody i feel the holy ghost there's somebody listening to me right now you're too old to keep guessing at life y'all y'all don't hear what i just said you you're too old to keep guessing on who you're gonna date you you too old to guess on your finances you need to hear a clear word from the lord and every time god speaks it's a powerful experience here's number two i know y'all are tired of this so let me let me jay walk through this here's number two um and some of y'all ain't gonna like this but hearing from god includes reading his word okay okay um every time you read his word you are guaranteed to hear from him i i'm so glad i'm so glad um denzel washington may never send me a text message barack obama president barack obama may never shoot me a personal email beyonce knows may never call my cell phone y'all don't hear me here today she she may never call my my phone um but i'm so glad that ev that every morning i wake up and get in this word the great god of heaven can speak to me i i just said something so powerful i just gave you a word that was literally gonna change your life you're you're you're looking for something grand you're you're looking for the for the for the thunder to roll and for the rain to fall and that ain't always how god speaks what i'm trying to tell you practically is every time you read his word you are guaranteed to hear from him here's number three his number he um um because his here's the next problem hearing from god includes listening without distraction or interruption um you ever tried to have two conversations two conversations with two people at one time my kids be doing that y'all god bless you i love you alex i love you but sometimes daddy can i get this and she on the other ear daddy and so you're trying to hear both of their conversations with clarity and your mind cannot focus and that's how we are with god we're often trying trying to hear the world and trying to hear facebook i mean we're trying to hear god and facebook at the same time god and instagram at the same time god and our boo at the same time god and pookie y'all hear what i'm saying i'm saying in order to hear from god you got to listen without split and stop getting upset when we're not hearing from him when there's no clarity in what we're trying to receive all right number four number four they telling me it's time to go all right sheldon all right give me two minutes i'm sorry sheldon i'm coming i'm trying to jaywalk through this as best as i can because somebody got these grillers in the oven and they bought the burner y'all forgive me here's number four hearing from god includes responding appropriately yeah if god says do this and you do that he can't trust you to do this okay let me let me let me make it real clear the word says um if you're faithful in the few he'll he'll make you ruler over much okay and my problem is i want to be ruler over the much without being faithful in a few all right here's the last one and i love this hearing from god is a reminder of his presence hearing from god is a reminder that he's always with you and here's here's what i want to leave here's what i where i live at as you skim down to the last few verses of this introduction in revelation the prologue when when john is introducing jesus he says and to god who has who has don't miss this he said who has released us from our sins by his blood okay before you rush to the beasts and the three angels message and the trumpets and all that before you rush to that catch this revelation he who has released us from sin by his blood if you don't catch that you will miss the rest of the notebook if you don't catch that you don't have to walk around life anymore with a debt on your back that by his death and then he says then he says not only does he release you but then he made you a king with him omg smh you did nothing to receive it and he gave you everything if you don't catch that if you don't catch the fact that god's great love for you gave you everything when you had nothing you'll miss the rest of the notebook and i want to pray that as we enter into this series on the notebook that we would stop looking at this notebook as as a scare tactic as as as as a method to to scare people into the kingdom but it will be a revelation to us about the great love of jesus christ father we come in the name of jesus released from the debt of sin by his blood and thankful for his great love for us may this be our prayer in jesus name amen god bless you my my my pastor dr noah washington that was such a powerful powerful summer we're going to get into it in two seconds but if you are watching this right now we want you to join the lobby now okay we ain't got time this is too good we need you to come on in here when it's hot all right so go ahead find that meeting id click on that link make sure you get on in the lobby right now because we are about to throw down pastor washington has given us much much food to eat pastors dr crairy let's just go around as as the prophet has some time to to come off of the mountain maybe return from the island i guess this is you know based on rev we're in revelation so as as as he comes back from the island of patmos come on come on back guys let us just reflect for a moment together uh what really stood out to you dwayne i hear you so i'll start with you what stood out to you you don't want to start with me don't don't don't you start with me all right uh let me tell you a preacher preacher um i'm not gonna blow your head up can i just speak to the god that spoke through you first of all i just thank god for you yeah i i thank god for you being available to him let me give you let me give so many things i i love about this message but one point you made i got many but one you made that spoke to me point number two hearing from god includes reading his word yeah i'll tell you why that thing spoke to me when you said it the lord said to me son you know how when i when a baby comes into existence the way the baby learns the mama and daddy's speech is the baby watches their lips and what god is saying is every time you get into the word you watch my lips wow and the more you watch my lips the more you learn my voice so hearing hearing from god includes doing what god said and when you do what god says his voice gets stronger okay wow wow dr prairie come on in this what really stood out to you in pastor washington's word this morning well i'm i'm stuck at god really loves to talk to you yes and you know because because you know it seems like it's so hard to hear his word but then then he piled on that and said well the only way god could communicate with adam and eve was with an act of mercy yeah to move them out of the garden yeah that's the only way he could continue to communicate with them yeah are we blocking beautiful god's communication with us does he need to move us someplace else come on please so that he can reach us wow i mean wow yes sir yes that is that is good doc craig that's good dr brown come on in here what are you yes yes i'm blessed i'm really blessed thank you pastor noah i was blessed to with the revelation that there was john on the island of patmos and you know he was minding his business didn't know as noah said didn't know what god was up to but god entrusted john with the message of the revelation uh of his love i i i remember when john's mother you know was talking to jesus and said you know i'd like him to to stand on the sit on the right and the left the sons of zebedee and and you know things didn't really look that good for for for john at that time but later on you know even at the end jesus said well some of you are saying well what will happen to john and don't don't worry you just leave that to me god knew jesus knew he had a plan for john yes you're going to reveal to him yes that final revelation of of god's love sometimes we don't know what god is up to but if we'll stay and hang in there with god he will reveal himself to us wow love that point i've got my notebook i've been taking notes since wednesday and this morning and one of the things that you said today pastor pastor washington that really stood out to me was when you you said when man has nothing to say god has everything to say and i that really stood out to me because i feel like revelation is that book that we often oftentimes go to to understand you know all the beasts and all this information and stuff but what you are showing is that no there is turmoil and there is pain and there is trouble in the world and when man is asking the question where is god when man is trying to figure out you know what does god have to say about any of this stuff god does have something to say about it and he wrote it in a love letter in revelation now i want to start asking i want us to start our discussion and the first question i want to ask to you dr washington is could you expound for us a little bit more on what you call the snapchat method that was real good doc i want you to flush that one out for the saints a little bit more so um i i'll say this for um for 50 and over maybe 40 and over snapchat is a social media um app that people can send videos or pictures um you can put stuff with it to make it real colorful and show it when when when the text says that he signified it the greek word there means that it's going to be shown in a symbolic or a visual way that's right so the message that god was sending to john was legit a snapchat it was it was a it was a picture it was a it was a video john john saw things moving john saw colors and images and and this was in the first century yeah and it's almost like we're god the genius of god is that he knew the message needed to span a certain period because um uh i don't know if i can say this i don't know if we're mature enough to handle this but can i say this yeah okay the bible was not written to you but it was written for you have mercy okay so so so the initial audience of revelation were those seven churches that we're going to get into on wednesday um that was the initial audience and so john used things that were extremely familiar to them so that when they received the letter they didn't have to do what we do and analyze through interpretation what was going on they immediately know oh my goodness he said that that must mean this yeah written to them but it's written for us because since the message came from god he used something that would span um so many different centuries so that we could still understand and digest it wow that that's the genius that's the genius of god wow so so what i've been seeing oh go ahead dwayne no i was just gonna say it's on time release yes so what i've been seeing in the comments while you were preaching pastor washington is many are pulled toward that opening statement of uh i need to hear a word from god everybody across all ages everybody is just feeling like yes me i need to hear a word from god and so i really want all of you to participate now at this point go into the chat and i want us to discuss a little bit you've given us five very clear ways that we can hear from the lord why is it so difficult for us to hear from god like if we can hear from god in prayer we can hear from god in in in bible study and if we know we've got to uh eliminate the distractions why is it so hard to hear from god let me know all i want i want you guys writing me in the chat but i also want to hear from the pastors why is it so hard to hear from god let me join my go ahead well i wouldn't say i was impressed by what pastor noah said when he he he said you know we want to hear a clear word from god which suggests that we are putting the onus on god to make himself clear to us but then uh pastor noah said that we need to spend time in the word of god which puts the onus then on us to have that clear word from god and so god is willing he's ready to make himself clear to us but are we willing to as he said put aside the distractions to make the time to come to god i like this song i think it's uh i think it's um uh that singer who says that i miss my time with you are you going to sing it no i i was tempted like barack i was tempted but no um he said i miss my time with you and so god wants to meet us uh early morning and spend time with him and make himself known to us can i mess with the narrative a little bit yo uh i heard my pastor say just what you said jeff but i also heard my pastor say today hearing from god includes responding appropriately i i thought that was number four now can i just be very clear because i heard my pastor it's not me now blame noah i heard my pastor say today that your iniquities have separated you from your god now can we can we just be honest sin is part of the problem wow sin yeah sin is part of the problem if i've got sin in my life nothing can quench god's voice like not responding to what you know to be right mercy that's just a fact so don't think you i'm talking to dwayne esman i'm not talking to nobody else because i got stuff i cherish i cherish god can only come up to the door that i will not open straight up that's good that's good dwayne this is now now the chat is on fire oh go ahead i'll say something real quick this this verse right here changed my life and i'm i'll tell y'all something honest about myself if you promise not to tell nobody are we lying yes i guess that forgets that so i'll say it anyway john 5 ye search the scriptures because in them you think they have life yes these are they that testify of me the next verse says and yet you refuse to come to me it has been my experience in my time with god sometimes where i can read the word but still miss him because i have not come to him i've read the scriptures to say i've read the scriptures but i have not come to them and i have been rebuked in my own time with god after reading whatever i plan to read that day and and and conclude the time with god and hear god clearly say to me so we're not going to talk you're just going to read and and so i i want to i want to plug into what you said asman because i would also argue that that there are things that we have not heard from god on or about because we don't want his opinion about it okay come on come on now certain things i i don't want to ask god about that because i don't want to hear his opinion because once i hear his opinion on the thing then i have to wrestle with am i going to do it and respond appropriately or not yeah yeah that's the truth that now that if i don't ask him then we'll talk about anything else but that now that's good now that's exactly where i was going to go i'm glad i'm glad i went to you so we could do this because sister brown sister yvette douglas is a janet moore they are in these comments just dropping gems all right and what they're saying is what we have a tendency to do is to not actually listen we come to god and we do a lot of talking but we don't do any listening and so my question is what does it look like to listen to god love that question so i had to um i had to realize one day and i'm extremely passionate about god speaking to us because i don't think that it takes god i don't i'm not attempting to speak to god i'm just thinking i don't think that it takes god a whole lot of time to tell us what he's been thinking about us for are centuries understand what i'm saying like why would it take god years to tell me my purpose why would it take him years to tell me something that would be so powerful to my life that would presuppose that god wants me to stay stuck in life when the reality is it's real it's really a revelation on how much time i'm not spending with him wow man may i pick i had to ask myself if god speaks then how come i can't hear him no i wrote i actually wrote that question down as you as you were speaking if god wants to speak god love to speak god is speaking in multiple ways how come i can't hear him and let me let me just let me just drop one little nugget in here and then i'll and then i'll i want to give way to to pastor jeff and and and and tell the query um george george mueller the the famous prayer warrior had a practice in his prayer life that i found very helpful for me he said when i want to hear from god i try to make it so that i have no will of my own hmm so he said what i do is that this is this is pre-praying before praying right because prayer is not just what i say to god prayer is what god says to me so after i have said stuff to god i have not started to pray yet it's not it's not concluded yet so what mueller does is mullin says what i do is i try to offload everything that is in my heart onto god i need to clear it so that his will is the only thing i desire not my own and he said when i get to the position where where all i want is what god wants he said god's voice becomes very loud to me because he knows whatever this this does not mean i don't tell him what my desires are i don't tell him what i would like to see happen what it is is a yielding completely to whatever god wants so part of it i think why don't i hear from him i have to be willing to give up my will right that's what jesus did in in gethsemane not my will not easy to say something about those wills dwayne because and i hate to say this i grew up in a church culture that did not teach hearing from god i i just i just didn't you know i was never taught you're not alone but let me let me throw this in real quick um and i don't know if this if you all have ever heard this but the three wills of god first of the s is his sovereign will yes the sun rises and sets there's nothing you can do about that it's going to happen whether you like it or not the sun is going to rise the bible says um uh evening and morning the first day it says uh uh um summer and winter i mean the seasons they're gonna happen that's part of god's sovereign will but then you get to god's moral will which includes his ten commandments and those are things those are god's desires uh for everyone on the on the earth and i'm gonna say this this is gonna sound funny there are some things you actually don't have to ask god for if he has already revealed it in his word already revealed they don't need for me to go god i do not like my boss i'm thinking about going to get this this 45 and and canceling her well what word says don't do that god bless you you got to pray about that here's where we get tripped up the most on the third one his personal will what does god have for me personally to do and that's where i think we struggle the most this is uh go ahead dr quarry i was gonna say how do we unlock that how do we get and and you the five pla places you took us is where we have to get to to be able to know what his personal will is and that's what we all desire i mean that's what i desire yeah uh god has said things to me i mean he said things to me i've never told anybody some of the things he said to me and it happens at the most crazy time uh you know all of a sudden i hear his voice speaking to me about something and i'm like oh oh okay lord if that's what you have in mind if that's what you planned for me i'm with you i'll go with you so can i ask that question yes and i and i want to weigh in on that question how do we get there how do we get one time if if if there is a practice that you are not used to doing on a regular basis you have to practice it it takes time and don't get discouraged if you if you were spending time with god trying to hear him for three days and then the fourth day you didn't take that time you know don't get discouraged jump back in there it takes time to get in the habit but here here's the other thing here's the other thing um ask god this is good write this down in your notebooks ask god to speak to you in a way that is practical and personal now this is what god did to john i don't maybe it was based on their relationship god spoke to john in a way that john would understand you never read in revelation um maybe except for one place where john was like man i don't and maybe everything can't get it but what i'm saying is ask god to speak to you in a practical and a personal way those things thou pray that god shared with you that that you haven't shared it was in a way that he knew you would get it yeah and you will understand how many know that some of us they got kids man sometimes some of the best ways god speaks to us is through our kids absolutely let me give you another way god speaks let me give you another way and i can talk about this all day god also can't i have to toss it to some other people go ahead i'm gonna talk about this god speaks and he can he has through your enemies that's true i will speak to you to people through people that you that's right through and because you don't like the person because you don't like those people you'll just say surely god won't speak to people i don't like and don't have relationship with but when you look in the old testament god often spoke to israel through their enemies [Applause] jeff hey so say so no go ahead down and then i'll come in no no oh jeff okay get going you ain't gonna get in okay yeah i want to say that um and you know let me do a no washington you you may not like this but what what what i want to say is that when we are talking about god's personal will the truth of the matter is that in many instances when we're asking god what you know what should i do in many instances god doesn't mind which way you go in other words that there are there are many healthy choices that god has in front of us so for example you say well uh lord should i get married god doesn't mind yeah whether you get married or not first corinthians 7 if you marry you haven't sinned if you don't marry you haven't he doesn't mind okay lord i didn't like that okay uh sh should i marry this person well be not an equally yoked together believer with unbeliever oh okay he's a believer lord uh you know they're all believable who should i marry well you know he doesn't mind in other words there are a lot of times when god has given this only we do premarital counseling there's a whole lot of things we talk about age and education being being unequally yoked together and a whole list of stuff but god only has two things that he specifically talks about and outside of those two things we have a lot of choice he says do not marry somebody of another faith am i right about it that that's in the bible yes sir yes and he says do not marry someone of the same sex he says in jesus therefore shall a man leave his father and mother cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh now we within there there's a lot of choices but actually just those two are often the two that we fight against the most so with regard to god's personal will i believe our god has given us a lot of choices and he says in principle beloved i wish above all things that you prosper and be in health yeah go and make your choice duane i'm going to give this to you and i'm just going to drop this comment right in uh elder dwan starling wrote this in the youtube comments on this topic he says the will of the lord is not a secret we just need to ask him okay powerful go ahead uh i agree thank you for seeding the ground with that little bit of fertilizer right there dropping that seed down because god god is not trying to hide god is not trying to hide it is not a secret but can i can i first of all the comments that were made before mine are just off the charts um and i was going to say something very similar to what jeff just said and what pastor just said and that is that god god is god is okay with you stepping out and taking a risk on him come on duane what am i saying sometimes we want the whole way lined up lighted up when he said no i'll just give you lamp onto your feet light unto your path it's going to be up to you to take the face step and ellen white says there's a catch-all in romans 8 28 i make all things work together for good yeah even when you make a mistake i have a thousand ways of which you know not to get you back on course wow my issue with you is not just that you won't move my issue with you is not that you won't hear my voice is that you won't even move in what i have revealed so why should i give you more if you're not walking in what i already revealed i don't waste my word let me let me go on and make this this other point very true is what i want is it to glorify and honor god can i just be real come on sometimes i want the answer just for me but but check this out the bible says in isaiah that we were created for the glory of god yes so if i'm created for the glory of god am i have i positioned myself so that i could say lord whatever i'm asking for let me show you what your biblical principle is why you should honor it because this is going to glorify and honor you and i'm telling you if you live in intention like that with god where you line up yeah god says i will come out i will speak to you i will lead you in god you will have a tailor-made word just for you and even at the moment this is the last thing i'll say at the moments when you feel like you are not sure yeah of god's leading yeah even if you step out he'll correct your mistakes whoo dwayne while you were talking this came to my mind man in first corinthians 13 that's supposed to be the love chapter right in that chapter paul says but as for pro love never ends let me read it from the beginning love never ends but as for prophecies they will come to an end as for tongues they will cease as for knowledge it will come to an end for we know in part yes sir and we prophesy in part but when the perfect comes the partial will come to an end uh for now we see only a reflection as in a mirror but when face to face now i know in part but then i will know fully as i am fully known so that in other words you know this is the christian standard bible but you know some versions say you know we look through a glass dimly yes right and so it's like it is because of the love of god that we are able to follow and know and continue in the will of god even when we only have partial knowledge yeah yeah because it is the partial knowledge that god supplements so god continues us along on that journey and he's like at some point my love is going to make up for whatever parts you don't have and i feel like that's what the book that's what the book of revelation is about right the book of revelation is there are some parts that you might get and there are some parts that you just might not get but the love of god yeah yeah yeah you always get that for all of the parts and the dim spaces that you might not ever know yes sir you know let me just jump in this jump rope real quick i look now at the book of revelation it's it's all about god getting that face-to-face communication back with us like god legits he legit just loves talking to us and when you look at people in the old testament or people in scripture who had a powerful relationship with god when god spoke they knew it was god when god spoke they knew what he was saying and when god spoke they knew what to do in response to it there was no mystery and when when when you know doctor you asked the question how do we get to it relationship god speaks best with people that he has relationship with in fact when i look in scripture the only time god really by and large speaks to people he's not in relation with is when he's giving them judgment god speaks in relationship so i'm speaking to myself one of the habits that that that that is helpful for me to hear from god regularly is just regularly go to what he has already written so that i can familiarize myself with his voice yeah we oftentimes expect from god things he has not said and then don't expect from him things he has said i'll say this lastly to highlight this and then i'll then i'll hust because i see since the person coming on so yesterday i was coming home and as soon as i get in the house my daughter says to me daddy uh do you have a gift for me um who who told you that i was giving you a gift nobody so i started thinking why does she have expectation would think for something that i never told her that i would get her i'm reminded that i've come home and given her a gift before come on she's looking at my history and saying yes sir if he did it for me two weeks ago possibly one day when he walks in this house he may do it for me again yes and so what i did for her previously gives her expectations about what i can do in the present when god has spoken to you in his word that was written years and centuries ago when he's already told you things in this word you can stand on and be confident that if he told it to you before he told it to you to give you for what he'll do for you now stop looking for what he has not told you and begin looking for what he's told you so that you can get a a voice from god so that you can understand how he speaks amen and don't forget what he's done for you in the past don't forget what he's done and don't forget the sanctuary because exodus 25 will say let them make me a sanctuary don't get caught up in all of those little pieces why that i may dwell among them as knowledge that's all he wants to do is to talk to us face to face oh yes the only thing i've got is i want to encourage everybody as we transition now this today after our programming and tonight as the sun sets tomorrow morning as you wake up i want to challenge everybody to connect with god in the sanctuary prayer remember that dr medley talked to us about on wednesday why don't we practice tonight and tomorrow the sanctuary prayer and really begin to hear like pastor washington was just preaching to us about just now and this morning and and let's really try to connect and reconnect with god and remove the distractions and go from the outer court into the most holy place huh all right pastor esmen pray us out please absolutely father heavenly father we thank you god so much for the awesome blessing of being in your word this morning this word is so much better than we are it's so much higher than we are sometimes god we wonder whether we'll ever be able to hear you clearly and obey you completely but we have it on good authority father that if we just open our ears if we just attend our hearts if we just incline ourselves god worshiping creating space creating undistracted time that in that relationship god you will speak to us and you will reveal jesus christ as you did to john on pacmus so do that for us now god i pray and thank you again for your powerful servant who yielded himself yes lord yielded himself god to so powerfully preach your word this morning thank you for your messenger bless him bless his family and loved ones and bless our entire church family and now god as we transition to cyber school we ask that your spirit will continue to walk with us that we might hear you some more for this is the day the lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it amen amen amen amen welcome everyone to savage to honor women they wanted to honor women from a historical perspective and those currently that were working in society to improve their society so school district decided to take a week and they did this celebration for women well soon afterwards it caught on and they found other school districts doing it well if you don't know march 8 has always been international women's day so this first week of march always coincided with international women's day well in 1980 when jimmy carter was our president this movement took on momentum and he decided to create the first national women's day week well that went on very well and it it caught on and before you knew it the women's history project decided that a week was good but a week wasn't quite enough to honor all the accomplishments of women and so they petitioned congress to go ahead and make it a month-long celebration so since 1987 we have been celebrating women's history month now during this time we draw our attention to our american sheros we have them in all areas we have women like dr may jamison the first african-american female astronaut we have our famous hidden figures catherine johnson mary jackson and dorothy vaughn they exemplify this statement when you put a group of women together in a room magic happens and anything's possible in politics we're familiar with hillary clinton the first woman to gain the nomination for president from her political party and you know where you were on that famous day on january 20th 2021 when we all watched with pride and amazement even some with tears in our eyes as we watch the first woman first african american the first woman of color to actually be sworn in as the president vice president um i'm forecasting the vice president of the united states names like wilma rudolph simone biles olympic champions and of course the williams sisters they conjure up feelings of respect as we watch them defy the odds as they make history these iconic women have made incredible contributions to our society and have served as examples of power for women in their respective fields and that's great that's good we need them but what i'd like to talk a little bit about today are those unsung heroes those women who are not found in our history books those women who don't go by recognizable first names like michelle oprah beyonce hillary these unsung shiros are our teachers who invest in our children through educational instruction there are nurses who put their lives on the line to provide medical assistance often compromising their own health for the health of others there are single mothers who work hard to provide food shelter clothing for their children with a steadfast commitment to ensure that their children have just as many opportunities as the knicks there are custodians our store clerks our postal workers they're our caretakers and our caregivers and then then there's that 29 percent of all women who choose yes choose to stay home to teach and nurture their children all of these women are our unsung shiros during this month of women's history month i'd like to challenge every woman to intentionally seek out an unsung shiro and when you find her she might be your neighbor she might be your friend she might be your co-worker or even your relative but when you find her remind her she is important she is valued and she is appreciated to every woman happy women's history month everyone thank you that was very informative thank you so much um we appreciate that and i say the same happy women's history month all right let's begin our lesson study about doing the unthinkable good morning break low i bring you greetings from sunny and hopefully warmer today las vegas nevada we're going to do this lesson and and i hope that um we will gain some new insights into some of the scriptures that those of us who have been uh in churches who have been christians for years may uh gain some new insight to what we are actually reading in the book of isaiah and i'm depending on some of you for for that insight i want to thank uh the sponsors this morning dr percy um i saw earlier uh pastor esmen and pastor washington i don't know if they're still online or whether they snuck out to get a sandwich because i know that it's probably dinner time there so uh we're not going to prolong it we're going to get right into the lesson for today i have a roadmap that's up to give you some sense of what we're going to do um well let's go back to the road map um because not everyone comes to this discussion from the same vantage point i know that there are people who are joining us not only from the brinkflow communities but from around the country some who have perhaps been christians longer than others and so i always i'm looking for context that's my my goal in life to find out why are we doing what we're doing what does all this mean so hopefully this road map will give a sense of what our discussion will be for today um and it goes as follows for those of you who might want to uh sneak out and get a sandwich and come back you know where we are in the discussion that we're going to talk about the historical context for israel and i'm going to try to move this little thing here because it is in my way here we go i can see a little better um yeah let's go down move it some more great the historical context for israel the historical context of the prophet isaiah the context of the servant's songs and in particular the forest service song and that's what we're here that's what the lesson for this week is concentrated on the various identities of the servant violence and suffering uh we'll take a digression at number five where i'll talk a little bit about uh violence and suffering as it relates to domestic violence and women and men uh six what can this song mean for contemporary 21st century christians and i hope that we will really focus on this because that's what i believe um our study ought to be about how does this relate to us today and what is our responsibility and what are we supposed to do as opposed to a recitation about uh scriptures that were written over 2000 years ago and finally the notion of counter-intuitive living as an apprentice servant we'll get to that um and i hope that that also provides for a robust robust discussion so let's get started okay trying to get this to move all right how we're going to approach this pedagogically i'm going to begin with providing some historical context so that we're all singing off the same page in the hymnal when we really get to the robust uh parts of this next we will look to the text using the uh hermeneutical approach of what did the text mean what does it mean and what can it mean uh a dynamic approach just as a way of background this is the way that i often approach things that i'm studying i am my uh before i became academic deans i was a law professor and i taught statutory interpretation and i was always looking at text and this approach is very similar to what we do when we're trying to find original intent what does it mean so we're going to talk about that today next we will isolate one aspect for a deeper dive as i've already talked about into violence and suffering in this in the domestic violence context and we'll end the discussion with the last a hermeneutical question what can this text mean today for today's christians all right let's begin i don't know why this wants to keep jumping ahead let me just make sure i'm in the right place yes i am so let's begin with talking about isaiah the person um all quarter long even talking about his book and i assume you've been talking about his personage as well but his name first of all means yahweh is salvation he lived around the 8th century bc lived in judea which is southern israel but and he worked in jerusalem his prophetic contemporaries in the north in israel uh whose capital was samaria where amos and hosea isaiah is thought to be a little younger than his contemporaries there his call to prophecy coincided with the western expansion of the assyrian empire now you know this you're very familiar with this text i where he saw the lord when king uzziah died that's thought to be around 738 bc or bce he is considered the first of three classical judean prophets when i say judean that's southern is uh southern israel isaiah jeremiah and ezekiel and he served three prophets a three kings uh jotham a has hezekiah he was a prophet and a diplomat um involved actually in politics as well as a poet multitask multi-talented let's go to the next slide okay do it this way the type of prophets um that we see in our writings uh the prophets at the time usually spoke first then they wrote it down and their job was to articulate god's position in regards to the covenant the covenant of abraham and the lord three types of prophets we find in the scriptures guild prophets uh elisha uh was one of those samuel uh you we read about sons of prophets in the old testament they wore distinctive clothing they engaged in certain rituals of dancing and whirling um if you've ever seen the turkish islamic whirlings that might give you some sense of the type of ritual they had head markings and you may recall the story in the old testament where the children were killed by the she-bear for mocking elisha uh when they were talking about go up ball head well actually that may have been uh it was more to it than that if they may have been mocking the inscription on his bald head as opposed to just a bald head which was supposed to be a holy thing amos uh in in later times in israel may have been a guild member then you had official prophets uh these were professional prophets who worked in the courts or shrines and temples they helped formulate political and national policy for kings that was isaiah and then lastly there were independent prophets they belong to no royal or cultic authority and when i say cultic typically that meant temple authority and they were often in conflict with rulers jeremiah is was a type of that type of prophet now let's go to the place israel from 9 28 to 9 11 uh the united marina king falls apart the monarchy of david and solomon falls apart israel is divided into two territories israel and judea and on the map you see a kind of pinkish area uh that's where the 10 tribes of israel landed or stayed and then further south you see a kind of bluish area that's judea um or the the the tribes of judah benjamin and judah made up judea in the south and in fact the the name jew comes from and i'm sure you already know this but i'll repeat it anyway from it is derived from judah the area and territory of southern israel and one of the sons of jacob now as it relates to prophecies or prophetic writings the scholars say that these writings including the writings of of isaiah were compiled over 250 years the older prophets nathan elijah etc they usually um they railed against specific facts and incidents for example you know the story about nathan and david um called him out on his behavior the classical prophets or classical uh prophecies which isaiah would be a part of involved a whole different entire reconsideration of human relations in words in other words they were broader in scope in terms of what they had to talk about they made attacks on idolatry and it was a consistent theme but as we will discover idolatry meant more than just bowing down to wooden or stone images in fact in the next bullet point it this point is made by one of the scholars that i consulted in terms of idolatry not only removes the true god but it nourishes man's ambition to dominar over his fellow human therefore idolatry is the source of all social and moral evil in the world and isaiah repeatedly commented on this phenomenon prophetic themes redemption and there's another recurring theme israel's eschatology was based on a belief of supremacy and when i talk about israel's eschatology i'm talking about what the ancient israelites believed or taught uh regarding their role uh as a kingdom a superior kingdom and the entire they um believed that they were elected to rule the world um not much has changed there but not based on force but by living the will of god and they looked for a righteous king um that comes right out of isaiah now let's talk about the book and then we'll get into some discussion isaiah the book is one of the largest books of scripture over nearly 1300 verses it appeared in its final form around 520 bc and as you know that's during the time of the exile with along with psalms it is the most quoted book in the new testament and i've provided some examples there jesus quotes at least 11 times from this particular book and it's divided into um three sections the first 39 chapters are directly attributed to isaiah the person the historic person the prophet after chapter 39 there is no mention of isaiah the person chapters 40-55 which will be the um section that we're studying today is a product of the babylonian exile copies of the book the book of the entire book of isaiah are the most numerous among the dead sea scrolls and the book itself covers diverse contents and different eras most of isaiah's railings his denunciation were about social injustice he basically uh talked about the distinction between external piety and weekday injustices and i hope you'll hold that theme in your head and in your heart because we want to expand on that uh during our discussion rituals cannot mitigate injustice that's basically what isaiah railed about again again and again and then finally the last part of isaiah the last 27 books are concerned with the babylonian and persian empires the sections that we were assigned today well this is a little broader but isaiah 40 to 55 is generally referred to as second isaiah it has different vocabulary it is based in a different situation being the exile even the theology is somewhat different from the first 39 chapters um the enemy at this point in second isaiah is no longer assyria but babylon and the chapters 52 to 53 which is the the heart of what we discussed we'll discuss today is known as the servant's song chapters 56 to 66 is known as third isaiah so let's talk about this let's get you all into this uh the servants songs as you read in your cyber school quarterly for this week there are four of them and i i've listed them there uh we are focusing on the last one which is isaiah 52 13 to 53 12. many prophets uh if you think about it use poetry as a vehicle to express their message the servant in these servant songs of the literary had literary character now getting to the hermeneutical part of this the questions are how did the people who were the recipient of the text interpreted what did it mean to them then we're going to look at how is the text interpreted what does it mean and finally before we end we're going to talk about what the text can mean all right i hope you uh haven't taken too long of an introduction but i think that should bring everybody up to speed in terms of the context let me throw it out to you identifying the suffering servant what did these texts mean to ancient israel anyone okay for ancient israel the identity of isaiah's suffering servant included among the following and you can start with isaiah 49 1-3 uh israel ancient israel thought the suffering servant was ancient israel because of the suffering because of assyria and babylon then they thought it was cyrus uh the persian king some thought it was zerubbabel who was a governor a persian governor who um gave them access to their ancient land to allow them to rebuild uh the temple some thought it was hezekiah some thought it was jeremiah and some thought it was a king messiah which is um uh in our language in our time would be a king messiah and in fact if i can just divert for just a moment um the ancient israelites depending upon which sect you belong to and what you believed in which is a whole another lesson um they often thought that two messiahs they were looking for one would take on the davidic character uh in terms of king and the other would be one of divine infusion and there was a lot of controversy about what messiah and which messiah that's why you had so many messiahs one of the reasons turning up over the centuries now you see in yellow writing i have rabbinic judaism can someone tell me what the distinction between rabbinic judaism and ancient israel is as it relates to this lesson anyone okay rabbinic judaism is the judaism that is uh derived after the exile they're they're a class of rabbis to teach which is also another lesson to teach the people how to remember their their religion while they were in exile that's when that group of people uh became uh important and well known you remember prior to that it was the priests who carried out you know they only sacrificed in jerusalem of course you had this dispute between samaria and jerusalem which is another story but the rabbinic judaism um and i'm talking about a time after 538 bc they saw the servant as the jewish nation but not as a king messiah the dead sea scrolls were referred to a messianic human who would be exalted to heaven they looked for a figure that was the best of all worlds somebody who combined abraham and david and they thought this person was the ideal agent all right so that's what the text may have meant to any group of ancient uh hebrews now what does the text mean isaiah 50-55 jesus himself quotes the fourth servant song which we're going to talk about a little bit more in a moment to refer to himself in many passages in the new testament and i've listed them here uh jesus is the likely person uh as stated in acts and romans and first peter and most christians because i can't say all christians because i don't know about all christian belief but most christians ascribe to this particular interpretation that the serpent song that we'll talk about in a moment in 15-55 refers to jesus himself the other question identifying the servant suffering servant what does the text mean today well some may think it's donald trump and i'm not kidding you uh there are groups that consider him the modern cyrus and then point back to the suffering servant i don't know if any of you saw this gold statue of donald trump this week at cpac um but for those of you who are eschatology eschatology buffs uh who know about the head of gold and the feet of iron and all that uh you might want to throw this one in too to see what you can come up with uh it's unbelievable but in all seriousness some people identify donald trump as a suffering servant what the suffering servant texts can mean today is an ideal human being more of a model servant an apprentice living and being in the image of god um the christian church and its people as regions for god to the world okay so here's your question what are the qualities and facts about the suffering servant that you discovered this week you need to unmute yourself i see someone talking but you need to unmute yourself so the rest of us can hear you the qualities and facts about this suffering servant okay no takers you all are mighty quiet now i sat in on your sabbath school lesson a couple of weeks ago and you weren't this quiet i don't know whether everybody's going out to get a sandwich or not but if they have don't tell me i'll just conclude dr madame teacher yes um it described the abuse that jesus that the the servant i'm sorry say again the description is of the abuse the physical abuse that the servant would experience okay so abuse is one of the facts about what other facts do you have i defer to someone else thank you for your contribution any other facts well let's just skip to the chase here uh dr ammons yes i was going to say that it also describes the messiah as not fighting back like not retaliating or reacting negatively to uh what he endured okay non-violent non-violent okay any others before i put up my list all right here's my list and it's not exhaustive but also i'm sorry oh i mean i almost missed it he took on the form of a slave who was okay who was humble former the slave yeah uh in in the servant song that we studied for this week you find a devotion to the lord he knows how to speak to the real weary if you look at um isaiah 50 verse 4 uh for example let's see i am reading from the uh the old king james i just like the language it says the lord hath the lord god hath given me the tongue of the learn to learn it that i should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary he uh watereth he awakens morning by morning he awakens my ear to hear as the learner it's one example of the text so there's a devotion he knows how to speak to the weary the suffering servant is uh listens and he is not rebellious walks dead into the fight will be vindicated and has a teachable spirit this suffering servant is also described as a tender shoot a commoner not a potentate and this is so important because uh as i we said just earlier the ancient israel uh hebrews they were looking for a king david you know one of the mightiest kings that ever lived or a king solomon and you must remember all around them they had mighty kings depending upon their history um you know you had egypt uh the kingdom of egypt was was just to the west of them uh you had the other emerging kingdoms to the north and to the east of them and so they were used to seeing the power of these mighty potentates in addition to that the gods that um these other uh kingdoms served for just for example the god of amun in egypt almighty god according to the egyptians everywhere you go to today you see um descriptions of the great god amumu so they were surrounded by the imagery um and the influence of all of these foreign entities and their leaders their kings were considered powerful potentate but this text talks about someone basically who's the commoner and a potentate to be in essence the messiah another description is that this suffering service is going to prosper will be raised up he's going to complete his mission powerful kings won't know what to say about him uh someone mentioned this we'll choose to suffer for a purpose and i've i highlighted choose as opposed to something being imposed on that person which is the price of redemption um in your sabbath school lesson ellen white talks about that and the death will not be in vain it is a reparation death an expiation offering and as someone already mentioned he would not be violent now let's talk about violence particularly violence and suffering we've been we have been surrounded in the last year or two or more with more violence and suffering in this nation than anybody should ever have to witness or endure and violence and suffering as we know is it is a direct result of sin in fact if you think back to why god destroyed the earth in the flood when you read the genesis account in the text several times it says god destroyed the earth because of violence uh in the servant's case that we're studying a penalty has to be paid for all of this in order to redeem humanity violence then is counter intuitive to the original plan of god the major and the minor prophets railed against injustice and suffering and predicted that these wrongs would lead to the downfall of the nation of the the israel nation when we look at violence and suffering when it's humanly imposed it rarely if ever has salvific value let me just stop there and let this settle into your spirit and i'm take some comments about these statements i just made anyone so uh dr ammons yes number three counterintuitive to the original plan of god it's true that god created the earth and the animals and adam and eve without sin but when sin did arrive and pervade the earth god was not caught off guard from the foundation of the world there was a plan to redeem man so it's counter so it's interesting not interesting it's powerful that god is always prepared he's always prepared yeah even when the original plan is um on detour we're going to talk about counter intuitiveness i think that's a word for you lexicon uh out there um we're going to talk about that further a little later on thank you for your comment okay so let's talk about types of violence and suffering and this is where in the outline we're going to take a little um digression types of violence and suffering physical violence we know that jesus suffered that the psychological violence sexual violence soul violence racial oppression gender oppression economic oppression domestic violence and religious oppression and again this list is not exhaustive it's not the sum total but as we look on this list and we try to um name i the the type of violence that is all around us all the time um it just points to the fact how far we have moved from what god's original plan was for us any comment can you elaborate on soul violence so what soul violence is well you know i kind of made that up uh to be perfectly honest uh but what it means to me is there's a kind of violence where you can destroy a person you don't have to hit them you don't have to sexually violate them it is necessarily racial it is it is a violence of indignity and it could fall under psychological violence but it's for me it's something deeper than that where somebody never lays a fist doesn't keep them from earning but they constantly kill people uh on the installment plan because of indignities of one sort or the other where it just um it just eats at your soul that's my definition of soul violence any comments on that can you think of examples i kind of think of it as um where someone once is searching for truth and someone who doesn't agree with where they are headed tries to destroy their belief system okay no you're wrong even though they can look at the bible and see this but they still no that's not the way it's always been it's kind of like what the rabbis were doing they were replacing their concepts with god's truth and they were they they pulled the the poor and they demeaned them to a point and for kind of in psychologically forced them to do what they wanted them to do okay so so thank you for that example so soul violence could be a combination of any of the other ones on the list but i wanted to to um just highlight that one in a very different kind of way because of how it resonated with me and and you've seen people who are just bow bent uh brow bent uh because of the kind of indignities they've had to suffer and what people have done to them and they never laid a fist on um so that's the list type of violence i'm sure we could are there any of anything that's a lit that's not on this list perhaps should be dr ammons may i just ask if soul violence could be equated to an implosion of a building where the the destructive materials are placed inside and it implodes from the inside so all of the external attacks all the external pressures all the external violences are also coupled with the internal that take place and destroy one soul i think that's a wonderful analogy a wonderful analogy well how does this relate to um what we're talking about and this is the digression for women's history month and it's going to be a very short one because we're going to get back to the lesson um remember earlier uh idolatry was defined as something that not only removes the true god but nourishes man's ambition to domineer over his fellow human as a form of idolatry take a look at these statistics they've gotten actually better uh over the last 30 years but they're still horrible 20 people per minute are abused by an intimate partner somebody they know somebody they love somebody they trust in one and that's in the united states alone in one year that equals 10 million women and men one in four women and one in nine men experience severe intimate partner physical violence um these types of violence often include the presence of a gun which increases the risk of homicide by uh 500 percent and ah let's see i can't read the bottom of my own slide there oh only 34 of the injured 34 percent one-third only them receive uh the kinds of help that they need in terms of their injuries that's that's a sad statistic in terms of um it's an appalling appalling statistic in the year 2021. now yes i was going to say and we know that um that type of violence escalated with the covet 19 shut down lockdown um you know last week as a matter of fact we had friends from south africa lead our discussion and in south africa in particular i think within the first week of their shutdown it was thousands of women reported domestic violence and that's just those who reported it yes so um it's certainly something that is of great concern to many health care professionals at this time at this time with covet 19 and so many people at home that the issue of domestic violence is certainly one that is just escalating so i'm glad you're raising this point today yeah it is rampant someone was going to say something else uh it is rampant and it is and it is escalated by putting people together in the same space that don't need to be together um and unfortunately i'm hoping you know i'm not um privy to what's happening in pulpits around the country uh but unfortunately historically uh religion has been one factor that um undergirded uh the domestic violence i can just just say it plainly i was trying to find a nice way to say it i'll just say it uh for too long the idea that women were the property of their husbands uh that misinterpretation of scripture um the sometimes encouragement uh from clergy and i i don't mean and i say encouragement i meant that word in terms of of bringing their household in line uh too often historically that has led to death i wanted to say injury to death um and so this the how does it relate in terms of being a form of idolatry when you place someone in a position to domineer as opposed to what god's original plan was and we're all trying to get back to that that's a form of idolatry if you worship somebody so much and i'm not trying to be point the finger because all circumstances are different but the bible says in essence there are two great commandments two love the lord your god with all your heart soul and might and secondly love your neighbor as yourself you can't love your neighbor if you don't love yourself and if you don't love yourself or your neighbor you have violated the commandment if you violate the commandments that's a form of idolatry simple as that okay let's talk about uh as relates to our theme suffering uh domestic violence type of suffering has no redemptive value is not a part of god's mission the bible itself is replete with admonitions against violence ye shall not murder or thou shalt not kill and i think that my interpretation of that is it can be not murdering in terms of instantaneously or on the installment plan chipping away at people little by little uh you see the text here that i've mentioned i'm not going to read through them all and there are many more where violence is not a part of god's plan so the restorative justice let me just talk for a couple of minutes and then we'll get back to the main theme of the lesson uh about my own particular experience with this some years ago i served as executive assistant to uh governor richard celeste epsiles who was a governor of the state of ohio this was back in the late uh 1980s early 90s and he asked me one day among the many things that i was responsible for to look at how many women he said how many women do we have in prison who claim that they were battered and the battering escalated and led to homicides and i said to him i have no idea but it became my responsibility to look into that and provide a vehicle provide a way provide a conduit for women who had justifiable causes in terms of the commission of homicide as related to domestic violence to be provided with clemency the end of the story is that um it took about 18 months for me to put together a process that had never been done on this scale before ever and i don't think it's ever been done since uh it's there have been a few other jurisdictions florida california missouri i think in maryland have over the years released women but nothing on the scale that happened in ohio there were 28 women three were on death row uh and their stories were horrendous absolutely horrendous and it was so sad because many of them uh never saw a day in court never saw a day of court they just pleaded guilty and they got longer sentences than um ax murderers give you an example some of them got sentences 26 years to life for defending their lives nobody gets those kinds of sentences um i had um uh prosecuting attorneys calling me when they finally found out what was going on asking me to uh look at certain cases because they knew when they prosecuted these women that they that they should not have ever gone to jail um i've run into some of these women and that's been over 30 years ago i guess now uh and they are for the most part living productive lives my scholarship when i was in the academy dealt primarily with this issue and let me just say as uh i guess 15 years ago i can't remember exactly when i wrote the last article on this but at that time what happened was i did a 10 year review of the women who had been released from prison to see whether or not they were recidivists and they were not not one not one of the 28 returned to prison for for any kind of violent crime not one so um when you have a system i was asked to talk about this and i wanted to talk about this and while i was doing the work i was a young a young lawyer younger lawyer at the time and i was trying to figure out what to do creating um policy and law out of whole cloth because it did not exist uh consulting with not only doing my job but consulting with the um attorney general for the state of ohio as well as the legislature to change laws so that the kinds of injustices that have been done to these women would never occur again have they occurred again probably so because our laws have not you just saw the statistics a few minutes ago our laws have changed it is better but let me tell you something in terms of shelters and that kind of thing many jurisdictions at least they used to i don't know what the case is now what they would use to fund these shelters they would give the some of the tax money off of marriage licenses and you know you don't pay much to get married you pay a whole lot to get unmarried but you don't pay much to get married um and so this is just one area in which the the prophet isaiah resounded in my head over and over again about releasing the oppressed of doing what's right restoring people which i considered it not only my my job but my duty uh as a christian to see how to right the wrong so dr percy i hope that that is in a nutshell uh sufficient in terms of restorative justice we were talking about what's the link again we were talking about suffering uh and the distinction between suffering as a redemptive value and suffering with no redemptive or salve salvific um uh value doctor all right any comment before we yes there's a question or comment yes yeah i just wanted to know what can you speak up a little bit i can't hear you you know can you just share what what do you have any sense of why the the these mattered women were getting such horrific sentences can someone repeat what she said i could not hear anything sterling if you could talk a little louder we i just heard part of what you said i was wondering how why these women were getting such terrible horrific sentences why is the question why were they getting such terrible sentences yes yes um because a couple of reasons one they had defended themselves and killed their spouse or lover so they figure okay i'm guilty he's dead not understanding that in 1066 a d the anglo-saxons brought to the british system into our system the notion of self-defense so they didn't understand their rights in terms of self-defense they they also had bad lawyering um in terms of people representing them and um these were the kinds of cases particularly if it was sensational these were the kinds of cases where prosecutors would put a notch on their belt um and would run you know many prosecutors were elected they would run on this kind of stuff so for a variety of reasons and once you know the court ruling to a guilty plea uh unless you have a unless you have a very uh thoughtful judge um the judge is not going to um overturn what the what the plea is so for a variety of reasons they they receive these i mean long long sentences this is a just a quick comment um i there was a friend of mine she subsequently passed she was a seventh-day adventist her parents were sending the adventists she married someone who was not a seventh-day adventist and somehow we never got into the details but somehow i felt in conversation that she was wearing the guilt you know of the fact that she made that choice so eventually she began to yes she began to have health issues after a number of years and i could tell you know from some conversations that she was bearing this guilt of something that she did that was not supposed to be done in the culture in the organization and and when her daughter did the same thing marry somebody outside of the fact then she really got physically ill and passed so we look at you know that the suffering for her i think was more you know it's almost like she accepted her suffering as a part of the guilt of what i did that i shouldn't have done so you spend your entire life wearing yourself physically thin just because it's your way of saying i have to suffer so that maybe i can get to heaven i don't know the dynamics could you elaborate just a little before you move on yes i'm going to talk about that remind me of that phenomenon when we get we're going gonna get to a slide it'll pop up by you but the shorthand is a right is righteousness by words but at any rate um these women do feel guilty and let me just say um it's a phenomenon that happens not only in terms of mixed marriages as it relates to what your religious preference might be i in one of my first writings i don't remember which one it is i tell the story where an adventist minister out there where you are uh in fact i think he was a classmate of mine but not mistaken would take his wife out to the woods to beat her and um one day uh she ran away and she ran to a friend's house and the friend sheltered her and he came for her and the friend told him you would do well to get off my property and she wouldn't turn the woman over to her but uh to him so guilt uh for and that's something that you know abusers will use they'll use anything they can't because it's basically a power dynamic that's what it is about it's about power um it the violence is derivative of this this need for power to dominate to domineer um over uh over another person and so um guilt um most if not all these women i didn't talk about the fact that before we did this premises i had um some social workers and psychologists do a um study of the entire population of the women's prison who were in this category to see if i could pull out certain themes um uh before we ever before i ever looked at the first file and excuse me and guilt is a recurring theme but abusers people who want to dominate they want to make you feel guilty for existing for not following um of them so that's not unusual at all it's sad it's pathetic it is evil um but it is a reality nevertheless any other questions on this before we move on dr ammons yeah just coincidentally i i read this morning second corinthians 7 10 for godly sorrow godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation not to be regretted but the sorrow of the world produces death and i think dr shakes was referring to a situation that fits that uh that uh scripture just perfectly these uh perpetrators those whom you've described as abusers uh and i wanted to say this um back when you were looking at the characteristics um they strip away the human quality convincing one that you are not human you are less than unworthy that uh that sorrow of the world and it can only lead to death and and destruction and of course i thought of slavery even in a mental relationship the the underlying principles are the same yes there's the physical there's the psychological but it's what you termed that soul violence that really takes the person out completely thank you so much and and and another text just came to mind uh where jesus says the devil has come to steal kill and destroy um and he doesn't care how he does it that and he's on his job uh so anyone who wants to model the suffering servant uh will be will do the opposite of of what the devil has designed uh for for god's children any other comments before we move on then let's move on so we have thus far talked about uh the context for the suffering servant we've looked at the book of isaiah we looked at isaiah the prophet we looked at what is ancient israel thought of these texts meant we looked at what rabbinic israel thought these texts meant we looked at what uh what the text means in terms of of jesus as the messiah the real question today because i think most of the people in the room on this line understand that the suffering servant as talked about in isaiah 52 54 we've all accepted that as jesus as the messiah so the next question is now what so among the things that our text can mean today um is because we often refer uh to ourselves as modern israel the children of abraham the children of god if we are to act in god's image what should be our lifestyles and behavior because the sum total of it that that's what this is all about now let's review the qualities of the suffering or model ideal servant or the apprentice of god i like that term it's blameless wants god to exalt him or her has a mission to relieve suffering that's why jesus came he was on a mission that's why he suffered he was on a mission he wasn't just here you know to lollygag around and make people feel important and make separate people the suffering servant does the unthinkable that's the title of our lesson by living a counterintuitive life there's that word again we're going to come to it again in just a second qualities change agent if jesus wasn't a change agent no change agents exist so what is counter to intuitive living all right that's the question on the floor what is counterintuitive living let's break this down what does counterintuitive mean you all don't have to all raise your hands at once all right say again different from that which is expected different from that which is expected that's perfect that's a perfect definition i have a comment i have a comment say again i have a comment yes please i'll this is not about who i think i am i'm sharing just because we are in the moment i've always worked with corporate america and everybody knows that you have a fight you're african-american you have to i caught eight years of maybe 10 12 years ago i carved my role out in such a way that you know i mean i'm autonomous um independent you know and i just do do what i do um without questions so now a new pharaoh came on board and you know started questioning uh my role and this just two weeks ago and i decided in my heart just to pray i was not going to have a conversation with this woman about who i am what i know what i have known and what i plan to know i decided to just you know when i was younger i would have done that now that i'm older i just decide that god can take care of it two days ago we were having one of those um quarterly meetings with the entire mid-atlantic team and i was just fiddling on my phone that came off the webex i didn't even put my camera on because you know i was bored halfway through the meeting this lady said she looked at the screen she called my name and she said this is one person i know in the market who is excellent at what she does and she some words of praise that i don't have to and i thought for a second god only god we don't have to fight our own battles he will do the fighting for us it was such a sweet moment i sat in my office and i smiled my way through the rest of the meeting just to know that hey it's real that's right our own fighting that's right wonderful thank you for sharing that with us and hopefully that's some encouragement for somebody else who is listening uh today and you're absolutely right um i can't begin i'm retired now yeah yeah yeah um and but i can't begin to tell you how many times the lord has held the sun up for 25 hours as opposed to 24 and fought the battles for for us so thank you for sharing that for me thank you for sharing that uh with us now let's get back to the text what is counterintuitive uh the person who gave us the definition would you say it again please different come back different from that which is expected that which is different from that which is expected yeah and here are some um elements as it relates to christians about counterintuitive living uh transcendence now the example that mrs is it shakes is that your last name just gave us um she although worried about this person she said i'm gonna transcend above this i ain't worried about this god's got this i'm not gonna be nasty mean or crazy although there may be appropriate times for that but nevertheless um she said that's not what i'm gonna do so she transcended uh what was going on around us counterintuitive thinking because for many of us it might have been well she can't tell me what to do and this is what i'm going to do and and it just descends into hell death in the grave um but transcendence transcend transcendence is one rejecting idolatry in all of its forms because modern people you know unless a modern christian people there are modern people who are christian who do pray to idols and and and in terms of its original meaning but for for many westerners um we reject idolatry as something uh that we wouldn't do in terms of bowing to idols um um getting back to eating and i'm not talking about diets here diets are a sensitive issue with me but getting back to eating uh is counter-intuitive living what does that mean dr ammons yes may i respond in context to dr noah washington's sermon this morning all right where he began by telling us that adam and eve had a face-to-face relationship with god and that they knew god and god was anxious to talk to them after sin entered the world there became a divide and so getting back to eden would be in part getting back to that kind of conversation that's continuous with our heavenly father that adam and eve had before sin entered the world okay so that's one way of doing it uh in terms of communication with god but what about for the rest of us that are walking around down here on earth what does getting back to eating mean to you intimacy with god okay what else may i rise at the pumpkin patch one more time please and back to eden god set adam and eve to take care of the garden nature animals so the second book of god is nature so getting back to eden is getting playing in the dirt again as one example yeah i like to play my uh gardening is my way of playing in dirt and water without being yelled at by your parents um it's something that you know we all uh uh enjoy doing but let's let's broaden this when you think about getting back to eaton and the principles of eden where there was peace in terms of coexistence where people supported each other um do any of those kinds of notions um come to mind when we talk about getting back those of you who are gospel music fans uh donna lawrence has a song uh get back uh getting back to eating and and uh right sizing the world uh turning the world upside down so it could be anything from more intimacy with god to understanding what god's original plan was uh for fellow human beings because remember jesus multiple times when he was on earth he kept saying the kingdom of god is with you now we don't have time to unpack that that's another lesson but that's just an idea now uh thank you for your contributions good good good suggestions seeking and distributing justice um i don't think i need to say much of anything about that considering the last six months we've lived through uh in terms of counter intuitive living um and distributing justice grace and mercy on the earth while we are here let me take a few comments about that what does that mean for christian any takers we we certainly know that as we have received grace and mercy from god that we are to extend grace and mercy to others um it is living that edenic uh principle of love and peace and yet yet i have to connect even getting back to eden and grace and mercy back to rejecting idolatry we must recognize that god is the ultimate the only true authority and so this in between the rabbinic or if we want to talk even about adventist tradition or christian traditions that have been interjected between then and now it means rejecting those as idolatry and literally going back to the principles of living that god established with equality and so forth thank you so much um yes if i could um interject i was struck by i think it was the last chapter or the next to the last chapter in the book cast by isabel wilkerson where she talks about needing a plumber to come to her home and that she lives in georgia and a white plumber came and he wasn't even clear that she was the homeowner and had a very expected perhaps predictable attitude toward her was not engaged at all in helping to resolve the problem until she decided to engage him in conversation with regard to his needs and as a result a conversation ensued that suddenly changed the entire dynamic and he became more than helpful to the extent that after he had resolved the problem and left the home came back believing that he had perhaps forgotten to do something and just let himself in to take care of it now seeing himself as not just the plumber but someone that he was in relationship with and i thought that that extension of grace and mercy was really telling for me because i didn't read the book cast as a book to inform me of my christian obligation when confronted with the racism that is so um alive and well in these days and times um as it has always been but when i read that i was convicted that at the end of the day nobody's born racist at the end of the day all of us have a journey a story and are a story and when in fact we take the time to engage people about their story there just might be a moment of transformation in the relationship um and and i i would just say that the um the grace and mercy that god extends to us is often something that we don't even think to extend to someone that we see as our enemies thank you any other any other comments on this to draw to go back to one of the earlier slides uh and one of them i i talked about the fact that uh isaiah and the other prophets repeatedly railed against injustice and in fact said israel you're going into captivity because you're farmers you're taking away the land from people who can't afford to uh be anywhere else you're charging prices that are are exorbitant you don't care for the widows etc etc etc and um isaiah's point again and the other prophets as well was that even though you have your rituals you sacrifice your sheep you keep sabbath you do whatever else that you do he said that is no replacement for injustice and so for us today and because that's the for me that's the point of studying these lessons more than a historical artifact to be knowledgeable and it's good to be knowledgeable but knowledge never saves you um it has to be what is the application therefore so if isaiah's book and the suffering servant is about first of all jesus and then as we follow jesus as apprentices seeking and distributing justice grace and mercy while we're on earth while we are here then there's certain kinds of things that we need to be engaged in and depending upon your political um ideology it could be anywhere from uh marching with black lives matter to feeding in the soup kitchens to making sure that some child has a place to sleep at night those are the things uh and being um less judgmental of those who may not see things as we see them so that's what i mean about uh in terms of drawing out some of the lessons of of isaiah um in terms of of justice the last thing on here is paul's counterintuitive living paul's peculiar uh we all often cite that but sometimes some of us that nobody in this room but some of us think peculiar means you got to be strange i don't know except for other strange people strange people um connecting with and drawing others uh to for a useful enterprise i'll just leave it at at that how much more time do we have dr percy about 10 minutes yeah we have about 15 more minutes okay we'll be finished before then so one of the last things i want to do is just to contrast and as we talk about counter-intuitive living as opposed to idolatrous living because all of us i think would agree we don't want to be idolatrous because we know that that's something that does not please god so what are the characteristics of idolatrous living selfishness darwinism by darwinism i mean i'm not just talking about evolution of the species i'm talking about um uh the survival of the fittest that's what i mean by darwinism modern darwinism narcissism me me me uh violence racism sexism righteousness by works we think what we do will get us to where we want to be ageism oppression and you can add to the list counterintuitive examples living examples particularly shown by the suffering servant serving others care for the vulnerable righteousness by faith addressing the isms in all their forms non-violence and not just the physical establishing justice in the earth the qualities of a god apprentice based on a servant song devotion to the lord full of reverence for god and fellow humans virtuousness knows how to speak to the weary listens and hears because sometimes we listen and we don't hear i know i do uh not rebellious walks into the fight with eyes wide open promotes liberation uh will be vindicated and has a teachable spirit any comments about this before we close out all right well my sources for today included the protestant bible uh the sda sabbath school quarterly and these group of this group of scholars and inspired writers and i hope that um we took quite a a trek through the suffering service and the book of isaiah particularly the chapters 50 uh through 55 and a condensed version i hope that you were able to uh thank you i thank you for your contribution i gained some insights and i hope you were able to gain something from what uh we discovered today are there any final questions before we end righteousness by work still concerns me a little bit if you would not mind commenting a little more because just the fact that we're saying it's salvation by faith is a struggle for a lot of a lot of us oh yes well a lot of us don't actually believe that um we don't work our way into salvation we don't salvation is a gift you cannot from a legal perspective you cannot earn a gift it's something that's given to you you can reject it but you can't earn it um and a lot of us sometimes unfortunately think that the things we do if we add up a list of all the good things that we do we have somehow gained salvation and the right the entitlement to salvation we are entitled to salvation by virtue of the fact that jesus came bled died rose and it's coming again and we accept his sacrifice that's the entitlement piece of it we are not entitled to it by what we do uh we don't kill we don't steal we don't eat meat we go to church on a certain day we don't uh fornicate or run around people's husbands that does not um entitle you to salvation you can't do enough good works to earn salvation because here's the question and i heard this asked by preacher long time ago how many good works do you actually have to do to get salvation and to cancel out your sin 500 230 how many and what if you have the wrong number some people may overcompensate you know some people don't do enough so that's what the in terms of righteousness by works as as idolatrous and here's the point about the idolatry when you look at other world religions and even in christianity as i've come to think of it the the the center of what they believe will gain them eternal life is going through certain rituals whether it is burning incense praying to buddha um even taking communion how many of those do you have to take in order to be okay we do those things not praying to buddha and others but in the christian faith we do those things because we are asked to do them and we do them as a as obedience to god based on love and our appreciation for the gift we already have we don't do them to earn the gift and that's what i mean uh dr shakes is it that's what i mean in terms of this list of righteousness by works and works are good james says you know uh faith without works is dead it's good nobody's gonna argue with that at all but it doesn't get you the ticket the ticket you've already got you just have to hold on to it may i just make up nobody wants to speak go ahead yeah this is this is faster has been dramas i just want to express my appreciation to you for our lesson study today it's been rich and i appreciate all your preparation and the great points you shared your your concept at the end there of counter-intuitive living to me it may seem like something we really have to try to do but i think ultimately it is easily embodied in following jesus christ everything on your list is exemplified in the way that jesus lived moved and had his being even jesus exercised a form of righteousness by faith even though he was righteous he exercised faith in the salvific power of his father to restore him after his sacrifice he lived by faith we live by faith in him and i think it's important to to realize that the christian the christian life is more about being than doing doing is important there is no there is no substitute for it uh but we can't do until we we are until we be with god and i um you know in my way of looking at just what you've shared which has been profound today counter-intuitive living is really being in relationship with jesus and the holy spirit will tell us very clearly when it is time for us to to march and when it is time for us to be still and when it is time for us to fight and when it is time for us to bandage our wounds if he will let us know when those times come if we are in relationship with god truly and so i just i just thank you again on behalf of the pastoral team too i just thank you for ministering to our hearts today thank you pastor yes somebody is speaking can you hear me yes yes go ahead beverly thank you so much because you know i had to say something we have to bring you greetings i just want you to know that not only are you touching people in brinkleo but our pastoral staff here at seashore seventh-day adventist church is listening as well and we want to know that you have blessed us in new jersey thank you so much thank you thank you for for being being there um i i just wanted to say to sum up that the whole point of this lesson in terms of suffering servant was not only to identify who that was because i think everybody in the room already knew who that was before we came but to understand as apprentices of jesus modeling that behavior in a contemporary context what that means and you all have done a marvelous job of of of um exegeting uh these texts and and applying the text so that it has a contemporary meaning to people today thank you for inviting me um i'm going to turn it back over to dr percy and um thank you may i offer a quick summary of micah 6 8 yes who's speaking please harry this is this is kerry i just said micah 6 8 summarizes it all say again please micah 6 8 summarizes it all okay and for those who may not know what micah 6 8 says i'm putting you on the spot do justice love mercy and walk before your god i think that's the summary i hope it is is that the right text that's it that that's it in a nutshell um so again thank you for in inviting me um just as a commercial i've got a new movie coming out um and you can talk to your folks uh at brinklow about uh that movie it's about the crucifixion of christ from a different perspective and i hope that you all will participate and we'll be getting back to you about that thank you thank you so much you know that was i got to say you really broke it down for us in the book of isaiah the way you started this lesson study we can tell you how you're an academic i mean you really taught us you walked us through the entire theme of the book you explained to us about the man and the prophet and the suffering servant and i really want to say thank you we appreciate um the contemporary application of the lesson and that counter-intuitive living um so um thank you for being with us and um we know that you're amongst friends matter of fact to close us out for sabbath school i'm going to ask dr ted watkins if you're still with us to offer us um closing prayer for sabbath school dr watkins has a connection to um dr admins he was her teacher right yes i can say this is the reason why i'm not in the sciences or biology he was too tough on me and he steered me toward the liberal arts and for that i am eternally grateful i'm just getting ready to test and say that that the student taught the teacher today your presentation was was most excellent well i i i i made copies of your your slides i'm going to go back and study them again because uh isaiah is not an easy book to understand but i thought you broke it down in such an outstanding way amen uh your scholarship and um and what you've done i kind of miss gracious heavenly father we thank you for your word we thank you for the opportunity to study your word and thank you for your ma your woman servant today and we pray that as we continue um to to look at you as the um the the the the suffering servant uh that we might also try to um adhere to this principle of counter-intuitive because it just it's not natural to turn the other cheek um but but that's exactly what you require us to do today help us as we focus on this mercy and justice in jesus name amen amen amen thank you thank you again god bless everyone and everyone please stay safe and stay well and stay in the study of god's word until next time everyone

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Length: 183min 31sec (11011 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 06 2021