FALL WEEK OF PRAYER 2021 | Sabbath, Sept 25 | Northern Caribbean University

happy sabbath church happy sabbath church it is an awesome privilege to be alive this morning to be able to celebrate this day of rest and gladness we're going to begin our praise and worship with him number 388 don't forget the sabbath don't forget [Music] the brightest it brings reports from labor it tells of joy divine it seems of light descending with heavy welcome welcome everyone [Music] who said to his disciples i am the living way and if we meet revolution [Music] [Music] welcome [Music] day of sacred pleasure its goals and hearts will stand in stands for hymns to jesus the children's oh gentle loving savior how good and kind how precious is my promise to dwell [Music] [Music] amen number 382 a day of rest and gladness oh [Music] [Applause] holy [Music] [Applause] intercepted [Music] is [Music] a day of sweets reflection of love a day true is affection from my two dreams about [Music] we reach the rest and our final hint for sabbath school this morning is number 286 words of life over again to me wonderful words of life [Music] words of life and beauty teach me faith and duty beautiful words wonderful words wonderful words beautiful words wonderful words wonderful words of life christ the blessed one gives to all wonderful [Applause] words of life words wonderful words beautiful words words [Music] foreign [Music] wonderful words of life [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yeah precious [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] is [Music] me [Music] thy kingdom [Music] i will be it is [Music] us this [Music] and forgive us [Music] [Applause] yes [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] into temptation [Music] for us [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] good [Music] i [Music] am [Music] good morning everyone happy sabbath the theme for a week of prayer is let's follow jesus the journey of love and our sabbath school theme is a journey a road trip we welcome here you at church and invite all our visitors and members to journey with us on this road trip one of the things a traveler does when taking a long journey by a car is to first tune up the car this was ably done by our praise team as they conducted some service they tuned up the car and we are ready to go but on our journey we need a road map and this was just done by song or prayer by sister petal chambers and now we will have our opening scripture reading which will be done by sister tullo now let us plan our road trip and to do that we will read the scripture which is psalm 34 verses 1 through 8 and it says i will bless the lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth my soul shall make her boast in the lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad o magnify the lord with me and let us exalt his name together i saw the lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears they looked unto him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed this poor man cried and the lord heard him and save him from all his troubles the angel of the lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them all teased and see that the lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him amen another important resource that is needed on a road trip is an emergency kit our emergency kit is the cross a medicine kit contains medical supplies that can in fact save lives jesus is the son of god who died on the cross to save us from our sins believing this by faith can save us now when the journey begins we will need some good music to cheer us along the way and our praise team will come and do just that as they sing the hymn 159 the old rugged cross [Music] please stand [Music] [Music] so i cherish [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] so i'll cherish the old darkest [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] and it changed [Music] but sister brown what is a journey a journey is an act of or the period of traveling from one place to another a journey has six parts let's discuss them you may be seated thank you all right so what i know about the journey is that you must have a beginning right so before we begin we need to seek some form of guidance or information to go along the way and where do we get that information or who do we seek it from and matthew 6 verse 33 tells us that it's best to seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and he will take care of the rest the second part is the walk we should walk according to the will of god how do we do this by obeying his word the third part it's never good to travel this road alone so companionship is key and even though we're traveling with our brothers and sisters in christ the best friend to have is jesus the next part is to enjoy the scenery and even though i don't like traveling when i do so this is perhaps the best part for me we should try to enjoy the road trip and ephesians 5 verse 19 tells us to speak to one another with psalms hymns and songs psalms hymns and songs from the spirit to sing and to make music from your heart to the lord let's do this while we enjoy the journey but sister braun you know one thing i've found out especially traveling in jamaica is that you will encounter portals oh yeah and we can unlike those potholes that will encounter to the trials we'll face along the way but first corinthians 10 verse 13 states that there has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but god is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but with but will with the temptation also make a way of escape that is so true and of course because i don't like traveling that much my favorite part is coming up and sister taller when traveling the best thing to hear the best thing to hear the gps say is what you have arrived your destination don't you agree yes the final stage of the journey is the home the destination and our destination is in heaven won't it be a joy to hear the one who has been with us on the road trip say welcome home enter into the joy of the lord yes it will be at this time i know that many of us have been on a journey where we get tired and just want to rest so let us now invite our university president dr lincoln edwards to review the suburb school lesson where he will let us know how we may participate in the ultimate rest good morning and welcome to sabbath school more specifically welcome to lesson study lesson study is an interactive event that means those of you who are in the congregation physically you get a chance to perhaps share your thoughts or ask your questions this quarter and today is 13 sabbath so that means it's the end of the quarter and for the entire quarter we have been studying rest in in jesus rest in christ and it seems to me that living in a sinful world fear and restlessness are our constant companions we worry about many things students worry about school fees students worry about grades did i do well in that test persons who are married ma worry about marriages those who are unmarried worry whether they will ever get married and people are all of us constantly seem to worry about money we never seem to have enough of it so there are ample amount of things for us to worry about and so this lesson was designed to remind us that we can find rest for our restless souls in jesus christ in fact john 10 and verse 10 reminds us that the thief does not come except to kill and to destroy and to steal but jesus says i am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly and part of this abundant life of which jesus speaks can only be derived when we find true rest in him because it is only when our souls are at rest in jesus that we find the highest expression of our being and our purpose so outside of christ we are always wanderers and so we have had 13 lessons to remind us how to find rest in jesus we spoke about rest on the sabbath and other aspects and this morning our lesson is titled is the ultimate rest and that is what we will explore today please join me in repeating that memory text found in uh corinthians first corinthians 2 and verse 9. but as it is written i hath not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which god has prepared for those who love him just the very reading of that verse creates an anticipation within us because we are told we have not seen we have not heard we have not experienced in this life the glorious things that god has in store for those who serve him so therefore immediately we are anticipating these things we want to know exactly what are these wonderful things that god speaks about and even as we contemplate those things we are reminded that all of us are part of this struggle that we refer to as adventists as the great controversy this great controversy started in heaven remember revelation 12 there was war in heaven michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels that's where it all began in the in the peace and tranquility of heaven there was war and michael prevailed and the angel the dragon was cast out and of all the places he could go he chose to come to planet earth and when he came here he deceived eve and adam fell soon after and because of that a life of misery and restlessness was unleashed restlessness because we were separated from god because of sin isaiah reminds us that it is our sins that have separated us from god and as long as we are separated from god or a creator we will find no peace in our souls so in order for us to achieve the ultimate rest we have to a way has to be found for us to come back to our creator because it is only in communion and relationship with our creator that we will find peace in our souls and so this conflict is played out on a cosmic scale we saw glimpses of that in the book of job but there's also personal level to this conflict and each of us throughout our lives can talk about the restlessness we feel in our own souls when we have not served god the way we ought we feel that restlessness in our souls when we wander away from him because of sin we feel that restlessness in our souls and we wonder whether his love is strong enough to pull us back into right relationship with him we wonder because we do it so often that we wonder if we are being presumptuous in what we do and when we remember that the psalmist in psalm 51 says keep me back from presumptuous sin that i might not be guilty of the great transgression we worry and we wander as a result of that and so these are some of the things that we have to consider and i'm going to take your questions in a while are your comments in a while but these are some of the things that we have to consider in sunday's lesson it tells us about a vision of the end and we find here that john the beloved disciple the last of the disciples to close his eyes in death he was exiled on a lonely island called patmos and john as the less appoints us must have wondered how did he end up on this lowly island because he had fond memories of walking with jesus experiencing the miracles of jesus and even being rebuked by jesus because when john says in john 9 in luke 9 and 49 that master i saw one casting out demons in your name and we rebuked him john even wanted to call on fire from heaven and jesus says you know not what spirit is within you and it is the same john now finding himself on patmos alone looking forward to the great return of jesus christ and i want to remind us that loneliness can do terrible things to people it was when john the baptist was alone in prison that he started to question whether in fact jesus was the messiah the same jesus that he john had announced to the world behold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world the same jesus who john had baptized in jordan who he said master i am not even worthy to unloose your shoelace and jesus says suffer it to be so the same john who heard the voice of god from heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased and he saw the the dove the spirit descended in the form of a dove he saw all of that and yet alone in prison he sent persons to ask are you the christ this is what loneliness does to us when we are separated from those who we love and that is why kovit is so dangerous because it separates us from so many of the people that we love we no longer feel their embrace we can't touch them the way we want and it does things to us that perhaps we would not do because we are social beings and yet yet jesus because he cares for us gave john a vision of the history of his church right there in in revelation 1 where john saw one like the son of man moving among the several candlesticks moving along the church among the church of god god jesus is constantly with his church and more so in the church in the last days so we have nothing to fear in this world of restlessness what john saw is an assurance to us today that jesus will be with us even to the end that's what he said lo i am with you always even to the end so we have no fear thought question thank you mr president good morning sabbath school now when soldiers are going into battle or when they are being trained they are told why god even existed before god created man god knew everything why draw human beings into this battle this great controversy so the question is as god knew everything so why why did he allow human beings to get mixed up in this great controversy why why not leave us out of it and you can ask yourself that question because if if there is one thing we know about well let's put it let's let's talk about jamaicans it's one thing i know about jamaicans is that we love excitement and if it was left to us alone we would not be left out of this battle not when so much is at stake every world headline you have a jamaican finds a way to get involved be it good or bad so i so i believe we we would have it no other way we would be upset with god if we were left out as jamaicans i firmly believe that but but but but what we had what got what god gave us as human beings was an opportunity to experience his love and by our actions to vindicate his name and we must not we must not underestimate the tremendous importance of that it means that this little planet earth and you know when you line up earth with all the other planets uh we are quite small you know compared to the others and seemed insignificant but god has given us cosmic significance because the entire universe is now watching to see how the great controversy is playing out on planet earth and we would have it no other way this is the hour to which we have come when we have been given a tremendous responsibility to preach the gospel to speak of god in his goodness and his love and to have that lived out in our lives this is not something to be taken lightly all the things that the prophet spoke of before many of them we have the opportunity to witness them coming to pass you know how abraham would have loved to see our day to see the things that he spoke about and you and i are the ones called to to have witness to that how do we respond to that greater privilege so i i want to get more of your thoughts i saw some hands earlier so let me let me bring you in pastor go ahead thank you so much you are our shepherd sir share with us everyone happy sabbath we also discover that in addition to the question and the response that you have given that it was by choice that man became a part of the great controversy yes because right there in the garden of eden he had all the privileges that god could have given but god said to him of this tree do not eat thereof because the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die so man chose to be a part of the great controversy and because adam did it has been passed on to all of us i want to go a step further and ask another question the lesson outlines to us in saint matthew 28 looking from verse 18 to 20 the four alls of evangelism all power is given unto me go eat therefore into all the world preach the gospel to all nations and lo i am with you always how can i in this pandemic clearly and effectively minister to someone whose parents are breadwinners and they are cut down suddenly by this virus and those closely connected to me even myself is their suffering how can i assure such individual that god is with him with her always so that is the question how do we when people are suffering and hurting how do we come close to them in a way that they know that they are not alone and in a sense when people are suffering and struggling that's when they need companionship the most that's when they need to hear that others care about them and so we have an opportunity either through texting to social distancing visiting through and applying social distances but we have a way to reach out to people and to say i am here for you i am close by and do tangible things for people so they can see through our actions that we really care [Music] and and these are glorious opportunities and you would be amazed to know how people welcome this kind of input sometimes in the process of grieving they may be at the stage of blame and you are not getting through at that time but do not give up here is the patience of the saints let's be patient with each other because people really wants us thought there okay happy start with everyone happy savage just to answer the first question and then the second i anyone who knows me knows very well that one of my favorite things to see is at the end of the book the great controversy the last thing that he said is god is love that is something we will all come to know at the end of this great controversy and that is something i hope to be true about god's character so even in the sin that exists no why is it that god allows it to continue simply because god is love and he's not just love he is holy love therefore we also get the opportunity to choose him he has already chosen us no it is that we the way i look at it in the end we are looking at god's character we will be the one who will judge to say whether or not what he did as it were before we were if that was just and i believe that is where the conclusion will be we have we will have nothing else to say save the fact that he is love every action of justice anything that he has done flows from his love and it's not just a love that we say okay god will forgive me if i fall but it is also a love that says he is holy right and those things cannot be separated he is holy and he's just and all those things flow from love the second point as to what pastor he says i was looking for a scripture i believe it's in jude uh the book of jude was written mostly for us who are of the faith i think we should read it a part of it says verb chapter well it's only one chapter but verse 3 says beloved while i was very diligent to write to you concerning or common salvation i found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which once was for all delivered to the saints and reading through jude i gathered that we must contend not just for ourselves but we must contend for the faith of others and jude outlines to us different ways we can do that some it says summit tells us that you'll have to fight for them others you'll have to leave them be it's a slow process with others but it outlines to us in scripture that listen we must contend for others you won't make it to heaven if you're content no to see your brother fall if that's that's something you are okay with i i don't really see how the fruit i guess that's not my place but to say that if you have truly experienced god god's love you want others to be there for you and i can say for myself it is the contending of others the soft sometimes hard sometimes harsh words not harsh but well needed words that got me to where i am to believe in the love of god and so sometimes it's different things and as pastor he says tangible things that we can do for others to show them and truth and in fact all of us are struggling guys all of us as university students as adults we are struggling and i believe with sharing with others that they are not alone that we too sometimes fall and we too sometimes have to grapple with god that honesty is really what we need we don't need the facade right now i think that's a bit you know old it's outdated if we share truly with others our experiences they will be able to see too that god has saved the worst of us including myself thank you so much for those thoughts thank you pastor now i don't know about you but i want to know how it all ends because i'm here in this world we are struggling as was mentioned all of it but there must be something different so i want to know how it all ends and so revelation 21 says and i saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea so those of you who liked the beach and i john saw the holy city new jerusalem coming down from god out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and i heard a great voice out of heaven saying behold the tabernacle of god is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people this is how it was in the in the beginning it's going to be the same in the end god with his people dwelling with them they shall be his people and god himself shall be with them and be their god glorious words and god shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things that are passed away and he sat upon and he that sat upon the throne said behold i make all things new away with the old as our sister said away with the facade away with the old i make all things new and as if to underline the importance and the gravity of these words and the truthfulness of these words he said unto me right for these words are true and faithful god is adding his signature to those words and he's saying you can believe it because i have spoken it so it doesn't matter what we are going through in life the end has been guaranteed a new heaven and a new earth tears and all those things will be passed away so it is because we have these words and the assurance of these words why the child of god should be able to stand in a crisis and stand out in the crisis so even though we are all suffering and we are all going our going to difficult times our response to the crisis must be different we cannot appear as ordinary as everyone else because we have received extra ordinary words we have received an extraordinary commission so we cannot behave as if we are ordinary doing what everyone else is doing something about the word of god must transcend allow us to be transformed and we must stand in a crowd and be the one to give hope to people who are looking to somebody or somewhere for hope we must stand up like paul stood up on that ship when it was about to go down he stood up and he says be not afraid we must stand up in a world of fear and say to people there is a way out god has made a way of escape from this world of sin and sinfulness it is the everlasting gospel that we have been called to preach it's the same gospel when man sinned god became true christ became our substitute god was in christ reconciling the world unto himself christ became our substitute and died on calvary's cross to guarantee our salvation and when he rose arose resurrection morning he guaranteed our salvation so that now all whosoever will can come and achieve that salvation and he has also guaranteed the future of the church of god that's why he said the gates of hell will never prevail so it doesn't matter how buffeted the church is or what we are going through as individuals if we remain in a right relationship with god victory is a sure the child of god victory is assured the church of god so therefore we can stand and speak and act as if we are different act as if we are victorious so brothers and sisters we are counting down we are counting down jesus gave a series of series of events that will take place before his second coming and we are privileged to be witnessing some of these things wars rumors of wars people against people all these things we are witnesses too and because we are witnesses to it it means that you and i can believe it we can live for jesus as if we believe it and we can treat each other with the dignity and respect that is a that should be afforded to any child of god so that when jesus comes we can face him blessed is that servant whom when his master cometh findeth him working we have our marching orders then which is to go and to proclaim the gospel and to live for jesus and when we do that we can find rest in him we can find peace in him and of course while we are living in this sinful world we won't rejoice in all our trials but we will rejoice always in jesus rejoice in our relationship with jesus that will see us moving from this life to life eternal and what a day of glorious praise and adoration that will be when sinful mortals are transformed and reunited with our god for all eternity i am looking forward to that day i hope you are too may god bless us as we continue to worship him in spirit and in truth happy sabbath family so today i'm here to give my testimony my song so earlier this week i said to god when adrian asked in the in the prayer steam group who would like to give a testimony i was like lord should i say something do i even know what testimony to give and i'm like god please by the end of the week give me a testimony because personally my life testimony i don't think it is ready for god to really have me say it or write to everyone so i'm like god please give me a testimony before the week ends and i must say i agree with the president he said that sometimes when people are urging we have to give them tangible things to assure them that we care and today i want to thank the president for this tablet that he gave me earlier in the spring semester and he has completed a testimony in my life when i wanted to give up i was legit at the point where i'm saying i want to give up i am done with ncu and my laptop was broken my phones were given problem and he assured me that god wants me to be here by donating this tablet to me so i give god praise for that testimony so as i said earlier i asked god to give me a testimony for this week and this is what he did i got the answer last night when i was about to go to bed right now i'm a dental hygiene student and i have my dental instruments that need to be bought and i don't have the money my dad is working on it my church in kingston can cut seven adventists praise god for them have they have done so much for me i have to give thanks for them and the last night i was there and i'm like god you haven't given me the testimony what am i going to say to your people and i checked my message i realized that i didn't respond to one of my friends and i saw the message and i replied to her and she said rachel i got the thing for you and best believe it is half of a hundred thousand dollars a little bit above that so i give god praise for that so i know for a fact that some of my instruments will be bought and the song that i'd like to share with you is blessed assurance jesus is mine just a small a small part of it so it says blessed assurance jesus is mine oh what a foretaste [Music] of glory divine air of salvation you are a year of salvation you are a purchase of god you are born of his spirit [Music] and you are washed in his blood hallelujah this is my story oh lord this is my song hallelujah praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior [Music] all the day long everybody sing this is my story come this is my story hallelujah this is [Music] [Music] this is my soul [Music] so to anyone that is feeling to give up in this season and you feel like there is no hope put god to the test and just know that he will come through even if it it if it is at the last minute and i have this mask and it says put god first so in whatever you do whatever you're going through put god first [Music] amen we want to thank sister hall for our testimony a testimony that sums up what we were saying through sabbath school we are on a journey you will have hiccups along the way you will have tests and trials along the way but just remember your companion is there with you your best friend jesus our savior so as we come to the end of sabbath school i just want to encourage you all as we go along the journey of life as we continue on our path to heaven our final destination just remain faithful remain true knowing that god is always with us and our president will close us off with prayer let us bow our heads to prayer loving god and our father we thank you for your words of encouragement and we thank you for the privilege we have to find ultimate rest in you our creator and our redeemer we thank you for the blessings received at sabbath school and we look forward now to an even deeper relationship with you during the divine hour we ask that you will bless all who are in attendance at this service today we ask that you will bless those who are online look with favor on your people everywhere those who are suffering those who are in need of your comforting love and father we look forward to the time when you will come in the clouds of glory what a glorious day that will be keep us faithful then until then and in right relationship with you that we might be among the redeemed for all ages we give thee thanks and praise your name because of jesus your son amen happy sabbath again everyone happy seven we are about to do our praise and worship to begin our divine service today isn't god good church hasn't got been good to you it has been such a long long week and i've been looking forward to this day when i saw the news that 50 of us could be in here i was so excited i was like yes father god i will be singing to myself this morning so i'm very very happy that you guys are here i'm very happy that we have this day that we can arrest and just praise god this holy day that was sanctified by him and today our praise and worship is about his holiness right isn't god holy church isn't he holy and we're going to sing about that today holy holy holy [Music] [Music] holy [Music] hallelujah we praise you holy holy holy [Music] hallelujah we praise you holy holy holy god almighty hallelujah we praise you holy holy holy god almighty hallelujah we praise you holy holy holy [Music] hallelujah we praise you [Music] hallelujah we praise you holy holy holy god all my teeth hallelujah we praise you angels [Applause] lord of glory your night shines brighter than [Music] your high holy holy holy king of heaven a strong tower [Music] [Music] declaring your majesties [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] if [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] glory the lord is worthy to be praised he's magnificent and he is indeed holy [Music] is your name [Music] hallelujah [Music] is your name one more time [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] is [Applause] your name [Music] magnificence and holy is your name we are a moment you are forever lord of the ages god before time we are a favor but you are eternal love everlasting raining on [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] holy holy one more time holy holy lord god almighty [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus christ jesus [Music] holy holy holy [Music] in the morning our song shall rise to thee [Music] [Music] god [Music] and we thank god in three persons god [Applause] [Music] amen [Music] let us stand for the call to worship [Music] our call to worship comes to us from psalm 150 verses 1 to 6. praise the lord praise god in his sanctuary praise him in his mighty firmament praise him for his mighty acts praise him according to his excellent greatness praise him with the sound of the trumpet praise him with the loot and heart harp praise him with the timbrel and dance praise him with the stringed instruments and flutes praise him with loud symbols praise him with clashing symbols let everything that has breath praise the lord praise the lord [Music] rest [Music] [Music] oh jesus bless [Music] [Music] the [Music] our father in heaven it is indeed a joy to be in your presence we invoke your holy spirit in this place may he speak to our hearts as we wait to hear from you and may he condescend in our midst so much that your presence will bring joy to our hearts and hope to our souls they're asking in jesus name amen [Music] sing with me the song bless the lord o my soul bless the lord o my soul [Music] i will bless the lord [Music] is [Music] [Music] it is for this reason why we have come here at the gymnatorium at northern caribbean university i am blessed in the name of the lord and you are invited today and you have come to join me as we bless the name of the lord because he has done great things he has done great things in that he has kept us safe from the pandemic he has done great things because he has recorded us in our right minds and here we are worshiping together for when god's people get together even in the stormy weather the purpose for which we come together is to praise the name of the lord so i welcome you i welcome those who are joining us in this gymnatorium i welcome those who are joining us by means of the social media platform and even those who are not in this immediate gymnatorium but on the outside we welcome you and we are so glad that you have chosen to be here with us worshiping as we celebrate week of pearl 2021 yes it is fall week of prayer as we celebrate our great god and our king and we just praise him for this opportunity in a special way i welcome lady dyer i welcome jaden it's good to have you it's good to have you and uh the moment that i noticed that you are here i saw a different smile on your husband's face pastor we welcome you we welcome you sir all the way from west jamaica conference it is our joy to share and to celebrate with you today and uh we want you to feel more relaxed in the frame of mind to worship and we believe that fellowship comes before worship so i'm going to ask a praise team at this time to sing or welcome song as you join in as you learn as you participate as you sing okay so we're gonna switch it up on you guys this morning is that okay is that okay is that okay okay so i'm gonna teach you a new song this morning so we're gonna sing everything twice so listen the first time get it and then sing with us okay we do when i say now one more time we welcome you to church at ncu we welcome you to church at ncu we represent our god in all we do now you could have gone anywhere you could have gone anywhere we're so glad that you're here [Music] welcome [Music] [Music] we will [Music] yes we are so glad that you are here and we welcome you at ncu may i just quickly share with you how you can participate in a number of our programs and the activities that are before us and we welcome you to participate we welcome you to be involved in intentional giving in our church building complex it's going in earnest and even when there is no movement days we are there getting the work done because we are construction workers amen we welcome you to participate we welcome you we welcome you to join in our fall week of spiritual emphasis which started last evening and will run all through this week there will be a minor adjustment to what you are accustomed to so on tuesday on tuesday of next week instead of starting our fall week of prayer at 2 p.m we are fast forwarding and we are going to start it at 12 noon and it will run from 12 noon until 1 30. at 1 30 we will be having viewing of the body of the late dr newton click on from 1 30 on to 2 o'clock and this will be viewing by streaming for those who want to have face-to-face viewing of the body of dr kligon you're invited to go to tnl paradise at ward avenue that's just be beyond first global on that side so beyond first global just before treasure box right there you'll find tnl paradise you can go there from 8 30 to 1 p.m at the funeral home for face to face viewing at two o'clock we will have the thanksgiving service taking place right here but just to let you know that the body will not be here the body of the late dr newton clegon will not be here we will view by streaming are you hearing me so 2 p.m we will start the thanksgiving service right here and those who are not able to come you will have the privilege to view on the social media platforms we will be having multiple streaming on 10 different platforms so that everyone can gain access remember to continue to pray with and for the family as they go through this moment of grief and bereavement then on wednesday on wednesday september 29 we will travel from mandeville on to westmoreland where we will do the internment close to a community at peters field so if you know petersfield we are going to be close to petersfield for the internment may i also remind you board members that for the month of september we will not have any formal board meeting we thank you for having participated in or per vigil that took place on wednesday of this week and every fourth wednesday in the month every fourth wednesday in the month leading to the completion of the church building complex we will be having similar per vigil that will be beam right across jamaica union atko and across north america and beyond so feel free to join us this means that our elders on duty we will not plan as it were any formal church of per experience on foot wednesday because on fourth wednesday we have set aside that for or per vigil these are some of the important notices that i want you to bear in mind as we continue to pray and as we continue to press along it is my joy to introduce and to present to you our university president dr lincoln edwards invite him at this time to come and he will bring greetings and thereafter introduce to us our week of first speaker for fall 2021 god bless you as we worship him today in jesus name thank you very much pastor hay on this holy sabbath day i have the privilege of greeting everyone who has joined us for the second day of our annual fall week of prayer this second day of our fall week of prayer is taking place in the second year of the second century of ncu in manchester i greet one and all on behalf of the northern caribbean university administration my family the students faculty and staff of this institution of god's planting we give thanks to our creator and king for the blessings of this is holy sabbath day he who made us knew very well that we would need this tabernacle in time to recharge our spiritual batteries by focusing on he who made us and those whom he made so we have come this morning with our praises our thanksgiving and our joy we have come with our heartaches our brokenness and our anxieties we still come and we intend to lay all at the feet of our god and king we will pour out all that is within us to him today and we will leave from this day of joy and gladness renewed revived and indeed rejoicing students and workers visitors to the week of prayer worldwide you have indeed come with your own special needs and praises you have you are in fact at the right place where together we will worship and praise god in 1907 when god inspired a people to raise up northern caribbean university right here in jamaica the world was experiencing wonderful breakthroughs and also major challenges it was in 1907 that albert heinstein began to apply the laws of gravity to the theory of relativity which he describes as his happiest thought but it was also in 1907 january 14 to be exact that 800 persons died in what became known as the 1907 kingston earthquake the fires associated with the earthquake burned 56 acres of the city destroying nearly all the historical buildings from south of parade in in kingston and so i put it to you today that it was no accident that ncu was founded in 1907 in jamaica and as we as we were raised up to provide hope to show god's love and foster healing for this nation and the territories we impact and which are impacted by us in 1919 ncu moved from saint catherine to mandeville manchester to the property on which the main campus now stands but as you are probably aware the spanish flu pandemic was also raging at that time in 1919 again i put it to you that northern caribbean university has been tasked by god to be a beacon of hope during difficult times we are here to encourage all with whom we come in contact we are here to encourage men and women boys and girls to follow jesus and we do this more by how we live our lives in community with our family friends and neighbors and less by what we say and since following jesus is a journey of love ncu family and other leaders let it be that when we deal with each other the love of jesus that we speak of so often is experienced by each of us let us end our daily work duties encouraged and with hearts full of gratitude and joy for the way we have dealt with each other so on this sabbath day of rest i say to each and all let's follow jesus and let's ensure that in following him our journey is indeed a journey of love i also have the special privilege to introduce our speaker for this fall week of prayer our speaker for this week of prayer is past the ven cut dire and if you joined us last night for the first night of the week of prayer you would have encountered pasta diet during the vesper service and you would have gotten your own glimpse of who this man of god is for those of you who are joining for the first time pastor venkataya who is the brother of miss vivine dyer who has served faithfully as my executive assistant for a number of years was raised in the parish of saint elizabeth where his educational pursuit led him to monroe college he moved on from there to northern caribbean university from which he graduated at the top of his graduating class with a bachelor's degree in religion magna laude and a minor in fine arts he subsequently commenced his calling and passion at the west jamaica conference of seventh-day adventists where he has been pastoring for approximately 15 years pastor dyer presently pastors the glenn devon district of seventh-day adventist churches in montego bay and has been across jamaica and the united states delivering messages of hope his educational journey continues however as he is now pursuing a master of arts in pastoral theology at the inter-american theological seminary the iats he currently serves as the president of the west jamaica conference ministerial fraternity he is a justice of the peace for the island of jamaica with jurisdiction in the parish of saint james he's a volunteer chaplain for the jamaica constabulary force and is a radio evangelist for tv fm atlanta in the united states he serves on various committees at the west jamaica conference including the finance committee and the biblical research committee and has also written and published a series of bible tracks now available from the west jamaica conference resource center he is married to the beautiful kim white and kim is here this morning i just invite her to stand and be recognized thank you kim and they have one child my son jaden jaden would you stand and be recognized amen amen thank you both today as the lord speaks to our hearts through his manservant pastor dyer i ask that you whisper a prayer for this man of god so that the spirit of god will come upon him in a mighty way and that the message he receives today will be a message that proves to be transformative for all of us so pastor dyer will come at the appropriate time but until then pray for this man of god and may our worship today draw us ever so closer to our savior and king blessings today as we take this journey of love follow in jesus let us unite our hearts and our voices as we sing the melodious hymn shall we stand i love thee i love this [Music] [Applause] no [Music] i'm happy i'm happy [Music] i gaze on my treasures and long to be there with jesus and angels thank you [Music] oh jesus my savior with thee i am blessed my life and salvation [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] my [Music] of pleasure my spirit our passage of scripture for meditation today comes to us from matthew chapter 16 reading verses 13 through 16 and it reads thus when jesus came into the course of caesarea philippi he asked his disciples saying whom do men say that i the son of man am and they said some say that thou art john the baptist some elias and others jeremias or one of the prophets he saith unto them but whom say he that i am and simon peter answered and said thou art the christ the son of the living god may the lord add his blessings to the reading of his holy words [Music] what a friend we have in jesus [Music] all our sins and griefs [Music] it is to carry [Music] everything to god in perth some things we have not some things [Applause] [Music] when we have a friend who's there [Music] we should never be discarded [Music] take it [Music] when every other voice is hushed and in quietness we wait before him the silence of the soul makes more distinct the voice of god every one of us needs to hear him speak to our hearts and so this morning we approach the presence of the almighty one through the avenue of prayer and it is said that the slim nerve of prayer moves the mighty muscles of omnipotence and so our father in heaven we come before you this morning through the only name given among men whereby we must be saved our savior the lord jesus christ your son the one who offered himself to die in our stead so that we may have eternal life and as we bow before you father we plead the blood of our dear savior jesus christ at this time for cleansing we confess our sinfulness before you and we ask you to forgive us purify our hearts and help that our prayers will be acceptable unto you as the holy spirit himself will guide us in our praying and who himself will make intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered because on occasions lord our pain is so deep our confusion is so great the darkness around us is so thick that we cannot but groan we cannot articulate words but the holy spirit interprets our groans and he articulates our emotions before god and god answers and gives us his peace father it is a trying time in the world we are seeing unheard of situations we are experiencing trouble on every side fear and confusion and the expectation of those things which are coming up on the earth the hearts of men are failing them for fear but your word tells us that the lord has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind and so we ask you heavenly father as we behold these things that your holy spirit will help us to anchor our faith in jesus and that we will take our eyes off the dark things of this world and we will focus on the glory of the face of jesus because you tell us that when we look into the face of jesus the things of this world will grow strangely dim lord we thank you for this time in which we live as challenging as the times are we are witnessing things that the prophets spoke about and we know for sure that these are the very last days of earth's history earth is experiencing its final pangs but things are going to get worse and so we need to anchor deeply our faith in christ and his word we ask you to help us where this matter is concerned there are many distractions there are many challenges but lord we ask that you will help us to keep focus keep our eyes on christ and keep our faith in god i pray that as we go through this week of prayer that your holy spirit will be poured out anew afresh in our hearts that we will be lifted to heaven as we listen to the words of your man's servant as we yield ourselves to the wooing of the holy spirit we pray heavenly father that we will have a new experience with christ jesus our lord not only us here on the campus but those who are joining us on the various media we pray for them as well father we are yearning to see the manifestation the great manifestation of the power of the holy spirit in this land in this world to agitate men and women to abandon this the things of the this world and to focus their hearts on jesus you have promised that it will come it will happen and you have said to us that we should ask for the rain in the time of the latter rain and you will send refreshing showers of the holy spirit in our land we thank you heavenly father for the man you have sent to speak your word to us this week pastor dyer then cut dire the servant of god we pray that you will lay your hand upon him again we pray that you will put your spirit within him again and that you will put your words on his lips on his tongue and that as the words of truth come forth it will be not him that is bringing the conviction but the spirit of god through the word of truth and souls will yield to the savior i pray for those who have various challenges i pray for those who are struggling financially with their health with their relationships family and otherwise i pray that you will give us enough challenges enough hardships to keep us on our knees but you have promised that you will never leave us into a path where defeat is inevitable and where deliverance is impossible so do whatever is necessary to train us to discipline us and to help us to trust you more and at the end as we are tried by the fires may we come out as pure gold fit for the master's palace we thank you lord for hearing our prayer today we thank you for answering our prayers to the honor and glory of the most high god in jesus name amen [Music] when we have a friend who's there [Music] lord [Music] should never be this [Applause] [Music] take it to the lord [Music] good morning boys and girls good morning bigger boys and girls the title of today's story is a time for love a long long time ago all the feelings happiness sadness knowledge love hate anger confusion uncertainty and many others live on an island one day due to the flood they realized that they would sink and so all of them made boats and left the island all except love love decided that she would hold on until the very last moment but soon she realized that if she did not leave she might sink so at the very last moment love decided to ask for help love saw richness richness passed by in a grand boat and so she asked richness can you take me with you please richness answered no i can't there's a lot of gold and silver in my boat there is no place for you here then she asks pride who was also passing in a beautiful boat vanity please help me i can't help you love you are always you might damage my vote vanity answered sadness also passed close by so love said sadness help me go with let me go with you o love i am so sad that i need to be by myself confusion and uncertainty passed by but they were so lost that they did not even hear when love called out suddenly love heard a voice saying come love i will take you and when she looked around it was an elder love felt so blessed and overjoyed that she forgot to ask the elder where they were going when they arrived at dryland the elder without saying a word just went without saying a word love realized that if it had not been for the elder she would have drowned and so she asked elder knowledge who helped me it was time elder knowledge answered time love acts but why did time help me knowledge smile unanswered because time is capable of understanding how valuable love is boys and girls this story reminds me of many texts in the bible for example equation 6 3 verse 8 which says a time to love a time to hate a time of war and a time of peace you see in life we will experience sadness hate happiness and become sometimes angry but despite all these emotions we are all love and we must take time to acknowledge this love especially the love of god let us pray heavenly father we thank you for today we thank you for your unconditional love help us to always acknowledge and accept their god help us to share your love with others so they can come to know you heavenly father for these another mercies we pray amen i'm going to ask you now to get your tithes and offerings ready to return to the lord i share with you from second corinthians chapter nine verses six to eight but this i say he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully so let each one give as he purposes in his heart not grudgingly or s are of necessity for god loves a cheerful giver and god is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work i invite the deacons to take their stance at this time as they get ready to collect let us pray heavenly father your word tells us that all things come of thee oh god and of that own do we give to you we have come to offer up to you the gifts that you have blessed us with the portion that you require and a love offering for the furtherance of your cause here on earth we pray your blessing upon those who give and we pray your blessing upon the gifts that they may be used for the furtherance of your cause and we thank you for hearing our prayer in jesus name all right deacons please do the collecting in the meantime i'm going to share with you those of you who are online how you may give your offerings and make your contributions to the various other projects that the church is undertaking for tithes and offerings you may give you may contact pastor joel haye at uh four one nine zero six eight eight four one nine zero six eight eight of course the area code 876 before all of the numbers that i'll give you may contact elder lilith scarlett at 867-0064-867-0064 or you may contact the treasurer michael thompson 387-2336-387-2336 uh online giving is also available at give.centralja.org uh in giving to the church building fund you may deposit your us dollars in u.s account 501 nine seven two six five eight or in jamaican currency uh jamaican account number six three three five five eight at the bank of nova scotia mandeville branch and uh the ncu checking account three two one dash one five also at bns in mandeville um bringing all the tides into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and prove me now here with say the lord if i will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing praise the lord [Music] oh give thanks unto the lord for he is good yes he is good oh give thanks unto the lord for he is good yes he is good for he is worthy worthy for he is good yes he is good for he is worthy worthy for he is good yes he is the lord for he is good yes he is unto the lord for he is good yes he is [Music] [Music] [Music] yes [Music] good [Music] [Music] we give [Music] thee [Music] one pleasant sabbath everyone [Music] i don't deserve the love you show the blood you said covers my wrong [Music] beyond my flaws oh lord you see and still you still use use even me oh lord i try to do my best although sometimes i do much less you call my name and i ran away but still you call me [Music] another day yes even me lord [Music] even me [Music] my guilty stays you wash them clean and said you still use you leave me [Applause] [Music] sometimes i fall and make mistakes but brand new mercies [Music] and out of the darkness [Music] you lived in me yes even me lord even [Music] my guilty stains you washed them clean and said you'll still use use even me [Music] [Music] but you couldn't use anybody else anybody else but lord you still use me [Music] praise the lord if you can use anything lord you can use me what a message in song from sister francis my heart was blessed thank you so much my dear sister for blessing us with that song happy sabbath ncu family happy sabbath friends of ncu happy sabbath alumni of ncu it's a joy to join you today for week of prayer fall 2021 i must say thanks to the praise team who did an awesome job of setting the tone for worship today weren't you blessed hallelujah i was blessed let me say thanks to pastor hey for his kind words and for all the work he put in to make this a reality i also want to say thanks to dr edwards for his invitation to speak with you and for his kind words of introduction he has been quite a gentleman in his extension and and i really appreciate uh being allowed to speak to you i must also say thanks to my wife and son for accompanying me today and she's my driver you see it's a job when you have a wife who can drive you around and so i appreciate that it is an honor to stand in the desk of my distinguished alma mater i walked these and was a member of the trend setting standard bearing graduating class of 2006 and it was a life-changing experience as everyone who entered the halls of this institution can attest to and so it's a joy and a distinguished privilege for me to stand to speak to you from this desk the caption of this series is let's follow jesus a journey of love the message for today is captioned a question of love i invite you then to borrow heads with me as we pray father in heaven may you lead us into that love relationship with you and help us with the presence of your holy spirit lest we perish grant us wisdom and understanding of your word now for we ask it in jesus name amen i invite you all to open the word of the lord with me to the scripture passage that was able read earlier from matthew 16 verses 13 to 16 and i will read it again for emphasis it says when jesus came into the coasts of caesarea philippi he asked his disciples saying whom do men say that i the son of man am and they said some say thou art john the baptist some elias and authors jeremias or one of the prophets he saith unto them but whom say he that i am and simon peter answered and said the lord the christ the son of the living god this most powerful passage of scripture ensconced in the holy red with a most personal and intimate flavor captures an encounter initiated by our lord and savior with his most trusted and faithful followers but questions that must be answered by every living human being these are the most basic serious and critical questions asked of everyone who claims an allegiance to god and love for jesus christ jesus had just completed two tedious years of intense ministry a ministry of healing the sick while sympathizing with the sorrowful a ministry of delivering the disease while discoursing with his disciples a ministry of raising the dead while dealing with the devil a ministry of ministering to the multitude while showing mercy to the mistreated a tired and exhausted savior who needed to retreat from the people as he entered his third and final full year of ministry he needed to anchor faiths of his fledgling disciples for they were unprepared for the coming crisis that would flood their soul he was nearing the moment of the cross the bright happy days of praise and popularity would be replaced with ridicule and rejection the crowds that followed him would at last forsake him and the multitudes that administered unto him would shank away from him so jesus knew he needed to get down to some serious business with his disciples because they did not know what was coming but they needed to know without a shadow of a doubt who he is and what was coming they needed to know what he is about and about the fate of the christian church that will rest upon the faiths of these little bands of disciples the whole world should hear the gospel to the witness of these have spent time with him but their faith would be shaken before they could get to the cross so jesus jesus took them beyond the borders of their own country away from their families surrounding away from their native land to the outskirts of a gentile city a non-jewish city now in taking them on this journey to gentile lands our lord was seeking to enlarge the narrow view that these jewish disciples held on to he was seeking to expand their limited eyesight beyond the salvation of the jews only to an understanding that he is the lord of all for every nation every nate race every tongue every kindred every people the sinner and the penitent the deacon and the drunkard the celibate and the prostitute the straight jacket and the miniskirts the preacher and the hipster the president and the decadent the bald head and the dread almost know who jesus christ is and his power to save those who are lost everyone must know that jesus christ is lord of all and i'm so glad that he went beyond nazareth i'm so glad that he went outside of judea i am so glad that he went beyond the borders of galilee and the land of israel for by that act he reached out to you and i he reached out to us who weren't born jews he reached out to us who are not residents of judea or citizens of israel by going into a gentle land he reached out to us to let us know we can become children of god adapted to the family of abraham yes we can be adopted into the sonship of god through the blood of jesus christ for he went into a gentile land to seek and to save the lost it is believed by scholars that this was the mid-summer of 80-30 and he was traveling by foot 25 miles this city of caesarea was ruled by philip the tetrarch the son of herod the great it was a beautiful and famous city among the romans given by caesar augustus in 1820 to herod the great as a gift and so here was herod king of the jews who killed all the babies to prevent any threat to his leadership or that of caesar's in response herod built an a monument in honor in honor of augustus in 19 bc and we named the city caesarea he then willed the city and the region to his son phillip who built the city up as his capital and we named it caesarea philippi prior to the romans this was a greek attraction for pagan worship this city was under rome's rulership for many years and bestiality has sacrifices sex cults and idolatry flourished in the city of caesarea so wicked was the city that rabbis forbade good jews to enter the city and so herod who built the magnificent temple in jerusalem to worship the god of creation yahweh and herod also built a hidden temple to worship the roman emperor serving two gods the disciples surely must have wondered why is our lord and savior taking us to this city where they should have been on their way to jerusalem no doubt being prejudiced jews they might have felt uncomfortable in that setting where folks didn't look alike or sound alike but jesus was not going to buy some impact you swim no no there was a divine plan and significant reason to go to the city of caesarea at this time this place caesarea was a symbol of the double-minded it was a symbol of the undecided herod who gave up his birth right in glory for the praises of men on earth he needed their full attention so jesus took them to the place where they would not be distracted this was a time when the disciples ought to turn their eyes upon jesus and look full into his wonderful face to the things of earth go strangely them in the light of his glory and his grace we all need a place where we can meet with the master undisturbed we all need that secret place where we can speak freely with him we all need that place where we can bear our souls to the prince of peace and our stuff is good with him we all need that place where we can enter our own closets with jesus we all need that place that praying ground where we can have a little talk with jesus and tell him all about our souls where we will i will hear our faintest christ and he will answer by and by so jesus took them to caesarea where for the first time he would openly declare his divinity and tell them directly he was the son of god you see caesarea philippi had a very significant setting making it ideal for the discussion from ancient times the area of caesarea philippi had been revered as a center of worship in palestine it was a rival in the north to jerusalem in the south it is believed that the hedonistic worship of baal had its origins in this city in fact there were 14 sites 14 sites of baal worship erected around the city where visitors could visit at will it was there that many many of the ancient gods of the greeks had their dwelling place it was said that outside the city there was a cave with a fountain of water and it said that this was the birthplace of the heathen god pan or in other words god of the goats from which the whole concept of paganism evolved the greek worship of nature it was against this historic religious background that jesus reveals his divine identity and then he wanted to find out if the disciples had discerned his identity we don't know all that was discussed or disclosed but the gospels record two important questions two important questions that the master wants every human being to answer the master directed two important questions to the disciples there we find him revealing himself to all these questions are now directed to us here at ncu in 2021 questions that have to be answered by all christians of all ages they are powerful questions that leads over the centuries out of the gospels that confront us modern day christians they tap us on the back and stares us in the face and the first one says whom do men say that i am who do men say that i the son of man am he didn't ask for mere information no no he asked for an admission from an omissions questions it is never from a place of ignorant platitude but always from a place of informed altitude hear me somebody the divine one asks he says who do men say that i the son of man and for he always has a deliberate intent and purpose a clear mission and vision he had heard the rumors he knew the thoughts that circulated but he wanted to hear their hearts not merely their thoughts this was a question of love it was essential that they recognized who he was it was essential that they saw him as a messiah before they could anyway appreciate the meaning of his vicarious sacrifice on calvary if he was recognized only as a teacher come from god says john 3 verse 2 or as one of the ancient prophets risen from the dead according to matthew 16 verse 14 his death could have no more significance than that of any other great or good man it would be exemplary but not vicarious it would have no atoning power he will find salvation the cross of christ must first recognize that the one who earned upon the cross of calvary was none other than the son of god the savior of the world the promised messiah the redeemer of mankind he is the one who ransomed us from the grave because he is god he also wanted to see if they mingled with their community because as a child of god we must know he is lord of all we don't discriminate because the blood of christ can save every sinner from his sin regardless of his mess the message of christ brings hope to all who say men that i am and very clear some say you are john the baptist the greatest new testament prophet after the wicked queen had her daughter the man the head of john the baptist to cover her illicit marriage here comes one preaching like john the kingdom of heaven is at hand herod fear that jesus was john raised from the dead some say you are elijah one of the greatest prophets in the northern kingdom of old testament israel that malachi prophesied would come before the great and terrible day of the lord that will return the hearts of the father to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers some say you are jeremiah one of the greatest prophets among the southern kingdom of old testament jews the last prophet before the exile that warned warned amidst tears of the impending doom of a nation who rejected their gods and adopted idolatry here was jeremiah one one who it is believed hit the ark of the covenant so it will end up in babylon hear me somebody they say this must be the return of jeremiah because in the ark of the covenant was the holy wratch written by god's own hand the ten commandments and jesus came to let us know he didn't come to put an end to the law but to establish so he must be jeremiah in order to say some other prophet these answers however reveal the high regard that they had for jesus but a high regard was still not high enough they identified him with the most exalted prophets in israel's history but their ideas still fell short the question is who can jesus be compared to he has no equal you see if you call the name socrates you have to call the name plato and aristotle are you with me if you call the name hannibal you have to call the name napoleon and alexander the great if you call the name beethoven then you have to call the neighbor back and moses are you with me if you call the name isaac newton you have to call the name albert einstein if you call the name pablo picasso you have to call the name of vincent van gogh leonardo da vinci michelangelo rembrandt and monet if you call the name nanny you have to call the name port booger and sam shop if you call the name martin luther king i said you have to call the name malcolm x and you have to call the name marcus messiah garvey if you call the name of muhammad ali you have to speak of joel wheeze mike tyson and of course lenox lewis if you call the name you're saying boat you will call the name carl lewis and michael johnson are you hearing me but jesus has no equal he has no rifle oh you don't get it yet i don't think you get it yet if you call the name of michael jordan you have to call the name of kobe bryant are you here with me if you call the name of muhammad you will call the name of buddha and confucius if you call the name of c d brooks you have to call the name e cleveland and bradshaw are you hearing me but if you call the name of jesus he has no comparison he has no rival he has no contemporary for jesus is from time immemorial to time everlasting he is the same yesterday today and forevermore he says i am alpha and omega the beginning and the end he has no contemporary he has no rifles he says before abraham was i am he has no rival when i check my bible it tells me why he has no rival my bible tells me there is no other name on the heaven whereby men can be saved he is greater than john the baptist greater than elijah greater than jerry meyer he is creator and redeemer the first and the last the son of a righteousness the bright and morning star the rose of sharon the lily of the valley the rock of ages his king of kings his lord of lords but israel failed to see in fact romans 14 verse 8 tells me we live unto the lord and when we die we die unto the lord so the grave then for which christ died and lived again and now he lives always is that he might be lord about the dead and they're living romans 14 verse 9. so jesus christ is lord that's why he has no rivals is it the name of the lord the word lord simply means ownership his lordship is based on his ownership in psalm 24 verses 1 and 2 the bible tells me the earth is the lord's and the fullness thereof the world and they that pray therein the earth is the lord's the fullness thereof the words and they that dwell therein for he had founded it upon the sea and established it upon the floods beyond the human level the word lord stands as a reverent allusion to the ownership of christ see the orthodox jews in jesus day they would not even pronounce the sacred name of god yahweh and instead when he reads the sacred and incommunicable name of god he would simply say when the tetragon should appear he simply say the lord can you read deuteronomy 6 and verse 4 here o israel the lord our god is one lord now now christians have ascribed the title of lordship to christ and either on the human level or the divine level the title lord is a mark of respect and implied pledge of obedience once simon peter stood before a hostile crowd and he said in acts 2 36 god has made the same christ whom you crucified both lord and christ what a text you see christ represents the thing that god has done to redeem us lord represents what we are to do because we are redeemed now we are to call him owner because he possesses in fee simple and absolutely all our lives accepting 28 tells me in him we live and move and have our being we are to call him lord we have to call him owner we have to call him owner and be obedient sons and daughters in fact he is the only hope of the child of god and he is our only help in times of trouble no wonder psalm 46 tells me god is a refuge and strength he's a very present help in trouble therefore will we not fear though the earth be removed until the mountains becomes the midst of the sea the waters thereof roar and be troubled the mountains shake with the swelling thereof there is a river the streams were off shall make glad the city of god the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high and it says god in the midst of her she shall not be moved god shall help her and that right early that he then raised the kingdoms were moved he uttered his voice and the earth melted the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our refuge come he says behold the works of the lord what desolation he hath made in the earth he make it wars to cease at the end uh of the earth he breaketh the bow and coated the spear in standard he burneth the chariot in the fire then it comes to my text it says be still i know that i am god i have no rivals i'll be exalted among the heathen and the exalted in the earth the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is a refuge see jesus christ is lord he is lord he is the lord because he came down the stairways of heaven born in bethlehem hid in egypt brought up in nazareth baptized in jordan was tempted in the wilderness before miracles by the roadside he'll multitude without medicine he conquered everything that came up against him he took your sins and my sins and went out on calvary and there he died while hung on the cross jesus said several things but when they when the thief taunted him and said if you be the christ come down from the cross and save yourself on us to that taunt jesus never said a mumbling word but the silence the silence seemed to have said you just wait until sunday morning you just wait then i will show you i'll show you that it is more powerful to come up from the grave that you come down from the cross father died today then rest through the sabbath well you don't get it yet i will die today then i'll rest through the sabbath for six days sat no labor day one he was heralded as a king of the jews as he entered jerusalem riding on a cold day two he wept over jerusalem cursed the barren fig tree cleansed the temple is playing his wrath against sin day three he taught barbers and he cleared walls upon the pharisees and prophesied of his return therefore he was anointed by mary magdalene day five he ate the passover meal and washed the disciples feet day six he prayed in the garden of gethsemane if it be possible let this cup pass from me he was betrayed he was judged by night condemned to death by morning crucified by afternoon and buried by evening but then he was tired so he rests the son of man is lord of the sabbath matthew 12 8 he rests remember the sabbath day to keep it holy six days shalt no labor do all thy work but the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord thy god jesus christ is lord of all the sabbath is the sabbath of jesus christ he rests he rests in the grave he rested the seventh day he rested the sabbath day so he may be renewed with all power and glory when the day break dawns because then he shall arise as the days are arising in your hearts so he cried it is finished and he died i mean he really died he died until the sun refused to shine i said he died until the veil of the temple ripped asunder he died until matthew 27 52 said that the dead got up out of their tomb at his resurrection and walked their streets he died the centurion said surely this must have been the son of god oh i'm trying to tell you he died are you with me but i don't want to stay there too long talking about he died on a rush right on and said that he was buried in joseph's new tomb he was buried in a borrowed tomb now don't let it bother you that the creator of the universe was buried in a borrowed tomb because it's evidence he was gonna stay there for long just the sabbath day of rest between the creation of men who fell and the recreation of man who's been redeemed just a sabbath day of rest between time immemorial and everlasting day just a day of rest between death and life he arose he said he just went down to the grave and he cleaned it up he neatly folded that napkin and make it a bed to await the resurrection and on scale he got up with every form of power in the orbit of omnipotence rendering him now indestructible jesus christ is lord in fact they tried to destroy him but let me tell you something you can't destroy him if you try to destroy him by fire he's been in the midst of the furnace just ask daniel if you're trying to destroy him by water he will walk on the water just ask peter if you try to destroy him by a strong wind the tempest will leak at his hand and lay down at his feet just ask john if you try to destroy him by the law you'll find no fault in him just ask pilate are you with me if you try to destroy him by the seal of an empire he'll break it just as the legion of soldiers standing god by his grave i said if you try to destroy him by death he will rise just ask mary if you try to destroy him now by rejection or ignoring him soon you will hear that still small voice saying behold i stand at the door and i knock if any man will open the door i will come in i will shop with him and he with me because i am in love with you we don't get it yet hear me somebody at his birth man came from the east that is death men came from the west and the east and west met in him for the lord god omnipotent reigneth and that his name in his name through his name every knee is gonna bow and everything shall confess that jesus christ is the lord i said every knee the young knee knee the old need every knee that blocked me every knee the white me every knee the art righteous knee every knee the walking knee every knee is gonna bow every turn shall confess that jesus christ is lord of all you know many say i've got to live life first i can't serve jesus now i'll accept my savior acknowledge him as the lord but i've got to live my life first but the truth is you don't really live until you know who jesus is are you hearing me you can't live until you come to him for the bible says in john 10 and verse 10 i am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly and some are waiting for their eyes to grow dim or to close to the soft dust of this life but i'm not gonna wait for no borderline salvation are you hearing me when the prophet says seek ye the lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near isaac 55 6 and 7 says let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return unto the lord and he will have mercy i said god will have mercy and god will abundantly pardon so i will not wait i'll acknowledge him as lord now i will not wait and acknowledge my savior now for the lord is love and his love is stronger than sin it's deeper than soul it is mightier than death the lord is my light the lord is my strength the lord is my salvation the lord is my rock the lord is my fortress the lord is my deliverable the lord is my high tower the lord is my shield and buckler the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he lives he reigns he lives forever more we don't need a justice league for jesus stands as undisputed undefeated superhero champion of love he's the standard of truth the way maker miracle worker promised people light in the darkness regardless of the popular opinion jesus is all the world to me above him there is no other jesus is the only way for the popular opinion is not only wrong they are utterly confusing they are utterly religious and doctrinal confusion we are confronted with a collage and a montage of man-made traditions paganized christianity fanatical extremism misguided ideas and compromised doctrines satan has people hypnotized mesmerized mixed up and confused about the bible and his teachings so much it has people suffering from the acceptance of falsified ideological representations popular popularly known as alternate facts so if jesus should ask the world today who do you say that i am some say you're a good man some say you're a great teacher some would say a great philosopher some would say no person at all some would say just another man some would say he's a white man's god some would say he's a fictional story some would say you don't exist at all some will say god dwells in one person some would say god dwells in two persons some will say we are our own gods some would say there is no god at all if jesus should ask the world who do you say that i am some would say we only need the old testament and we have no need of you someone said underneath the new testament i think there's none other about you some say the whole bible is a lie and so are you some say none of the bible is god's word at all some say the law has been abolished some say we are under grace but not under the law others say the lord was mailed to the cross some say you keep sunday some say you keep any day some say you don't have to keep any day holy at all some say you can drink a little some say you can smoke a little oh some say you can eat whatever your stomach can't take some say there are no restrictions at all some say the dead are in heaven some say the dead are in purgatory some say the dead spoke to me some say the dead aren't dead at all some say you are coming in a secret rapture some say you're coming in a ufo some say you came already some say you're not coming back at all who do men say that i am some say you're john the baptist some say your elijah some say you're jeremiah others say you are not a prophet the world is confused but if he should ask me who do you say that i am i would say you are the lord the firm and the true foundation the blessing of every nation healer and sustainer everlasting father brings of peace your hope to the hopeless strength to the weak truth to the hearing and way to the lust he is a shelter for the homeless a friend to the friendless love to the unlovable and grace to the sinner is the miracle of the newborn keeper of the golden age resurrection for the dead and the glory of the redeemed i said jesus christ he is lord of all and is calling you today to answer the same question who do you say that i am who do you say that i am i say to you if you acknowledge him as lord then you've got to live like he is lord if you acknowledge him as lord then your life must say he is lord if he is lord to you that you've got to know he is calling you in matthew 11 20 28 he says come on to me only that labor and i will give you rest in john 7 37 jesus stood on christ saying if any man cursed let him come unto me and drink revelation 22 and verse 17 and the spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely my brother and my sister jesus is calling you to come to him today jesus loves you with such a love that he left heaven come down to earth to see you saved now he's saying to you why don't you come to the altar so you can be saved as a praise team will lead us to this song pinned in the chat you will see a link that says the altar i'm inviting you yes you click on that link let me tell you what will happen when you click that link it will take you into a room where someone is waiting to talk with you and to pray with you click on that link that is a virtual outer space if you want to talk privately with one of our ministerial staff we'll put you in a room where you can talk privately but we want to help you on your journey to establishing jesus christ as your lord as they sing this amazing song why don't you click that link and come to the altar today [Music] overwhelmed by the weight of your sin jesus is calling have you come to the end of yourself to your thirst for a drink from the well jesus is calling can you hear his voice oh come to the altar the fathers [Music] [Music] jesus christ [Music] oh jesus is waiting for someone at the altar today he wants to see you saved as you claim him as personal lord and savior from sin he waits to greet you he waits to meet you why don't you come to the altar today now even while i am standing here i don't know if anybody among the few who are sitting in here you want to come to the altar you can make a step to the front right now and say lord jesus i place it all in your hands i'm coming to the altar because i know you are there if you left heaven and come to earth for me i can leave my seat and walk to the altar for thee is there one person in here who wants to come to the altar come right now even as our praise didn't call you to sing that song i know i know that you can make it i know that he is waiting for you i know there is hope from your hopelessness come to the altar jesus jesus is calling you yes he's calling you yes my brother he's calling you yes my sister click that link come to the altar someone is waiting to pray with you someone is waiting to talk with you someone is waiting to to share word of hope with you someone wants to walk with you through that journey come on come to the odds come to the art whose safe man that i am is one question but who say you that i am is he your lord is he your savior do you need him as your redeemer come to the altar today [Music] is there someone in here or even on the outside there wants to come to the altar today you can come to the altar let's pray together that god will give you victory that god will strengthen you against sin that you will be an overcomer to the blood of jesus christ because you know who jesus is you i don't know where you are i don't know what country you're watching from i don't know what what parish what town what city i don't know but what i know is that dryer has no boundaries [Music] christ praise the lord [Music] our heads are bowed [Music] i see my brother walking god bless you brother god bless you amen church see two brothers walking for jesus today god bless you both amen amen and we pray can we pray god will give them victory beyond their wildest dreams that will he will manifest his lordship in their lives and yes i'll be praying for you who enter the altar just now and as you enter the altar pray with someone [Music] also post it in the chat now is that decision prior card go ahead click on that link fill out that decision card if you go to the altar you'll be given the prayer card at the altar [Music] if you are not at the altar but you want us to pray for you i want to make a decision for jesus go ahead click on that link select the decision card that is posted in the chat and we will be in touch with you to help you through that process [Music] amazing thing to know that we can come to the presence of jesus christ and find help for our souls in times of need so our heads are bowed i'm gonna speak to him now i'll ask the prison to sing that song one more time for us i just like to hear that song [Music] the precious [Music] hallelujah [Music] of jesus christ praise the lord we'll give our brothers time to fill out that card so keep singing for me my friend they're filling out their cards praise the lord and it gives you yes you want and gives you one more opportunity to make it to the altar today yes it's the first seven of our series but let me tell you you're not guaranteed beyond today all you are guaranteed is this moment this moment this very moment is all your guarantees so why not take the greatest opportunity where the greatest gift is extended to you with the greatest mercy god's grace it's extended today god's love is extended today what more can you want and the love of god for it allows you to climb mountains and escape valleys it will take you through fires it will take you across oceans the love of god will drag you from the beats of hell and from the depths of the grave and plant your feet the kingdom of god above so go ahead make the decision for jesus today [Music] watch him turn your life around watch him change your mess and distress watch him adjust precious [Music] praise the lord thank you yes you online for clicking that link or it's about now father in heaven we thank you jesus we thank you sweet holy spirit we thank you for this is not of men lest it fail but this is of you thank you thank you for two brothers who walked to the altar today thank you for everyone who entered the outer room right now thank you for all those who click on that decision card thank you for all those who stayed and listened to the word may it be a fruit in our lives oh god we know who you are and we are not ashamed to let the world know that we are sons and daughters of the most high god we know who you are for when we were writhing in sin and shame you extended the hand of grace when we were far from the fall of safety you came down to our level when we were messed up and washed up no self-worth left you said no no no you are my son i will place my robe of righteousness on you when we could not find our way you said i am the way when we did not know that truth is that i am the truth when we were good but dead you said i am life [Music] when everything we tried failed you said i am your victory and we just could make ends meet he said i am the beginning and the ending it all meets in me lord we thank you we thank you we know who you are because we know who you are we declare you as lord of our lives or take full control of these or two brothers take full control of those who are online take full control of every worshiper in the house today and then we shall come again tomorrow night let your holy spirit abide and rest with us we ask in jesus name amen no to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us to him be glory in the church by christ jesus to all generations forever and ever amen [Music] do [Music] let the church say they run let the church say amen [Music] god has spoken so let the church say amen [Music] let the church say amen [Music] let the church say [Music] god has spoken so let the church [Music] [Applause] [Music] god has spoken so let the [Music] let church church save us god has spoken so let the church [Music] we thank you for having joined us in this rich spiritual feast we will take a little break when you can refresh yourselves you can partake of the physical feast and rejoin us this afternoon at 3 30 as we continue with our interactive bible study being led by dr ikichuko michael olipe and thereafter our interactive ay program as you leave from here or departure song is love lifted me god bless you and see you later as we interact in bible class and in our ay program love lifted me god bless you thank you so much for being here [Music] i was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore very deeply [Music] [Music] from the oh [Music] tell me [Music] [Music] all my heart to him i give oh is [Music] service [Music] me [Music] me [Music] jesus completely saves jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] please tell me [Music] [Music] tell me [Music] [Applause] me love lifted me [Music] [Music] lord [Music] the lord god bless you have a great afternoon you

Channel: Northern Caribbean University

Views: 2,248

Rating: 4.7746477 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: zeR1HfO-GCc

Length: 184min 30sec (11070 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 25 2021