Family Worship with Christina Thomas | Sabbath 18th September 2021

[Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so [Music] i'm don roberts bringing you sec news in 60 seconds in his latest video update sec president dr emmanuel osay welcomed the announcement by government health secretary sajid javid on monday september 12 to scrap the introduction of vaccine passports in england the requirement of which may have impacted church services churches in berkshire buckinghamshire oxfordshire and surrey came together online last sabbath for area 5's day of fellowship the theme of reconnecting and reuniting was reflected throughout the program including the sermon by guest speaker former sec and buc president pastor don mcfarlane last sabbath a group of mainly young adventists from south and west london churches known as final core community held a prayer walk in battersea park the event included singing handing out roses attached to bible verses and offering prayer to part goers thanks for watching and subscribe to our youtube channel to get the latest videos from the sec see you next week in hebrews chapter 12 and verse 1 the bible says let us strip off every weight that slows us down and let us run with endurance the race god has set before us god has given us two things needed to run and to win your race in life time and energy and we can't afford to waste them why do we have such a hard time saying no two of the most common reasons are fear of rejection ultimately you must ask yourself this question whose approval am i seeking gods or people number two fear of missing out on good opportunities we assume that whenever opportunity knocks we must answer the door and say yes to whatever is standing there that's a mistake opportunity doesn't equal obligation there will always be more opportunities than there is time to pursue them so you must choose your opportunities prayerfully and wisely jim collins author of the book good to great he writes most of us lead busy but undisciplined lives we have ever expanding to do lists trying to build momentum by doing doing doing but it really works those who built the good to great companies made as much use of stop-doing lists as to-do lists they displayed a remarkable discipline to unplug from all sorts of extraneous junk and channel their resources into only one or a few areas in his ground-breaking book focus the future of your company depends on it already's adds great leaders in spite of a multitude of distractions know how to keep things focused they know how to inspire and motivate their followers to keep pushing the main chance they don't let side issues overwhelm them so my friends this week let us stay focused [Music] shout for joy to the lord or the earth worship the lord with gladness come before him with joyful songs know that the lord is god and it is he who made us and we are his we are his people the sheep of his pasture [Music] enter his gates with thanksgiving in his courts with praise give thanks to him and praise his name for the lord is good and his love and jews forever his faithfulness continues through all generations [Music] [Music] good morning and a happy sabbath everybody we want to warmly welcome you to north wembley community sda church i really do hope that as you worship with us this morning that you will be truly best you'll be revived and you will find joy in christ as you worship with us thank you for joining us and enjoy the service our call to worship comes from luke 1 78 to 79. by the tender mercy of our god a new day from heaven will dawn upon us to give light to those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death it will guide us onto the path of peace shall we pray merciful god we come together to worship longing for tenderness because this world can be hard we come longing for light because our lives are crowded in shadows we come desperately needing direction fill us this morning with your peace your spirit is our peace and our path bless us as we worship today dear lord in jesus name we pray amen we are people and we love to get connected we connect as families because of birth we connect as friends because we click and we connect as communities because we care seventh-day adventists are people who connect in communities called congregations which in turn connect to form conferences which connect together to form unions divisions and a general conference why do we connect it starts with a connection to the creator who invites us on a spiritual journey when we journey together we can help each other along the way this journey is a journey of a lifetime and as we learn and grow life becomes filled with meaning and purpose our greatest joy is in helping others along the way wherever you are on your journey we believe we have something to offer that can make your life more whole so the next time you see a seventh-day adventist remember you are not looking at someone who stands alone they are connected to a world church that has 17 million members gathered in 13 divisions comprised of 122 unions formed by 600 conferences serving 140 000 congregations in 208 countries who worship in 924 languages and they all want to connect with you [Music] good morning and happy sabbath to you all we pray that you've been blessed and you've had a good week we're gonna start with the song lord you've been good god has been so good to me has he been good to you guys praise the lord musicians has he been good hallelujah we know god has been good to you also so let's sing together [Music] [Music] to me [Music] one more time lord you've been so good been so good [Music] i can't praise you [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] and i thank you jesus even if i try [Music] is [Music] [Music] you've been better than good to me that's what you did for [Music] me so many times [Music] so many times [Music] so many [Music] times me [Music] [Music] so good so [Music] for saving me lord for healing me lord for protecting me lord [Music] lord one more time [Music] is [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] i will follow thee my savior yes my lord i'll follow thee let's sing together the first verse [Music] yes my lord i'll follow thee i will follow thee my savior without the shed thy blood for me men should forsake thee by thy grace [Music] [Music] be rough and thorny [Music] thou hast this way before me and i'm glad we follow thee every one thing [Music] thee by thy grace [Music] though i meet with tribulations though i meet three tribulations solely to [Music] though i'd be i remember thou was tempted and rejoice i follow thee [Applause] i will fall [Music] me [Music] by thy grace [Music] [Music] cold and deep thou leadest me [Music] thou has crossed the waves before me and i still [Music] my savior [Music] [Music] thee by thy grace i will follow thee my stadium [Music] [Applause] [Music] by thy grace [Music] by thy grace by thy grace i will follow thee by the grace by thy grace one more time by thy grace [Music] [Music] hi everyone it's aunt frenita today's story is called heavenly visitors [Music] the memory verse is from philippians chapter 2 verse 4. it says not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others today's message is god wants me to speak out for others do you talk to god when someone you care about needs help do you ask god to do something for them even when people are bad we can speak out for them a long time ago abraham bargained with god for some people it happened like this one hot day abraham sat in the shade of his tent looking out upon the valley where he lived a movement caught his eye three men stood just beyond his camp talking together abraham jumped up ran out to meet them and bowed low please stay a while at my tent i will give you water and some food to eat you can sit in the shade of the trees and rest thank you we will the men agreed go do as you have said abraham hurried back to the camp and into his tent sarah he called to his wife we have some guests please bake some bread for them then abraham hurried to get food for his servant to cook soon the food was ready abraham himself served his guests while they ate he stood in the shade of a tree nearby and sarah stayed just inside the tent where she could listen to the men where is your wife sarah one of the guests asked she's in the tent abraham answered next year at this time she will have a son the guest said back in the tent sarah chuckled [Laughter] imagine a son at her age why did sarah laugh the stranger asked is anything too hard for the lord now both abraham and sarah knew that their guest was the lord himself when abraham's guests finished their meal they got up to leave as was the custom abraham walked a short distance with them the lord stopped to talk to abraham as the others walked on i have heard how very wicked sodom is the lord said abraham had heard of evil things that people did in sodom he thought of lot and his family who lived there abraham loved his nephew's family he was sure lot was not wicked but abraham worried about the people of sodom many of them did not yet know god lord abraham said are you going to destroy the good people of sodom along with the wicked suppose there are fifty good people in sodom will you not save the city the lord answered if i find fifty righteous or good people in sodom i will not destroy it abraham thought some more his kind heart made him ask the lord again what if there are only 45 good people i will not destroy sodom if there are 45 good people still abraham was not satisfied three more times he asked the lord to save the city the sixth time abraham begged the lord don't be angry with me lord but let me ask one more time will you save the city for just 10 good people the lord answered for the sake of ten good people i will not destroy the city then the lord went on to sodom and abraham went back to his tent knowing that god would do what was right and what was good [Music] how can we help your children develop wise management of their resources and to invite god to their financial life let's see what ellen g white suggests that parents and teachers should make the study of figures something practical very early in children's lives children should learn through practice how to rightly use money this money may be supplied by the parents as an allowance or be earned by the child it should be used to purchase their clothing books and other necessities they must be taught how to select and purchase those necessities they must keep an account of their expenses a report of expenses is strongly encouraged which could result into getting the next allowance if they are taught to put god first they will choose tithe and promise as the first two actions after any new income is received then their savings will be the next all before any other expenses may be met it will lead them to a life of simplicity and frugality more in line with a christian lifestyle ellen g white also says that teaching those lessons at a young age will not only encourage habits of benevolence but will also teach them how to give not from the mere impulse of the moment but regularly systematically and will help them to remember who is the source of their income linking their hearts to the one who is the real provider by providing an allowance and this kind of education parents are preparing their children not only to have a more successful life on this earth but also eternal life as you return your tithes and promise pray for the younger generations of the church may we put our desires last and god first there are a range of ways to return your tithe and offering from check payments to mobycash an app that enables you to give your donations through your mobile device using your web browser you are able to securely make your donation at sec.adventist.uk alternatively you can set up a standing order via online banking the north wembley and sec account details are on your screen if you are registered with gift aid please include this number in the reference along with the reference please indicate the purpose of the donation checks can be posted directly to the sec please write your name of your local church and the gift aid number on the back of the check you are also able to give using a debit or credit card by calling the sec office on 01 923 232 728 you can also give via your mobile device through text send a text message with sda and your church name to make a weekly donation automatically text 7-0 one zero zero for one pound seven zero three zero zero for three pounds seven zero five zero zero for five pounds seven zero five seven five for ten pounds the donation will be added to your monthly phone bill or deducted from your pay as you go balance if you would like to give a one-off donation of twenty pounds text seven zero five seven zero mobi cash is another way to pay your tithe and give your offering to your local church download moby cash from your app store or scan the qr code on the screen register your device and scan the qr code again to get to the donation page remember you are able to assign your gift aid number to each method for more information please email info at nwcsda.church or contact the sec on one nine two three two three two seven two eight thank you [Music] most gracious god and father which art in heaven thank you so much dear god for life thank you for your mercies new every day it's because of your great mercies there father while we are alive this morning and so we give you thanks and we give you praise father god you did say where two or three are gathered together in your name you'll be right there to bless so we have come there lord seeking a blessing from you on this glorious sabbath morning we pray there lord that you will accept our worship that everything that we do in this place today will be done to glorify your name [Music] father god in jesus name we ask you please to forgive us because we are sinners and we have sinned and gone wrong we've sinned against you dear god in our thoughts in our words and in our actions and so we're asking you please in jesus name to forgive us we've also sinned against each other dear god in the same way and so we're asking you please to forgive us and where we need to make a men's dear lord please may we have the strength and the courage from you to do so father god we think of the waiting congregation [Music] and we're asking you the lord that you'll meet each member at the point of need whether it's spiritual whether it's financial whether it's homelessness whether it's not having food father god you know it some are ill mentally or physically and lord we're asking that you will please be the great physician dear jesus and please touch touch and heal their god according to your will for our lives and god we look to you and we depend on you to supply all of our needs so as we come and we put ourselves in your care today dear god we're asking you please to just do what you need to do which is best for our lives so that we can be saved so meet us jesus at the point that we can be saved that we can respond to your holy spirit when he speaks to us and be obedient so their father our worship will not be in vain father god we think of the families that have lost loved ones and we pray for them right now we're asking you dear lord to please through the power of your holy spirit to visit each family there are many dear lord and we're just asking you please in jesus name to be a bomb in gilead for them [Music] god we don't know how to do it but you do so for us who are on the outside supporting we're asking you to give us the wisdom and to give us the courage to just be there for our friends our family our brethren to be of support father god we think of the world governments our prime minister and world leaders across the globe and we pray for them dear god and we ask you please to be with them to bless them to bless their families to keep them but most of all dear lord we're asking you to give them wisdom and we're asking you to give them understanding give them the heart that will respond when your holy spirit speaks their god so that decisions that they make will be decisions that will be best for our good father god in the name of jesus we not only look to the world leaders but we look to our own conference leaders the leaders of this seventh-day adventist church and we're asking you please to bless us to be merciful unto us and we ask the lord that you will pour out your holy spirit upon us that we will respond like the apostle paul what will you have me to do father god in heaven in jesus name please guide and direct our leaders of this church so that we in turn will be able to tell others of your goodness and your mercy because dear lord there is no other god but you you are the only true and wise god and so we look to you for guidance dear god we look to you for every single thing that we need so father in jesus name we put our leaders in your care and in your keeping and ask that your will be done in their lives father we're praying for every single member whose name is retained on the books here in north wembley that wherever they are dear god you will be with them this morning whatever situation they find themselves in their god that you will be there to just comfort and to guide father god we think of every person who visited and used to visit this church before closure and we ask you dear god that you will visit them too and that soon and very soon their god will be able to meet together again as a congregation to just give you all the praise give you all the glory give you all the honor that is due to you father we turn our hearts to the the offerings that have been given by your people we thank you that you've given employment there god so that we could go out and earn to look after ourselves and our families and to return a portion to you so as we return this morning dear god we pray that your blessing will be upon our offense we pray that god that as we offer finances we will offer our hearts to you too so father god in jesus name we commit ourselves as we give our offerings and we ask for your will be done as your servant comes forward to deliver the message for the day we're asking you please father like jeremiah asks touch his mouth please can you touch the mouth of your man's servant and put your words so that when he speaks your people will only respond whatever the lord say we will do father we thank you jesus we thank you for the sacrifice that you've made for us gracious holy spirit we thank you for being our guide on our comfort and father we thank you for our angels that watch over us moment by moment and take care of us father we give you the praise we give you the glory we give you the honor and we thank you for hearing this humble prayer this morning in jesus name amen [Music] good morning and happy sabbath north wembley it's a pleasure to be with you on this sabbath today um i hope that you've had a good week and a safe week the bible says in philippians 4 4 to always be joyful in the lord or to always be full of joy in the lord i say it again rejoice and we feel reassured not because of favorable circumstances but we feel assured because of god's presence with us and when you get to know god you will find that he is really sweet when you receive a gift from someone um usually the person who receives it they will say oh that's so sweet you didn't have to and the giver usually says oh but i wanted to and brethren when god is being sweet to us he gives us grace grace is god being sweet to us and grace is god choosing to accept us to show kindness to us not because of anything good we've done but just because he wants to and not because he's trying to prove that he is loving or to try and prove that he is good but because he already loves us and because he is already good and wants to give good things to us and he doesn't expect anything in return he thought that you were an excellent idea so he decided to create you that was grace and when he brought you into this world he loved you and even when we don't choose him he always chooses us and really wants to reconcile us and him together and all that he has ever wanted is to be with us revelation 3 20 says look i stand at the door and knock if you hear my voice and you open the door i will come in and we will share a meal together as friends he has always wanted to be with us and not only just to be with us now but to grow us into the best us that he has always intended for us to be and what i love about god is that he is nobody else but himself it doesn't matter how many labels or mislabels or conceptions or misconceptions there are about him he has always been and he will always be himself and as his children we are called to be nobody else but who he created you to be to be yourself in him but let me ask you this have you ever had anybody question your authenticity because your life didn't look like it was making progress have you ever had someone question your christianity because your life didn't look like it was moving forward one of the many ways that we judge authenticity is whether a person is making progress or not and when we have testimony services normally we testify about how god is helping us to make progress in life and when things get better in life and in society today we value making progress in particular quick progress and often across cultures we deem quick progress or making progress to be a sign of god's blessing or his presence and that when god is with you the idea is that things progress quickly or that things get better so how do you respond to people about the presence of god in your life when your life does not look like it's made progress how do you respond to people when they question the authenticity of your purpose the authenticity of your ministry or the authenticity of your plans because there seems to be no progress the church building is unstable and everybody else has managed to get back into their church building but we're still online everybody else has gone back to work or building businesses but you still have no job or no business or get in the business going is slow or finding a job is slow some of you have had losses before the pandemic during lockdown and are still experiencing losses after lockdown one document denying the presence of institutional racism has set back years of work and people are asking well where's the progress if you're really a christian then where's the progress they ask but let me tell you something that merely judging the authenticity of christianity by merely progress is problematic because progress does not always equal god's presence or the lack of progress his absence what we call progress and what god calls progress are rather different if god's presence is not in the progress then you are progressing to a place called nowhere and by nowhere i mean all the places and destinations that god has said no to there's a difference between god moving in your life god progressing you and god being with you look at it this way when jonah thought that he was making progress towards tarshish nowhere god moved in jonah's life through a storm god was with jonah in the fish belly and god progressed jonah to nineveh where he wanted jonah to go in the first place when israel thought that they were making progress because they were on par with other nations acting like them with their nowhere no god idols but god wasn't in that so god moved them into exile he moved people like daniel and the three hebrew boys into exile under nebuchadnezzar and later cyrus and he was there with them with three hebrew boys in the fire and he was with daniel in the lion's den and god used them to make progress with those kings who both ended up acknowledging the power of god josh don't watch progress watch for his presence his presence might be with you in a fish belly like jonah or in a lion's den like daniel or in the fire like the hebrew boys but for some of you god's presence is with you with a thorn when you read second corinthians chapter 12 where our scripture is coming from we find that paul is defending the authenticity of his calling and his ministry because some false teachers and opponents have accused paul of being a charlatan a fake because his life doesn't look like the other apostles or popular teachers of that time he doesn't speak like them and he doesn't talk about all the visions that he's had the false teachers that were there at the time were bursting of all their visions and often charged people for a fee and were often deemed very successful externally and because paul didn't look like he was making progress in that way they questioned whether he was really called at all and whether god was really with him so paul in his defense starts to do something that many of us ought to do he starts to boast not so much about his visions but about his weaknesses now normally when we are defending our authenticity we tend to cite what went well and what we're good at and all the amazing revelations and and knowledge and visions that we have but paul doesn't do this he starts by talking about his weaknesses and then when he does briefly talk about his vision he says this second corinthians chapter two verse six to ten i'll let you go there second corinthians chapter 12 6-10 says even if i should choose to boast i would not be a fool because i would be speaking the truth but i refrain so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what i do or say all because of these surpassingly great revelations therefore in order to keep me from being conceited i was given a thorn in my flesh a messenger of satan to torment me three times i pleaded with the lord to take it away from me but he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness therefore i will buzz all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that christ's power may rest on me that is why for christ's sake i delight in weaknesses in insults in hardships in persecutions in difficulties for when i am weak then i am strong let's take a look at it uh so paul is saying all right so i've got these great revelations and but that would only make me more prideful so i'm not going to blow my own trumpet like my opponents to show that god is with me all that i'm really called by god but what i will talk about is this thorn that god gave me now there are many interpretations about what this thorn could be and honestly we'll probably never know because paul did not focus so much on what the thorn was but rather its purpose now there are mainly two streams of thought um that scholars have come up with that is either most of them kind of camp under it being an illness or ailment and other schools of thought camp around the idea that it's a person that's causing the problems but the focus is more about what the thorn does the bible says therefore in order to keep me from being conceited i was given a thorn in my flesh a messenger of satan to torment me the thorn in the flesh it's personal it's in his flesh and it causes him pain and although it causes him pain it doesn't destroy him it just torments him the thorn in your flesh it's personal and it causes you pain with a physically emotionally financially interpersonally and it probably slows you down the scholars when they talk about they talk about this idea of mistake and it just slows the person down along their journey um so it may slow you down it's not bothering everybody else but it bothers you and it's painful to you so for example when the boss is kind to everybody else but mistreats you or when the police pass everybody else but corn is you because of your race long covered fatigue illnesses conditions they don't affect everybody else but they affect you bible says that paul says that i was given the passive voice from this scripture lets us know that it's not really from saying but actually that is god who is given this this passiveness that god permits this to happen his permissive will and why would god give paul a thorn and more importantly why would he out of this permissive will allow us to have something that bothers us and slows us down now the thorn although painful is not made to destroy you it actually has a protective factor to it the bible says therefore to keep me from being conceited and this thorn is protected in the fact that it keeps one and it keeps paul from being prideful why do we need to be protected from pride with a thorn though god has gifted us with revelations and with a calling etc there's a risk that we can begin to value the gift rather than the giver or that we value the progress from the vision or progress from the gift rather than the person who gave the gift or the person who gave the vision let me give an example football they loved the progress that was being made by the players but when those certain players stopped making progress they showed just how much they hated those players and each time they don't make progress they have to re-evaluate because it actually exposes issues that need resolving after all the progress that they've made in fact this football team has never made so much progress in so many years but when they didn't make the progress to the final people start to turn around and blame them despite the progress that they've made so they're in a place of blaming them and showing them that they didn't really value the players they just like the progress some of you in your workplaces will know this for a fact they love the progress that you make and they're all great when you're making progress but when you don't make the progress that they expect you to make they quickly let you know they don't see you as part of them and that you are not really one of them some of you listen to me you've got this thorn you're in a place of blame and blaming god because you didn't make the progress that you wanted you liked it when god gave you the progress but suddenly when he doesn't allow you to make the progress that you wanted to make now you're not talking to him we didn't get to make the progress that you wanted to make you thought that you should make now you're not so into him and you start to blame him even though god is still on your team and some of us relate in such a way to god and some of us love god not because of him as the divine person but because of the progress some of us use god in such a way as to make him make us to get him to make us look good and god knows that if you fall in love with merely the progress that he's giving you as a result of the vision he's given you rather than him that you can be lost and there are lots of people who are losing relationships with god and with other people over making progress stepping on other people manipulating other people in the name of progress neglecting to value god's presence in ezekiel at the time loser he was gifted he got proud and wanted to make his own idea of progress i will be like the most high progress and he fell and now he's going nowhere when we go to heaven he's not coming there he's gonna stay on earth going nowhere and he's gonna perish right there going nowhere the bible says that after pride comes a fall and some of us when we ask and pray to god to keep us from falling he might do it by permitting personal illnesses ailments people that will not destroy us but they serve as a means of maintaining humility so that god can take us somewhere and that somewhere is called heaven that thorn is not there to harm you it's protective the bible says three times i pleaded with the lord to take it away from me the thorn leaves paul to talk to god in prayer the pain slows him down enough or at times directs him to seek god the bible says pleaded begging when you're pleading or when you're begging you're saying that the ball is not in your court but it's in the hands of the one you are asking he knows he can't get rid of this thorn but only god can and he has no choice but to acknowledge that what he can't do and what god can do so the thorn is not only protective against pride it is also directive listen to me your phone whatever that is it may make you weak and slow you down but it slows you down enough or makes you pause to seek god in your pain you seek god and you know that you can't fix it and only god can no matter what that thorn will always direct you into god's presence and it keeps you right there and so the thorn is not only protective but it's also directive into the presence of god the bible then please continue paul continues in verse nine he says he's what he said to me talking to god he asked god to take it away from him in verse god's response is this my grace is sufficient for you my power for my power is made perfect in weakness in other words what god's saying to paul is poor i favor you and my feelings towards you is nothing but loving kindness and that's enough for you i'm gonna show you kindness each time not by taking it away but by working with you and being with you with the thorn paul's privilege is that not only is god going to keep him and protect him from going nowhere paul is also going to experience the power of god with the weakness but my weakness i don't mean sin i mean the things um the illness that you have and the people or situations that bother you that is not your fault and i just need to say that by people i'm excluding abuse god does not want you to stay in abusive relationships i'm talking about the people that are not there to destroy you but they are there to bother you um and so god says to paul i am not gonna take it away but i'm gonna be with you and work in it with you with the pain he's not gonna take it away from your church god wants you to know that he favors you and his feelings towards you are nothing but loving kindness he's not taking it away but he's not quitting on you either your privilege will be that you will experience the power of god with your thorn and in spite of your weakness as a result of that thorn your progress might be slow but it will be firmer progress because he is there with you and he's there with you in it god is saying i'm still in it with you you're not gonna you're gonna be might be slower because of that person who keeps trying to block you at work or the person who keeps trolling you on social media or trying to cancel you on social media that illness means that you can't really concentrate as much as you want or have as much energy as you would like but guess what i'm going to be in it with you and you'll experience my power because i am saving you from nowhere and i'm taking you somewhere let me put it this way in a loose analogy mark rashford football again okay or marcus rashford um throughout the pandemic he's been providing school meals not because he has to but because he cares about the children who have no meals for school and he cares about the families and at the same time he's representing team england and he's playing on the team now when he missed the goal and it and progress wasn't made to the win people got mad and some started to blame him and some and also his other black teammates and they started to her abuse at him and them and it wasn't their fault they go in as a team they win as a team they lose as a team england if we're honest has a long history of not making it when it comes to finals and semi-final it's just a long thing and not because they don't work up it's i guess their phone but actually that was probably a good thing because it exposed other places where progress had not been made that actually needed to be made the pro the coach hugged them but others heard racist abuse at them and your thorn i'm gonna say right now will expose who is who and other areas in your life where progress actually needs to be made but when we talk about the football with the players despite the abuse they haven't quit the game and they haven't quit football in fact they're still proud to represent england because they love the game and they still love england now i'm not saying that they are anything like god i said it's a loose analogy so for those of you who are football fanatics or you're into your football it's a loose analogy but here's something that we can learn he's not they're nothing like god but i'm gonna put this analogy here some of you are blaming god for the thorn and you're not really and you're blaming god and say well god you know you're not with me you're not with me you know how come they didn't make the progress if that was supposed to be made you said that you're all powerful why aren't you doing it and you're blaming god and some of you haven't prayed to god for a long time because of the progress that he's been you're questioning the authenticity of god even him himself but i want to let you know that in the same similar ways that those players are still proud to represent the team christ is still proud to represent you and he hasn't quit your team he's still on your side he's still represented and he's still willing to willing to call you his child and to represent you and if the truth be told he has been providing for you all this time and he's not leaving because he loves you and in the same way that those players play to win and even more so christ has already won and he's saying to you today i am still with you the thorn is not a sign that i've quit on you actually it's me protecting you and directing you so that you can experience my power with you in you with the thorn and the bible then goes on to say and paul's response when he hears god say this to him his response is this therefore i will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that christ's power may rest on me that is why for christ's sake i delight in weaknesses in insults in hardships in persecutions in difficulties for when i am weak then i am strong that's why paul is happy to boast about his weaknesses and his difficulties because god gets the glory there are people who i know who have ailments and who have illnesses that are not going away they are permanent but if you talk to them they'll tell you that they're happy that they've got the ailment because of the closeness with god and because of the power of god that they experience as he continues to progress them at the pace that god wants them to progress i can talk about my mom my mom there are elements that she still has but if you spoke to her as a few other people that i know she'll tell you that she's actually happy for what happened because she has experienced the power of god in her life as he takes it to places that she never dreamed that she would ever go before and the thorn everyone will teach you gratitude towards god and will help you to have a praise attitude towards god for the weakness because of the power of god who's in it with you his presence in it with you knowing that he is there with you i want to talk about football again i'm sorry to all my football friends i hope i don't offend anyone uh in response to the abuse um that was made at the players i saw on the news there were a group of people who decided to make a muriel for rashford to say that they were grateful to him but all the things that he had done despite not making progress to the wind and i wonder if there's anybody who is willing to make a muriel to god to say thank you for providing for me thank you for the ailment thank you for your grace and thank you for the insults for the people who block me thank you lord for the difficulties thank you lord for the thorn you're not stopping me from you're not stopping me for making progress in fact the lord you're stopping me from going nowhere and you're taking me somewhere and that's why the hymn says amazing grace that's the theme for this period through many dangers toils and snares i have already come his grace that brought me safe thus far and grace that will lead me home church god's grace is taking you and it's protecting you from going nowhere that god's grace is protecting you from nowhere and he's still in it there with you he's there with you even with the thorn and he's taking you somewhere that's better and he's transforming you to be better for better days the church god is saying i'm still here with you because i don't i want to stop you from going nowhere and i want to take you somewhere amen if it's your desire today that you want to relate better to your thorn i don't know what that thought is is going to be different for everyone whatever that thorn is if you want to relate better to your thorn to recognize that god is not abandoning you or quitting on you or punishing you but rather in his grace he's protecting you and if you want to relate better to your thorn and you want to be able to have the strength to praise god with the weaknesses with the slowness if you want to stop blaming god if you want to have a different perspective on what it means to make progress then i ask you to note it in the chat and just say god change me in the chat change me change my attitude towards your ways of protecting me and directing me god help me to value not just making progress or the gift or the vision but your presence with me let's pray heavenly father lord we thank you so much that you're with us even with the thorn we thank you for your permissive will we thank you o god that with your permissive will you allow the things that aren't nice and that aren't that aren't experienced very positively things that slow us down things that make that make us weak or things that that make it difficult to do what you called for us to do lord we thank you that you permitted it not because you want to destroy us but actually you want to protect us from going nowhere heavenly father lord for all those under my voice who recognize that they love the progress more than they love you lord i ask that you help them to find their first love again for all those who are confused or blaming you or just can't understand why it's just taking so long to make progress and are just frustrated and they're trying to get rid of this storm but it's not going i pray lord that you place them in a place of acceptance i pray every while they come to realize that it's not anything that they're doing that's necessarily their fault but it's just that your way of protecting them help us to move with your timing help us to respect your timing and to respect how you wish to progress us lord we thank you that you're taking us somewhere we thank you that somewhere's heaven the ultimate destination so lord help us to reframe the way we relate help us not to compare ourselves with other people because lord you're working with us individually i pray heavenly father that you'll experience your power with the thorn and that will be able to show gratitude to you for all the things that you've done because we know lord that it's not you it's not sorry it's not us but actually it's you lord we pray that you get the glory in the future and also now we give you glory in the present we thank you lord for all these things we thank you for those things in your name i pray amen thank you for joining us today we pray that you've been blessed by what we heard and seen today remember that you can contact us by email at info at nwcsda.church that's info at nwcsda.church or pastoral team are waiting on hand to hear from you so that they can pray with you they can talk with you any issues you're facing they're there to help and support you can find us on all social media platforms at north wembley sda that's at northwest sda remember to like share subscribe and subscribe thank you have a blessed day 88 countries is a lot right tokyo alone is so large that there are 88 countries whose total population combined would still be smaller than the tokyo metro area over time the city has grown spread and merged with smaller surrounding cities resulting in a massive urban area called an agglomeration while tokyo has grown to such an amazing size the number of christian believers in the city has remained small only around one percent of the people in japan are christians tokyo is the world's largest city it's still just one of many very large cities out of the hundreds of agglomerations worldwide 37 of them have more than 10 million residents over 100 years ago ellen white was urging the seventh-day adventist church to reach the large cities of the world oh that we might see the needs of these cities as god sees them she wrote adding that the work in the cities is the essential work for this time she prompted work the cities without delay for time is short but in 1900 around that very time there were only 15 cities on earth that had more than 1 million residents today that number has increased to almost 600 many of these cities only have one or two adventist churches and some still have no adventist presence at all how can we make a difference through the mission offerings adventists around the world contribute to critical outreach in the cities [Music] at some point in your life you dreamed of becoming a missionary but somehow it never quite worked out if that's you or if you have a heart for those who don't know jesus consider how faithful daily prayers for unreached cities could be a very real mission that could open doors and hearts even half a world away sharon has answered this call to prayer wholeheartedly the mission to the city's prayer map arranges these cities on lines to look like a subway map and sharon uses it as a guide to pray for one city each day she's been praying for more than a year and she has already checkmarked more than 200 of these 580 large cities she prays for the residents of the cities for their health their marriages their leaders and their faith god hears her daily prayers and sharon believes that he is answering in quiet but amazing ways she looks forward to hearing the stories one day in heaven adventist schools are also praying for the cities at hillside christian school a one-room school in wisconsin the students began by praying for the large cities in north america each day they prayed for a different city one student would pray for the homeless in the city another prayed for families as a team they took the needs of these cities to god in prayer and then checkmarked each city on the map churches and schools adults children and academy students are praying for the cities we believe that as we gather in spirit praying in unity for the cities god will be with us and hear our prayers as you pray for each city please ask god to bless the work of missionaries and global mission pioneers there prayer maps are available for download on the mission to the city's website you can print them for yourself your school your prayer group or your church please join other prayer missionaries and pray your way around the world you

Channel: northwembleysda

Views: 192

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: church, sermon, faith, religion, sabbath, Jesus, Jesus Christ, God, Holy Spirit, Seventh-day adventist, SDA, Music, Praise, worship, health, Praise and worship, Bible, hope, Disciple, Serve, Stewardship, Prayer

Id: Be4QtCqWnxE

Length: 83min 54sec (5034 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021