Camp Hill SDA Divine Service 18th September

a call to worship is taken from ecclesiastes chapter 7 ecclesiastes chapter 7 verses 11 to 18. ecclesiastes chapter 7 verses 11 to 18. wisdom like an inheritance is a good thing it benefits those who see the light of day for wisdom provides protection just as money provides protection but the advantage of knowledge is this wisdom preserves the life of its owner consider the work of god who can make straight what he has bent in times of prosperity be joyful but in times of adversity consider this god has made one as well as the other so that no one can discover what the future holds during the days of my fleet in life i have seen both of these things sometimes a righteous person dies prematurely in spite of his righteousness and sometimes a wicked person lives long in spite of his evil deeds so do not be excessively righteous or excessively wise otherwise you might be disappointed do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool otherwise you might die before your time it is best to take hold of one warning without letting go of the other warning for the one who fears god will follow both warnings amen [Music] good [Music] our [Music] oh [Music] bless us [Music] oh lord you truly are holy and you are worthy to be praised and worshiped and adored and as we come together both in house and online father we thank you for your divine presence and we praise o god that our worship will not only be acceptable to you but will meet with your full and complete blessing bless us dear father as we praise you and let all be done to your name's honor and glory we welcome you thank you lord for being in your holy temple to you be all the praise in jesus name amen amen i'd like to welcome you all to the camp hill 7 adventist church today here in birmingham the united kingdom for all those who are in attendance and those who are watching online i pray that we all will have a blessed sabbath day together as it is i think it's not too bad outside when i came the sun was shining it looks the light looks a bit low at the moment but i pray that in our hearts this love of god will shine forth so welcome you i would like to welcome you all here to the campbell seven adventist church here today um i've just got a few announcements and as i when i'm not i've not been up here often but as i always say to everyone you are permitted to smile um you're not in trouble not as yet anyway so please relax with me so we've got quite a few announcements um further details will follow but and we have a date for brother duncan's funeral and that will be the 22nd of october the 22nd of october at 11 30 but further details will follow i'm asking the church to please remember sister elizabeth s silcot that's gene davis's mum who is not too well at all and also we'd like you to remember too her name has been mentioned many times i should say unfortunately at church sadly because sister nima has once again had another death in her family and asking the church to please remember sister nima also at this time we'd like to thank um when i say thank we'd like to congratulate uh marcus and diana ray for the safe arrival and the father and grandad is here elder tim um i'm sure he'll say something later if he gets a chance and we'd like to welcome the safe arrival of their new born son amen amen our dear sister apprentice in jamaica is also not very well we're asking the church to remember her in our prayers we remember just just a few weeks ago i believe her brother also died and now she's not well herself so again please church remember sister apprentice in your prayers just yesterday at church and the newton family said goodbye to sister newton sister newton was he was it 95 years of age sister newton was a long-standing member of camp hill church she was late to her arrest yesterday just remember the family in your prayers and also this week on tuesday um i ask you to remember the thompson johnson family because um they buried a son and father and grandad my good friend who i was brought up on the same road as him sterling johnson were the same age 58 years of age he was laid to his rest also so remember joy thompson and her family and again remember many other families who we know are going through uh the stresses and strains of life and also the fact that um we know covert is still around taking its toll on people and families and their lives this is a time as we this is a day of prayer and fasting if there was ever a time to pray we know it is now so um these end our announcements i just pray look that you will all be attentive and prepare yourselves as we continue to worship the lord today thank you good morning church good morning church it is so good that we can once again assembling the house of god to worship him and to praise him so the first inn of praise that we will sing this morning is blessed assurance jesus is mine blessed assurance jesus is mine [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is my story and this [Music] is my story [Music] [Applause] [Music] on [Applause] [Music] from [Music] this is my story and this is [Music] this is [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] this is [Music] amen amen praise the lord it is good to sing isn't it it's good to give praise and glory and honor to god it's been a long time that we haven't had this privilege to come together like this and this morning we're going to make sure that we give him all the praise and all the glory and all the honor [Music] leaning on the everlasting arms [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] r [Applause] is [Music] ah amen praise the lord i may i invite you to stand for our opening him please stand for opening him now opening him we're going to sing it to a tune that we all know but the words will be different so please pay attention to the words and we will sing the tune the church has one foundation [Music] um [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] there is [Music] oh jesus [Music] is [Music] [Music] no [Music] amen please [Music] do [Music] well done praise team you sang that beautifully thank you [Music] our scripture reading today comes from it's well known to us from ezekiel chapter 36 and we're going to read from verse 25 sorry 20 yes 5 25 to 27. ezekiel 36 and verse 25 to 27 this is the lord speaking then will i sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your idols will i cleanse you a new heart also will i give you and a new spirit will i put within you and i will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and i will give you an heart of flesh and i will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them may the lord bless his word to our hearts today amen i will invite church to stand where possible and this is time for the prayer garden i will invite yazara will lead then after gesella we shall have sista gloria then sister pat brother deroy and elder gordon in that order thank you [Music] um yes uh a minute one stanza of the hymn that the president will lead us then yazara will take on thank you [Music] faster [Music] [Music] [Music] bye [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] let us pray dear heavenly father i ask that you be with us as all the children have gone back to school now lord please be with us through our daily school lives please help us to be kind caring and nice towards others lord please be with all of our parents lord i ask that you continue to protect us in our daily lives amen [Music] good morning church this morning um the scripture reading that i'd like to share with you is taken from psalm 139 verses 1 to 10. [Music] thank you thank you now let's start again the scripture verses that i'd like to share with you this morning is taken from psalm 139 verses 1 through to 10. and here david praises god for his all-seeing providence [Music] oh lord that was searched me and known me that i noticed my damn sitting and my uprising though understand this my thoughts are far off thou compasseth my path and my lying down and aren't acquainted with all my ways for there is not a word in my tongue but law oh lord thou knowest it all together that was beset me behind and before and laid thy hand upon me such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high i cannot attain it whether shall i go from thy spirit or whether shall i flee from thy presence if i ascend up into the heaven thou art there if i make my bed in hell behold thou art there if i take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the seas even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me let us pray our kind and loving gracious father our creator our redeemer and our friend father god we thank you this morning for your presence with us here we thank you dear lord for life we thank you for waking us up this morning dear father in our right minds all our senses are intact their god and we can come together once more in your place of worship to give you thanks and praise loving father we tend to stray from your path at times and for this we ask your forgiveness dear lord we ask dear father first of all that you'll wash us and cleanse us in the blood of your son jesus that he shed for us on calvary's cross cleanse us from all unrighteousness to your god so that our prayers will be acceptable to you loving father as we come to you this morning as fellow believers whether we are at home online watching or in the sanctuary lord we invite your holy presence with us father in heaven we can do nothing without you lord we ask dear god that like our faith our four parents adam and eve we will not try to hide away from your presence like jonah dear god whom you sent to nineveh to preach your word he tried to hide your father but you found him and lord as he prayed you forgave him and you sent him off to never to complete the work that you asked him to do so let us let those servants of old dear god continue to do your bidding help us dear lord not to shirk away from what you've asked us to do but let us submit ourselves to you each day each moment of the day and commit ourselves to you dear father knowing that you are our provider you are the giver of all things good loving father we thank you for this blessed sabbath day we thank you dear god that we can come together once more as your children we ask your father that you continue to bless us bless this service bless the speaker dear lord be with us may we be attentive to your word listen and obey lord we give you thanks we pray for our families who are not here with us father god we pray that in your time especially those who are not walking with you you'll touch their hearts dear god and help them to surrender their lives to you so that they too can come and share of the wonderful blessings that you've got in store for us all continue to bless us we pray and forgive us of our sins we humbly ask in the mighty name of jesus we pray with thanksgiving amen [Music] [Music] do [Music] happy sabbath again everyone the scripture reading is taken from psalms 103 verses 1 to 5. well-known passage of scripture bless the lord o my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the lord o my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your iniquities who heals all your diseases who redeems your life from destruction who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles let us pray almighty god creator of the heavens and the earth the seas and everything in them we come giving you thanks praise and all glory and honor father we worship and give all adoration to you wonderful merciful and awesome father in heaven we praise you for your amazing power no darkness can stand against you in revelation 15 verse 3 and 4 we are told great and marvelous other works lord god almighty just and true and thy ways thou king of saints who shall not fear thee o lord and glorify thy name for thou only art holy for all nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgments are made manifest omnipotent omniscient and omnipresent god we commit this day of prayer and fasting to you may your holy spirit fill us as we join together lifting up your name as king of kings and lord of lords we thank you for your amazing grace through our savior and redeemer jesus christ and precious lord we love you and we thank you in no other name but the matchless name of jesus our savior and redeemer our men and our men [Music] so so [Music] good morning everyone it's wonderful to be in the house of the lord once more the reading i've got to minister this morning is taken from psalms 139 verse 23 and 24. it says search me oh god i know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting that's a lot of thought i trust you to um meditate on those words let's pray heavenly father we thank you for your loving kindness and tender mercies upon our lives god we come once more into your courts with thanksgiving and with praise lord we praise you because you alone is worthy you are the creator of heaven and earth and the seas and all that are in them so god with all hearts this morning we praise you lord and lord we thank you too for the journey that you have brought us through to this time that we are that we're here in your presence to praise your name and to say thank you thank you lord for being in your house of prayer god it's so much to thank you for or it's just beyond us but god you have been there for us in this crisis that we've been through this unprecedented crisis the heavenly father but god who can stand before you there's none can stand before you because you have got the power and the authority over all the forces of darkness and lord we arrest our total beings into your everlasting arms dear heavenly father god we thank you that we can call upon your name and we can arrest lord we can say jesus the heavenly father we thank you so much and lord [Music] you know our hearts you know our every thoughts and lord at this time though we've passed forgiveness in previous prayers lord i are still with us lord that you forgive us where we have wronged against it cleanse us the heavenly father from all unrighteousness the heavenly father we plea lord as we examine our lives we have seen wearing god you've showed us nothing but love you've demonstrated nothing but forgiveness in our lives god we just want to thank you for that and lord for what you have demonstrated through your love and forgiveness god lord i pray at this time that we will remember how good you are and in so father we will return the same goodness to our brothers and sisters help us lord to so do [Music] god because you've been so good and forgiving the heavenly father we the lord should realize that we need to humble ourselves because you are the creator and you are the one who is love and lord your word says he that umblet himself shall be exalted so father god being humble let us all realize it's a door open for riches riches of redemption riches of joy which is of peace richest lord of your holy kingdom so god help us know to be humble father god let us so realize the significance the importance oh god of being humble because you yourself as humbled to your son to have gone to have died on the cross you've humbled to us to redeem us so father god help us so to be humbled and this is our prayer in jesus name we pray amen amen [Music] so [Music] the kind heavenly father we thank you once again for the privilege that we all have been granted here to be in your house today for some of us like myself it's been the first time in 18 months it's good to be here to be with your people and as we await your words father we pray that our hearts will be touched lord whilst we have not been here during this time of peril lord you we know you have guarded and protected your house you have watched over so many of your people many you have called to rest because you know lord what is ahead there is a coming time of trouble but lord yet we pray giving you thanks through all that we have to bear we see in the world father that they are preparing for war even while sarpandemic afflicts this planet but lord nothing has caught you by surprise and i know father you are looking down and you are calling upon us as calling upon us as a people as seven adventists today to take our stand with you dear father oftentimes we have been lacking your holy spirit and we know father that no matter how much we pray without your holy spirit father our words cannot go up into heaven we thank you father that today jesus christ stands by your throne a minister of the true tabernacle that which the lord got himself planted and built are not man and all we want to open our hearts to you we pray father for a revival for a restoration for a change in our lives a change that only lord you can give but father we have to seek you we have to desire you we have to want you we have to pursue you not that you are far from us but lord we know oftentimes it is because of our sins because of our wicked ways because father many times what comes out of our words our mouths is not how we act in real life father you know our afflictions you know our struggles you know the plight of your church you know father we need restoration we need reviving we need turning to you and we thank you father for this opportunity in this day of fasting and prayer that we can make our wants and our desires known unto you of course you know them we know you know everything but lord whatever our plans are for today for the future lord we want you to be with us we want you to direct us we want to bless we want you to bless us we wanted to bless our children we want you to bless our church we wanted to bless our young and our old and our leaders we want to lord you to bless us all and we give you thanks that we know that you are able to do it because you have the power you are able and we thank you father that in your words we have seen how you have walked with your people in times past and have delivered them and we are sure and we do know that you will deliver us in the days ahead and so lord we just pray that you will help us i guess i've said to remain steadfast and to be strong lord we know that um the times and the days are evil and time is is very very short neither we nor our leaders know exactly when the day or the hour will come but you have told us lord that as long as we are here and are working in your vineyard lord you will be with us we thank you father for the promises of your words we thank you for your son jesus christ and we thank you for the words he left us and he when he told us that he would be with us even to the very ends of this earth so lord your people are here members and visitors alike we just asked father for your peace in our hearts and lord as i made in the announcements lord there are many who are grieving there are many who are sick there are many who are in need and father it's for such a time as this that you have called us as a church and as a people to take your words into this world and through the third angel's message but lord we cannot give this message if i said if we are not right so lord we just take this time we just take this opportunity to thank you and to say father sorry for our sins and to thank you for jesus christ our lord and our savior as a sister reed prepares herself now to open your words to us we pray father that your hand will be on her you have seen her work over the last few years trying to encourage us as a people to pray and to draw closer to you lord we know not much how much longer will we hear these words how much longer will these appeals be made to us but lord whilst his day lord we are to work and we are to seek you and we are not to harden our hearts so lord just bless us now keep us father we there is many things we can say to you but we know after we leave this place we know lord that we have a closet we have a quiet place even as we are here now father in our hearts we can speak to you we can give you thanks we can make confession we know lord that you stand at the door and knock and you want us all to open our hearts to you so we thank you father for the opportunity for life we think of those who have been laid to rest we think of their families we think of their sorrow but lord we know that a great and a grand day is coming soon when jesus will come when all sorrow in all darkness when all fear will have gone we father pray that you will help us to hold fast until that time holding thy hands and never letting go and abiding you in all things we pray and give thanks amen amen please be seated [Music] at this time i will invite the praise team to give us to sing for us the another stanza of 569 and then after the stanza we shall have prayers of supplication and of thanksgiving by haris senior and albert thank [Music] you sing the second [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] my [Music] cry [Music] [Music] oh [Music] me oh [Music] [Music] [Music] hear my [Music] afternoon church well it's my privilege but before i pray i have to give you thanks because you know my wife passed away and it's not easy thank you for the postcard the prayer and all that you have done what is one thing i can tell you as a church i'm not judging you i'm giving on advice so please as a family get together because in the time of need you need each other because you may see i standing up here this morning but if it wasn't of my family it wouldn't be the same when you was on your own you lost somebody you don't know where to turn it's not easy so if when you go home and you have a family whatever situation it is try talk to them get together because we need each other i can tell you that long there are a lot of things i can say but it's not the time for it now so heavenly father i come to give you thanks and to praise your holy name because we're starting this lesson i am divine you are the branch but it's for us to know what it means when we separate i pray for the church it shouldn't be like this but there's nothing we can do because the devil is telling us one thing and we want to know who we believe if we trust in the devil we trust in god that is our choice but i trust in god because i am 92 year old and the devil will never look after me until this age the devil would never keep me so if i die this moment i die in the hands of god and if i live i'm living in the hands of god because he had kept me all these years and church don't give up god will never leave us and he will never forsake us so i pray and ask you to have mercy upon each and every one of us because this time things aren't going to get any better because there is that full strength because he knows he has a short time but god already won the battle so let us hold on church and i pray for each and every one of us these little children they are always here with us we do not know what they're doing at home now but i pray and hope to god that they are in good hands i pray for the families of this church our brothers and sisters we are lost our loved ones but we cannot do nothing about it because it tell us in the midst of life we are in debt watch and pray so church let us hold on and he will never leave us and he will never forsake us sorry through the grace of god and his mercy and his strength he will keep us he will never leave us so i pray and as i asking you now as a family of the church let us unite with each other your children your brother your wife your husband talk with each other if there's any little wrongs come together talk because we need each other not because you make a walk today and you may can do things for yourself but it won't be the same i can tell you that i go through it and thanks be to god my family is around me and i hope and pray as i give you this advice today you may take it and may god watch over us guide us and protect us as we humbly ask in jesus name yes good afternoon church and in keeping with today's theme of fasting and praying i would like to read from psalms 116 verses 1 to 2 and 17. and it reads i love the lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications because he have inclined his ear unto me therefore will i call upon him as long as i live and 17 and last i will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the lord dear heavenly father god i'd like to thank you for for life i'd like to thank you for everything that you have given us lord we we have woken up in a country without war and with our strife we are free to come to church we are free to give you honor and glory lord each and every one of us can look at ourselves and check ourselves and know whether or not we are to give you honor glory and praise it's up to us individually to come to you and say lord thank you i can't do for anyone else but everyone individually here lord has to do for themselves so lord thank you thank you for our country thank you for our leaders who are leading may they make the right decision that will help and help us all lord we are living in times of trouble the world is in trouble we can see countries coming together to form alliances to protect themselves and to fight against another lord the only alliance that we can come to is you the only alliance that we should make and form is with you because you are the only one that can protect and keep us there are things out there lord that will take us out but lord with you you will protect and keep us so lord be with us all be with our church be with each and every one of our members lord and look after them keep and protect them so lord thank you once and once again in the name of our lord and savior and soon coming king jesus christ may we all say amen amen amen episode of church this is the moment that you all been waiting for why is that because we all can take part have you been blessed have we been blessed is it okay to test god is it okay seem as if we are not sure what does the bible say bring the whole tide into the storehouse that there may be food in the in my house test me in this say the lord almighty and i've will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that they will not be room enough ladies and gentlemen the bible i've spoken we can all trust the word of god at this time things is done a bit different so if you take note of the screen we there are different ways in in which we can submit our tithes and offering at the back we have um tied envelopes we are here on a sunday as well between 10 and 1. so we can actually you can actually drop it off between that time and you can also you know give us a phone call if you need to make if we need to make special arrangement so there is always a way and for those who are not in the sanctuary there just take notes of the information on the screen and submit your tithes and offerings we are a church that like to serve the community so when you are returning your offering please remember that we serve the community every week so i pray that god may continue to bless you and continue to be faithful if you don't believe what the bible said as a praise team sung earlier let us you know ask god to help our unbelief let us pray kind loving and most writers turn our god in heaven just want to give you thanks for this opportunity and a privilege for this offering and money that have been collected i pray over that whatever is being collected i pray that we may be good towards meaning that we may use it to do your work and enhance answer kingdom in jesus name amen happy sabbath church we thank god again for his mercy his love and care and uh it's good to see you in his sanctuary today especially the special day today of prayer and fasting i know that we i said earlier on that we are all members of the prayer ministries in your own house in your own heart in your own group we all come together to pray and so you don't have to be a member of the elected part of the prayer ministries we are all members so if you don't know that if you didn't know that i just want to remind you and to encourage you that you are a member of the prayer ministries and may god bless us as we continue to cooperate with him god will do anything for us we don't even before we ask he can do anything but what he desires of us is to cooperate with him and surely when we cooperate with him then it's a it's a blessing and so today is a special day for prayer and fasting fasting and we have a special guest today that god has chosen to speak to us i know she's known to most of you but i want you to introduce her in a special way because she is special in the goddess kingdom sister frederica reid is a member of camp hill some time back moved places but i'm sure this is always home i'm sure that i don't have to introduce her much in terms of her membership here for those who are members of camp hill you know her very well from her childhood to this time but in a special way i want to recognize her as a member of eddington seven adventist church but then above all as the the sponsor for prayer ministries of the north england conference god has used the harm mightily i would say sister reed i have benefited from your leadership and i'm sure that those who have come closer interacted with you they have benefited god has blessed her and she's always ready willing to use the gift god has given her she is a prayer warrior you call her midnight you call her any time of the day she will be there for you i was privileged to have had time to pray with her one to one and i can say that she is a prayer worry and may god continue to bless you to bless your ministry as you reach out to the rest of the conference and especially in the area five where she was a leader before she moved to the conference so soon and very soon we shall be hearing from what god has planned for us and before she speaks to us i will invite brother good friend more to give us a meditation and after the the voice of brother mo the next voice we shall hear is of our beloved sister red whom god has chosen to speak to us today may god bless us as we continue to worship him amen good afternoon church how is everybody you can smile you know you know this is a happy day sabbath is a happy day in creation week it's a day that god rested and looked back on all that he did and he said it was very good i pray that you'll have a blessing today as i sing this song to you the blood [Music] how you ever tried to measure one sin [Music] seeking forgiveness when your heart knows within our god will not judge us by how big or how small he looks for jesus precious blood to cover it all the blood boundaries [Music] jesus you from the city that man will surely fall and glad the savior's precious blood covered it all try to imagine how this miracle took place [Music] bloody old measure our guns are made grace sometimes when we're weary we must tumble and fall but i'm glad that jesus precious blood covered all the blood love has no boundaries since their i'm glad the savior's precious blood covered it all [Music] jesus dear in the beginning that man will surely fall and let the savior's precious yes my jesus precious blood [Music] it all [Applause] amen i want to thank you um the godfriend for that beautiful beautiful encouraging song jesus's precious blood covers it all aren't you glad that jesus blood has covered our sins we are covered with his life i was really blessed by that praise god thank the lord praise the lord and i want to thank um thank you that as a church family you have been praying with the nec prayer ministries team and i was very conscious of the prayers that were taking place around the conference during session and i want to praise god for what he has done i'd like to ask you to pray for the new administrators our new team i have assigned each one of them intercessors to cover them daily as they serve and minister minister in god's name and so i want to thank you for your prayers and we are in different times these are unusual times and and things happen and we we witness strange things and we experience strange things and we know that these are all indications of the last days as god's people we need to stay close to him and so i want to thank you for your prayer support this morning um or should i say this afternoon now we're well into the afternoon um the lord touched my heart with this message it's it's about the heart of the matter and i thought about camp hill when i was listening to the lord speak his word to me um and i i just pray and hope that as i share these words the heart of the matter that you will receive and understand the significance of the theme for today and so um without further ado let us just pray let's come to the lord and pray our gracious and loving god how good you are i praise and i bless your worthy name for the privilege and honor you have given me to speak in my home church it truly is a great blessing and as i now open my mouth lord lord just put your words in it and i pray that as your words go out it will hit the target even of our hearts and do father in heaven your divine will in us so that when we come to the end of our worship today we will all determine in our hearts to stay close to draw near to you to make our relationship with you secure is my prayer in jesus name amen are we okay at the back lovely good good thank you um i want to say first of all that whether we pray or not is determined by the state of our hearts i've entitled our the word today the heart of the matter it is in our hearts that we determine whether we're going to pray or not whether we're going to seek for a relationship with god or not and when i looked at this i i thought we need to put the word in the context of prayer when i think about prayer i think that the heart of the matter with prayer is a matter of the heart and so i want to share um these words with you in thoughts from the mount of blessings we read god does not desire our ceremonial compliments it doesn't need to be buttered up by us when we pray it's not our fine words that appeals to his heart but rather the unspoken cry of the heart broken and subdued with a sense of its sin and utter weakness that is what finds its way to the father's heart of mercy and i want to just say and if there is anything that we take away from today is to know that prayer is an attitude of the heart as our preacher fiery preacher and writer len the late leonard ravenhill has said i want us to just uh be aware that in these last days as we wait for the second coming of our lord we need to be vitally aware we need to be vitally surrendered and we need to be vitally connected to god this morning in our sabbath school session we talked about and we shared uh john 15 and verse 1 to 17. we talked about abiding and how god wants a relationship with us um and we form relationships with our hearts it's in our hearts that we make that connection so what are we talking about when i talk about the heart we each all have a physical heart hearts that can beat fast or slow hearts that can become broken when we're hurting hearts that can become sick and we can have a heart attack that's not the heart that i'm talking about i'm talking about the entire being according to first thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23 the heart is the mind it's the body it's this it's the whole you and in the bible we told that it is the seat of our feelings our emotions it also involves our intellect where we analyze and we think and we make decisions our heart determines our character and the will is also controlled in the heart as we have read in and and you know in the familiar story of daniel and ezra who purposed in their hearts what they were going to do daniel purpose in his heart not to eat the king's meat so this is where we make decisions this is where we we determine this is what i'm going to do we this is what we're talking about and the scripture has a lot to say about our hearts we read in luke chapter 6 and verse 45 that both good and evil comes from the heart it's the only place where you can get a combination so opposite to each other good and evil to come from the same source and we believe with our hearts that's where we build our faith that's romans 10 and verse 9 and 10. the pure in heart we're told in matthew 5 and verse 8 we'll see god and they are blessed we love god with our hearts in deuteronomy 6 and verse 5 we told to love the lord our god with all our hearts with all our minds with all our soul with all our strength with everything we love the lord with our hearts we feel compassion with our hearts in ephesians chapter 4 and verse 32 and then of course out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks the bible says that a fool can look wise until he opens his mouth so we reveal what's in our hearts on the other hand the heart can be perverted because that's where we devise evil that's where we hold malice that's where we hate and our hearts follow our treasures we're told in matthew 6 and verse 21 that where our treasure is that's where our heart is also we can harden our hearts as well as romans 2 verse 5 tells us worst of all our hearts can defile us because it's what comes out of our mouths that shows whether we are clean inside or not and then finally as war as in water face reflects face so the heart of man according to proverbs 27 and verse 19 reflect the man and so we it brings us now to jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 19 that tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked desperately wicked you know when i was um i was doing a a training course and we were looking at the second world war and um the experiments that were carried out um during the concentration camp the experiments that were carried out on children for example how many times will a child's bone be broken and mend until it or until he can't heal that kind of wickedness our human hearts are capable of devising such things so when i looked and i thought of deceitful what it means to be deceitful and in the dictionary tells us that it comes from the root supplanting which means to trip up insiduously sort of like you know sort of like connivingly um to to trip somebody up by the heel oh and and have you ever been tripped up by the heel it actually hurts it's to be dishonest um and i've put it twice is to be dishonest dishonest the desperately wickedness that can come from come up from our heart it means it's beyond cure imagine being in such a state of wickedness that there's actually no turning back there's no there's no chance of healing it's beyond cure according to the hebrew interpretation of that word or that term it's being terminal it's it's like having an incurable disease so we need to be vital and vitally aware of the state of our hearts and because this is where we make the decision for a relationship where we seek that relationship with god we need to be aware according to first selected messages and page 217 many are deceived concerning the condition of their hearts it's possible that we can believe something to be true and it's not in in psychology one of the things that um often clients come and need healing for are negative automatic thoughts where you have one thought and it's negative and it leads to a train of thoughts that are totally totally untrue but because you believe it then your whole disposition your whole attitude adapts to what you believe and our hearts can do that so we are to be aware that our hearts can deceive us the the passage goes on to say we do not realize that the natural heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked the natural heart hates the law of god and wars against its re refu against its against its holy claims men shut their souls from the divine light refusing to walk in it as it shines upon them so the lord you know you can be sitting there and you can be hearing these words and it's not touching you because of where you are i pray by god's grace that you know there's no one in this room that's in that place where their hearts cannot be touched by the word and the appeal of god's spirit so i want to i want to thank god that his holy spirit is is powerful and is capable and has the capacity to change our hearts and so we need to surrender our hearts this is how that the the change and the transformation can take place and so we're told in six testimonies page 92 and you can read that satan our arch enemy does not want anyone to see the necessity of an entire surrender to god it is necessary it is critical in order for us to stand the trials and the tests that are going to come our way if we're not already going through them we need to experience a heart change we need a heart transformation when the soul fails to make this surrender sin is not forsaken the appetites and passions are striving for the mastery temptations confuse the conscience so that true conversion does not take place true conversion takes place in the heart and we make that decision to surrender to god and allow his spirit to make the change the reading carries on in desire of ages page three to four but unless we do yield ourselves to the control of christ we shall be dominated by the wicked one we must inevitably be under the control of one or the other joshua said um to the the people when they stood on the edge of the um of the the promised land he said choose you this day whom you will serve we each have to make a decision who is going to gain the mastery in our hearts who is going to have supremacy in our hearts and if as we're told in psalm 66 and verse 18 if there is unconfessed sins in our hearts remember that we form our relationship with god it is in our hearts that we abide in the vine as we discuss this morning if sin is in the hearts we will not pray as we told in psalm 66 if we harbor iniquity in our hearts god won't hear us we're wasting our time we need to clear the way it is not necessary for us to deliberately to choose the service of the kingdom of darkness in order to come under its dominion you really don't need to choose um to be under the control of the evil one did you know that you don't even have to make that choice satan is not a gentleman we have only to neglect to ally ourselves with the kingdom of light if we do not cooperate with the heavenly agencies satan will take possession of the heart and will make it his abide place the only defense against evil is the indwelling of christ in the heart through faith in his righteousness remember when david realized what he had done his heart had deceived him and he didn't actually appreciate the the depth and and the um the seriousness of what he had done until nathan came to him and that she said to him you are the man and so the holy spirit moved him in psalm 51 we read him say when he realized you know when he turned round and saw what he had done creating me a clean heart oh god and renew a right spirit in me we don't only need to have our hearts cleansed and purged but we need a right attitude a change of attitude and so we can with assurance as david said the sacrifices of god are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart oh god he said you will not despise we have to come to the lord and humble ourselves and so we come to um the promise that we have been told uh in ezekiel 36 now the context of this these verses i was reading this this book ezekiel and over and over again you hear god's heart is hurting indeed this is where he says he says i'm broken because of the the way that his people behaved they were serving worshipping idols they were killing their children sacrificing their children to bail god says i'm broken you see god in his angriest the shekinah glory had departed you see god hurting and you see him at his most tender and compassionate when he says i will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean i will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols it doesn't matter where you have been or what you have done when you come to the lord he has promised he'll give you a clean heart a new heart he goes on to say i will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you i will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh from stone to flesh and i will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws when you have a heart of flesh a new heart that god gives to you he will write his words on your heart and cause you to walk in his ways and furthermore you will realize that prayer is not an option because when god takes possession of your heart you will desire to draw near to him you will desire that relationship that is critical that we all must have and i would urge each one of us to make this our most urgent work ensure we have that secure attachment to christ the vine because that is what will take us through the challenges that are ahead of us thank you when the soul surrenders itself to christ a new power takes possession of the new heart a change is wrought which can never accomplish itself it is supernatural work bringing a supernatural element into human nature the soul that is yielded to christ becomes its own fortress a soul thus kept in possession by the heavenly agencies is impregnable to the assaults of satan that comes from desire of ages page 3 2 4 and i know my time is up i want to just finish very quickly with these thoughts we need to have a vital connection with god and it is open to all of us as i've said before it is a critical factor it is an emergency things are going to change dramatically for us as god's people and if we haven't determined in our hearts to make our calling and election secure in christ by nurturing a secure relationship with god and allowing his holy spirit to take possession of the heart we will not stand the test we will not stand we will be among those who will fall away i was startled to read to read this passage in five testimonies page 460 where we told that many believers who are superficial in their experience with god many believers will renounce the faith when they experience the fiery tests of their faith in the last days they will not only renounce the faith but they will then become god's bitterest enemies so when we're not in christ satan takes possession of the heart and we end up doing his will we end up being god's enemy and so i want to just finish with this let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water jeremiah 29 and verse 13 says you will seek me and find me when you have searched for me with all your heart it's not a half-hearted thing and so i want to finish with this invitation from revelation 3 and verse 20 where the lord says behold i stand at the door and knock and here's another of the if verses if anyone hears my voice and open up to me i will come in to him and sup with him and he with me god wants a relationship with you young old boy girl man woman god is seeking that relationship with you and he invites you he's inviting you to enter into that relationship before it is too late before there is no desire for god and that time will come we're told we're living in the time of the ceiling where the judgment is taking place when that is completed we will have no more opportunity the door of mercy will have closed may god in his love continue to move upon your hearts and may we respond in like to that invitation and ensure that we are rooted and grounded in our faith and in our relationship with god there was a song years ago and that we used to sing and the words you can see on the screen the savior is waiting to enter your heart my heart why don't you let him come in there's nothing in this world to keep you apart so what is your answer to him if you take one step towards the savior friends you'll find his arms open wide receive him and all of your darkness okay the child the challenges are going to still be there because it is through the trial of our faith that we will come forth as pure gold but all the darkness will end within your heart he will christ will abide so i'm i'm asking you i'm pleading with you at this time make your calling and election secure in christ and as we come to our time of prayer again elder um we'll have a time of prayer yeah i want us to pray for each other i'm sure we wouldn't want to see any one of us today [Music] standing outside the city looking in i'm sure we don't want any of us to be missing our children our young people our older ones our senior ones we want all of us to be saved in god's kingdom so let us take some time and pray for one another time after time christ has waited before and now he's waiting again to see if you're willing to open the door oh how he longs to come in let us turn to each other and we're going to have a time of prayer i'll call elder erastus to come forward as we he leads us in our time of prayer and i will finish [Music] uh thank you uh the read for allowing god to use you i'm sure that each one of us has benefited and it's about your heart and the connection with god it's not a family it's not a church but is personal and may god continue to bless us as we walk with him at this time i will invite the chisholm to pray then i will pray next to him and sister reed will close amen let us buy our heads reverently [Music] eternal god and our forever loving heavenly father it is with grateful hearts that we approach your throne the sabbath afternoon to give you thanks and praise for your loving kindness and for your tender mercies towards us lord we thank you for the blessings of life you've given to us we thank you for health and strength we thank you for the food that you've provided for us we thank you for the warmth and the comfort of our homes we thank you for sound minds that we can reason together with you we thank you lord for the privilege that we have that we can assemble in this sacred place of worship to give you praise and honor and glory but most of all above all of these we give you thanks and praise for jesus christ our lord and savior and for the sacrifice that he has made for our sins on calvary lord we thank you so much we bless your holy name lord as we come before you this afternoon we realize that we are unworthy even to call your name in our sinful lips because we have sinned and we have come short of your glory in so many ways in our thoughts our deeds our actions but we plead the blood of jesus today we plea for mercy so have mercy upon us oh lord create in us clean hearts renew our spirit strengthen us we beseech thee oh god take not away your holy spirit from us and cast us and not away from your presence we love you lord we love you so much and it is the desire of our hearts to be saved in your kingdom when you come and so lord we present ourselves humbly before you today realizing that you are the potter we are hunter declay and so we pray that you will mold us and you will fashion us and you will make us into the kind of people that we ought to be father we pray that as we tarry in this wicked and sinful world that you will hasten the day when there will be no more wickedness and sin and sorrow and pain and death and suffering because we shall see you bursting through the clouds of heaven with power and with great glory to receive your faithful people we ask that you release in that day and in the meantime we ask that you will give us the courage and the power and the strength that we will submit our lines to you without any kind of reservation so on that great day all of us will be able to stand and to say lo this is our god we have long waited for you and now you've come to save us thank you lord for hearing our prayers thank you for blessing us thank you for keeping us and father we pray that you will remember us on that great day and save us and our loved one in your eternal kingdom in the wonderful name of jesus christ we pray amen amen [Music] our kind loving father in heaven we thank you again for this privilege your prayer we thank you father for the day that you have chosen and brought us here father to hear your word from your you are you are your maiden servant father you have spoken to us through her father i pray that we renew our lives to walk with you father without prayer it's very difficult to access you father even jesus christ on this earth he he showed us the example he took time to pray father in heaven there is no power in the prayer but father we see that prayer makes an access to the power and the power is you father we can learn from the disciples even when they were not together father when they were in the upper room they prayed and you poured on them the holy spirit and they became of one accord father today we are a product of those disciples who were 12 and so father i pray that you teach us to pray i pray father that you bring us together as a church as a family that we can also realize that father prayer will access you father in heaven we thank you for uh sister frederica that you have used this morning father i pray that you continue to bless her ministry i pray father that you continue to make her reach out to those that father need you father in heaven we thank you and i pray for this church father that you will continue to be with each one of us those who are in the sanctuary those who are worshiping with us online and even our visiting friends wherever they are father we have different challenges but i thank you and i pray that you will continue to be with each one of us father you know our desires but further above all our desires to be with you in the kingdom and so father i pray that you continue with it to be with each one of us to their father and i pray that father we will continue to be your witnesses we pray all this in jesus name amen amen amen amen our father who art in heaven hallowed is your name may your kingdom come in our hearts and your divine will be done in our lives on earth as it is in heaven thank you gracious father for condescending to us in your word from genesis to revelation you have desired to have a relationship with us thank you lord that you have chosen us each one of us you have called by name you know us individually personally you know the way we take you know our experiences you know everything about us and still you desire to have the intimacy the closeness that lord we can't imagine the depth of relationship that it is possible to have with you but we are grateful for the invitation and as you have spoken to my heart lord and given me a word to share with your children i pray loving father for each one of us here and those who are worshiping on line two lord father in heaven move us closer you've said through your word that no one comes to you unless they're drawn so my father thank you for drawing us thank you lord for desiring that relationship with us oh god i pray may we move closer to you as you have said that when we draw near to you you draw near to us and at this time lord we pray that where we are broken where we need healing where we are out of kilter with your spirit and your will i pray for your holy spirit to move upon our hearts we need transforming we need the change we need the sprinkling of clean water oh god we need the baptism and filling of your holy spirit so i pray for each one of us every man every woman every boy girl and child oh god please father send your spirit to enfold us to be a shield about us as we open our hearts door and close it behind you lord come in father and sub with us and be real to us give us authenticity in our relationship with you lord build up our faith dear god give us the attributes of christ let the glory of his likeness be revealed in each one of us lord so that the world will see you as you are lifted up bless this church father bless this church family unite our hearts lord i pray also for pastor sweeney and for all the elders the leadership and i pray for elder erastus in the ministry of prayer as he serves lord father in heaven i thank you dear god thank you for the the men who prayed i ask oh god for a blessing upon them a blessing upon our women too a blessing upon the young one who prayed make this family this church family a church that prays together and so lord as you have spoken i pray dear god that you will please fulfill your desired will in each one of us father in heaven i pray that you will strengthen us in our faith help us to prepare ourselves we know you've told us that what is about to happen in the times ahead of us have not been experienced before so it's we can't prepare for it but we know that if we are securely abiding in christ we have nothing to fear for the future so my dear lord ground us and root us in your love be a shield about us secure us in christ jesus so that no matter what happens dear father we will remain faithful we will stand in our lot for you like daniel and may lord jesus when he comes find us faithful thank you my loving father for being with us today to you be all the glory and all the praise in jesus name we pray amen [Music] to bring the service to close i will invite us to stand and the praise team will lead us with the fastest stanza of five seven zero five seven zero the first stanza [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] in everything the temple has been yielded and purified of sin let thy shaking glory now shine forth from within and all the earth keeps silent this body henceforth be thy silent restful servant moved only as by thee may these words loving father christ within your spirit within become a lived experience and now my father i pray that your grace your love and the fellowship of your holy spirit will abide in our hearts now and always in the name of jesus amen amen [Music] lead me lord [Music] lead me in my righteousness [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is now [Music] [Music] please [Music] [Music] as we go out is one way through this exit door there is a you

Channel: Camp Hill SDA Church

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Length: 119min 36sec (7176 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021