Granite Bay Hilltop SDA Church Live Service

[Music] good morning friends we'd like to welcome you to sabbath school study hour here at the granite bay seventh-day adventist church in sacramento california we always want to welcome our online members who are joining us across the country and around the world as well as those who are viewing this maybe on a television network a little later maybe you're watching this live welcome we are so glad that you are studying with us we're studying through a great series of lessons on the book of isaiah the prophet isaiah is sometimes referred to the gospel writer of the old testament there's a number of great themes and important lessons that we find in our study today we're on lesson number seven it's entitled defeat of the assyrians there's a lot of information we're going to try and cover today but before we get to our study we'd like to remind you of our free offer we have a study guide one of the amazing facts study guide entitled saved from certain death and if you have not yet read the study guide we want to encourage you to do so it is a great resource to receive it just call the number 866-788-3966 and you can ask for offer number 109 and we'll mail the study guide to your home if you'd like to receive a digital download of the study guide you'll want to text the code sh060 to the number four 40544 and you'll be able to receive a digital copy of the study guide saved from certain death well before we get to our lesson we wanna invite you to join us as we lift our voices in song we're singing that great hymn my hope is built on nothing less if you're looking for the hymn in your hymnal it's hymn number 522 we're going to sing the first the second and the last verse [Music] my hope is built on nothing less than jesus blood and righteousness i dare not trust the sweetest frame but holy lean on jesus name on christ the solid rock i stand all other ground is sinking sand all other ground is sinking sand when darkness seems to veil his face i rest on his unchanging grace in every high and stormy gale my anchor sinking sand all other ground is sinking sand when he shall come with trumpet sound oh may i then in him be found glad in his righteousness alone for blessed to stand before his throne on prize [Music] is [Music] let us pray dear father in heaven we thank you for a beautiful sabbath you've given us here in northern california we thank you for the opportunity that we have to open up and study your word such an important book such an important lesson that we need to be looking at today so we invite your presence we ask the holy spirit to come and speak to each of our hearts wherever we might be lord and impress upon us the things you would have us to know before we ask this in jesus name amen our lesson today is going to be brought to us by pastor rod thompson good morning everyone i want to invite you to open up your bibles to isaiah chapter 36. we are continuing our study in the book of isaiah and today we're going to be looking at four chapters chapters 36 through 39 and we've got a lot to talk about pastor ross prayed for us but let's offer another prayer up quickly to the lord father in heaven thank you that you have pulled us up out of the mud the mock the mire the clay and you have set us on a firm foundation and lord you have begun a good work in each of us and we pray that you would continue that work and bring it to completion give us ears to hear now as you speak to our hearts in jesus name amen the bible tells us that solomon was the wisest man that ever lived and in the book of ecclesiastes he tells us there is nothing new under the sun in romans chapter 15 verse 4 the apostle paul tells us that everything that was written in scripture was written for our learning in first corinthians he tells us that it was written for us those who are alive in the last days that we might have hope and in the book christian experience and teachings chapter 33 ellen white tells us that we have nothing to fear for the future except that we forget how god has led us in the past the prophets in israel were called to proclaim the and interpret the actions of god in the events of history they tried to keep alive the memory of the exodus and all of the miracles that god had done for them and they were to interpret the meaning of their ancient faith and they were to try and help the people in their day to understand and to apply god's word to their lives in their time they were to identify to the people god's will in a national crisis and when that crisis was over they were to bring hope and comfort and isaiah was one of those prophets that had served god and it had been a had been a an advisor to the kings for over 60 years and he had his ministry throughout four kings of judah that is uzziah who is called also called azariah his son jotham his grandson ahaz and his great-grandson hezekiah the fact that he doesn't talk about hezekiah's son manasseh indicates to us that his prophetic ministry was done right about the time of the end of hezekiah's life and so it's very interesting that we have these four kings and you can see in second kings chapter 15 verse 3 it says that uzziah was the king and he did what was right in the eyes of the lord and then in second kings chapter 15 verse 32 it tells us that his son jonathan jotham became king and he did what was right in the eyes of the lord and then we see his son ahaz become king and he does not do what's right in the eyes of the lord and then his son hezekiah becomes king and he does what is right in the eyes of the lord and so we see this up and down roller coaster of israel sometimes following the lord sometimes not and it's interesting friends that when we look at a son and a grandson and a great-grandson if you have a godly man and and you would expect that his children would follow the lord too but it's not automatic every single one of us has to choose whom we are going to serve and even when we see ahaz who is a wicked king his son hezekiah when he comes on the scene he follows the lord so even though a person may not be following the lord their children can every single one of us has a choice to make whom are we going to serve so our study today is in isaiah chapter 36 through 39 look with me at verse 1. it says now it came to pass this chapter marks the beginning of a new section in the book of isaiah and and chapters 36 through 39 are actually more historical than they are prophetic and as we look at that we might think well that's a nice history lesson but what's that got to do with me but friends we want to apply the word of god to our life and there's actually a lot for us to learn from these four chapters in these four chapters we're going to see three very important historical points we're going to see the uh war that israel has with shenechireb in the assyrian army we're going to see and talk about the illness of hezekiah and then the visitation of the babylonians to israel and in these four chapters in isaiah 36 through 39 they actually have parallel chapters in second kings chapter 18 through 20 and then in second chronicles chapter 29 so there is a lot more information that we can pull into these four chapters and we're going to take a look at that and so let's read verse 1 again now it came to pass in the 14th year of king hezekiah that shennechireb king of assyria came up against all the fortified cities of judah and took them history shows us that shenekhareb became the king in bc and four years later in 701 is when he comes up and makes his first campaign against israel as specifically the cities of judah and in his own account of this campaign he tells us and he claims that he had captured 46 fortified cities of judah 46 cities and he lists many reasons why he comes against them but three of them we want to look at in particular number one is the fact that hezekiah refused to pay tribute now schneckereb's father had already come against judah and he was already forcing them to pay tribute but now hezekiah is rebelling against him number two because hezekiah has called on egypt and he has called on the ethiopians to join him in rebelling against assyria and number three because hezekiah had gone up against the philistines and he had imprisoned their king who was loyal to the assyrians and so for those three reasons he says he came up against them but i would add a fourth reason and we're going to read about that in a minute it says because the children of judah and israel were not following the lord so let's look at verse 3 look at verse 2. chapter 36 then the king of assyria sent the rabbishek with a great army from latius to king hezekiah at jerusalem and he stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool on the highway to the fuller's field now i want to point out to you that the rabbishek is not a name but rather it is a title and the rabbishek is the cup bearer of the king in other words he's the person that tastes the food and drinks the cup before the king does in case someone has been trying to kill the king and poison him that person would die rather than the king how'd you like to have that job but we we tend to look at that and we think that that may be the lowest person in the kingdom someone that's easily replaceable right but in fact in the assyrian kingdom the rabbishek was a very important military official he was the assistant to the king if you will and i want you to notice what he says i want to i want you to hold your place here in isaiah chapter 36 but let's go back and let's look at the parallel passage in second kings chapter 18. second kings chapter 18 and i want you to notice what it says starting in verse 1. the bible says now it came to pass in the third year of hoshia the son of elah king of israel that hezekiah the son of ahaz king of judah began to reign he was 25 years old when he became king and he reigned 29 years in jerusalem his mother's name was abby the daughter of zechariah and he did what was right in the sight of the lord according to all that his father david had done he removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that moses had made for until those days the children of israel burned incense to it and called it nahushtan he trusted in the lord god of israel so that after him was none like him from among all the kings of judah nor who were before him for he held fast to the lord he did not depart from following him but kept his commandments which the lord had commanded moses the lord was with him he prospered wherever he went and he rebelled against the king of assyria and did not serve him he subdued the philistines as far as gaza and its territories from watchtower to the fortified city now it came to pass in the fourth year of king hezekiah which was the seventh year of hoshiya the son of elah king of israel that shalom answer king of assyria came up against samaria and besieged it and at the end of three years they took it in the sixth year of hezekiah that is in the ninth year of hoshi king of israel samaria was taken then the king of assyria carried israel away captive to assyria and put them in halaah and by the habar the river of gozan and in the cities of the medes because they did not obey the voice of the lord their god but transgressed his covenant and all that moses the servant of the lord had commanded and they would neither hear nor do them and in the fourteenth year of king hezekiah schneckered king of assyria came up against all the fortified cities of judah and took them then hezekiah king of judah sent to the king of assyria at latius saying i have done wrong turn away from me whatever you impose on me i will pay and the king of assyria assessed hezekiah king of judah 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold and so hezekiah gave him all of the silver that was found in the house of the lord and in the treasuries of the king's house at that time hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the lord and from the pillars which hezekiah king of judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of assyria then the king of assyria sent the tartan the rabasaris and the rabbishek from elatius with a great army against jerusalem to king hezekiah and they went up and came to jerusalem and when they had come up they went and stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool which was on the highway to the fuller's field and we read already in isaiah chapter 36 where it talks about him coming to the fuller's field but here we see a lot more information added to the story and so there are some very interesting things there that i want to point out to you number one hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the lord and we see here it's talking about how he tore down the high places how he tore down the altars how he told the people of israel that they needed to go to jerusalem to the temple to worship there and so he was trying to bring about a reform in the land of judah we see that he also rebels against the assyrian oppression of god's people but then we see that the assyrian king defeats him and so hezekiah says to him i will pay to you whatever you ask and so he gives them this great tribute to be paid but then we see that the assyrian king still comes up against jerusalem to besiege it even after he has paid him this tribute now let's go back to isaiah chapter 36. you see the king sends the rabbishek to the children of israel to directly speak to them and he asks them a very important question and if i could paraphrase that question it's simply this in whom are you going to place your trust in whom are you going to trust and he starts telling them you are putting your trust in the king of egypt but he can't help you and you are putting your trust in the king of israel but he can't help you either and then he says you're putting your trust in your god and he's not going to be help helping you either because after all hezekiah is taking down his high places he's taking down his altars he's killing the false prophets and and he's he's telling people that they have to worship in jerusalem at the temple and so your god is offended and he's not going to help you either now of course that wasn't true but that's what he's saying and then he comes and he says something very important he says and oh by the way it is your god who has told me to come up and destroy this place but then he adds one more thing he says you can't trust egypt you can't trust your king you can't trust your god but you can trust me you can trust me that if you pay me a tribute i'll protect you from me brothers and sisters does that remind you of someone else that should we should recognize in that argument that the rabbishek is making that there's something else going on here there is a spirit behind all of this isn't there and we know that that is the spirit of the enemy of our souls he is promising peace and safety and he cannot provide it look with me here in isaiah 36 look at verse 12 through 16 but the rabbishak said has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words and not to the men who sit on the wall who will eat and drink their own waste with you then the rabbishek stood and called out with a loud voice in hebrew and said hear the words of the great king the king of assyria thus says the king do not let hezekiah deceive you for he will not be able to deliver you nor let hezekiah make you trust in the lord saying the lord will surely deliver us this city will not be given into the hand of the king assyria do not listen to hezekiah for thus says the king of assyria make peace with me by a present and come out to me and every one of you will eat from his own vine and everyone from his own fig tree and every one of you will drink the waters of his own cistern here we see the enemy of god's people and what he's trying to do first of all i want you to notice that he makes it appear that he is has your best interests at heart that he is more interested in the the the welfare of god's people than god himself is and then notice that he is also portraying hezekiah as being vainglorious he's portraying him as someone who is a self-interested deceiver who does not have god's people and their interests in his heart and he says don't let the king deceive you into thinking that your god can save you and so here we see that the issue is directly and distinctly drawn are you going to give your loyalty to god or are you going to give your loyalty to me now brothers and sisters we know the prophetic word don't we we know that history is going to repeat itself in fact we are living in some pretty strange times aren't we and as we look at our situation today we could ask ourselves are we going to put our trust in doctors that they can save us from covid19 are we going to put our trust in the gut and the governor that he has our best interests at heart when he tells us that we shouldn't gather together for worship on a sabbath morning are we going to trust those leaders of the nations around us that are telling us we all need to do this thing and so we have a very important question in whom are you going to trust i want to point out to you something that it says in psalm 91 verse 5 and 5 through 7 and thinking about the present time in which we live and this pestilence all around us notice what it says you shall not be afraid of the terror by night nor of the arrow that flies by day nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday a thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand but it shall not come near to you the question that we want to answer is in whom are we going to place our trust are we going to place our trust in doctors are we going to place it in the governor in the president in the nation in the nations around us are they going to be able to protect us from what's going on in the world today and i know that there might be someone out there right now that's thinking to themselves pastor rod are you telling me that if i put my trust in god that i will not get kovid 19. friends please understand that is not what i'm saying i'm simply saying this in whom are you going to place your trust are we going to put it in the governments are we going to expect that the government who has our best interests at heart there's the ones telling us to stay at home and are you going to expect them to bail you out financially and so whom are we going to trust i want you to think about those three hebrew boys who were told by the government you either do it our way or we're going to throw you into the fiery furnace and friends what did those three boys say our god is able to save us but even if he doesn't we're still going to put our trust in him i love the way job put it job chapter 13 verse 15 in the midst of all that was going on with job he said though you slay me yet will i trust you you see friends shinecareb's challenge is in reality a direct defiance of god your god is not able to save you and the rabbishek makes this grandiose promise that if you trust him and you are disloyal to your king you're just loyal to your god then he will do something for you let's look at it again look with me we're still in chapter 36 look at verse 16 do not listen to hezekiah for thus says the king of assyria make peace with me buy a present and come out to me and every one of you will eat from his own vine and everyone from his own fig tree and you'll drink from your own cistern think about this for a minute he is saying if you give me a present i won't attack you but guess what he already had and hezekiah had already given him a tribute so that he wouldn't attack them you know friends the the enemy of your soul never has enough if you give him an inch he'll take a mile and if he they give in to him they pay that tribute and now he's coming for another tribute isn't that what the enemy of your soul does but notice what he says in the next verse verse 17. he says you're going to get to stay in your house you're going to get to stay in your own land you're going to eat from your own garden until i come and take you away here here we see this mockery of the words that he had just said here we see a vain promise i'm going to let you stay there until i come and take you away the enemy is never satisfied with what you've given him he always wants more look with me verse 19 and 20. where are the gods of hamath and our pad where are the gods of savarin indeed have they delivered samaria from my hand who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand that the lord should deliver jerusalem from my hand samaria had fallen to the assyrians years earlier and the fact that the capital of the northern kingdom had fallen into their hands was in their eyes proof to them that the same thing was going to happen to judah in jerusalem but friends let me read you a verse that you're very familiar with revelation chapter 13 verse 4 talking about the first beast of revelation 13 the antichrist this is what it says so they worship the dragon who gave authority to the beast and they worshipped the beast saying who is like the beast who is able to make war with him we see a repeat in history here don't we because that's exactly what the king of assyria was doing and we really know the spirit behind the king of assyria we really know who this is this is the dragon right and and the the uh rabbit shack is essentially saying the exact same thing who can make war against the king of assyria he's too powerful for you but notice verse 21 but they held their peace and answered him not a word for the king commandment was do not answer them friends there was no effective answer that the people could have given to the assyrian leaders there was nothing that they could do to turn shanekareb away from his purpose nothing they could do to turn the real enemy behind that from his purpose and so wisely the king said to them say nothing friends don't ever try to get into an argument with the devil because you are not going to win don't think that you're going to be able to convince him that he is wrong and so the king wisely tells them not to say a word but hezekiah trusted he had faith that god would be able to deliver them and so the people come to hezekiah and they tell him what the rabbishek has said and if you look at chapter 37 verse 1 it tells us that when hezekiah heard it he tore his clothes he put on sackcloth and he went into the house of the lord you see friends the king had done everything that he could do to prepare the people to protect themselves in this confrontation with the enemy of god's people he strengthened his fortifications he further equipped and organized his army he increased the security of jerusalem's water supply and you can go back and read that for yourself how he did that but when he was done doing everything humanly possible he goes to the one who can truly help him and friends we find ourselves in the same situation today we have a global pandemic and we want to do everything that we can to protect ourselves yes we need the social distance yes we need those mass yes we need to wash our hands but when it's all said and done and we've done everything humanly possible whom are we going to trust in who are we going to go to and trust that he is able to help us and so hezekiah goes to the lord and he prays and while he is in the temple pouring out his heart to the lord i imagine that the lord impresses him with something because he does something very important look with me chapter 37 verse two then he sent that's hezekiah sent elec elokim who was over the household shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth to isaiah the prophet the son of amos and they said to him thus says hezekiah this day is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy for the children have come to birth but there is no strengths to bring them forth it may be that the lord your god will hear the words of rabbishek whom his master the king of assyria has sent to reproach the living god and will rebuke the words which the lord your god has heard therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left friends i don't know about you but i see that hezekiah is doing something very important here he is trying to bring about reform he is taking down the high places he is tearing down the altars he is telling the people to come to jerusalem and worship the one true god and he says we are about to break out of this this idolatry and we have come to the point of birth but we don't have the strength to go out we need god and he does something very important friends i don't know about you but when i am in trouble i spend more time on my knees than i normally do how about you and he does something very important and i do this too because when i'm in trouble i want to seek out those prayer warriors that i know that god listens to them because i've seen god working in their lives in the past and i call that friend and say i'm in trouble you've got to pray for me and that's what hezekiah is doing he goes to the man of god he goes to the prophet of god and he says pray for the remnant and notice what happens look with me verse 5 chapter 7 verse 37 verse 5 so the servants of king hezekiah came to isaiah and isaiah said to them thus you shall say to your master thus says the lord do not be afraid of the words which you have heard with which the servants of the king of assyria have blasphemed me surely i will send a spirit upon him and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land and i will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land friends when you pour out your heart to god when you pray to him god is already there with an answer and here we see that isaiah tells him your god is with you he is going to save you now the rabbishak asked a very important question in whom are you going to trust and friends we might ask another question can god be trusted can god be trusted i love what it says in the parallel passage that we read earlier in isaiah all right excuse me in second kings chapter 18 verse 5 do you remember it it said that he that is hezekiah trusted in the lord god of israel so that after him was none like him among the kings of judah nor none before friends how would you like that said about you that you trust god so much that there was no one like that before you and there ain't going to be anyone after you like that but you have put your complete and total trust in god and hezekiah believes the word of isaiah and he sees that prophecy immediately fulfilled seneca reb gets the word that ethiopia is attacking assyria and so he takes his army and he goes back to assyria to fight him like a hook in his jaw god just pulls him away and there is relief in israel but friends your enemy doesn't give up that easily i think this was an opportunity for chenekoreb to repent of his blasphemy it was an opportunity for him to give his heart to the lord but he doesn't take god up on that opportunity because then right after this he writes a letter to hezekiah and he essentially tells him the exact same thing he reiterates what he has already said through the rabbishek that your god is not able to save you and so hezekiah returns to the house of the lord and this time he spreads out that letter before the lord and he prays a beautiful prayer let's look at it look with me chapter 37 look at verse 33. or excuse me look at verse 16. he says o lord of hosts god of israel the one who dwells between the cherubim you are god you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth you have made heaven and earth incline your ear o lord and hear open your eyes o lord and see and hear all the words of senecarab which he has sent to reproach the living god truly lord the kings of assyria have laid waste all the nations in their lands and have cast their gods into the fire for they were not gods but the work of men's hands wood and stone therefore they destroyed them now therefore oh lord our god save us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the law are the lord you alone well friends you know the story god sends isaiah to hezekiah and notice what god says look at verse 33 therefore thus says the lord concerning the king of assyria he shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with a shield nor build a siege mound against it by the way that he came by the same shall he return and he shall not come into this city says the lord for i will defend the city to save it for my own sake and for my servant david's sake here we see god already there already ahead of hezekiah he is there to immediately respond to his need and he says to him i'm going to take care of this because the real enemy behind this is blaspheming me and i'm going to do it for my name's sake and i'm going to do it for david's sake as well friends in whom are you going to place your trust is god the kind of king that you can trust and then there's a third question and that is where is god in your calamity you remember the story of job job is is unaware of all that's going on but satan and god come together and god says have you considered my servant job and satan if i could paraphrase it he simply says well of course job loves you you've blessed his little hebrew socks off but you take away that hedge of protection you take away everything he has and surely he will curse you to your face and of course you know what happens he he allows satan that that activity he takes away everything that job has but job hangs on to his integrity job does not curse god he said god is given god is taken away blessed be the name of the lord and so the enemy of his soul just walks away and says well i guess i was wrong i'm gonna have to repent and you were right god is that what happens no he continues on the attack he says well okay you got me there but you take away his health and surely he will curse you to your face now friends that's exactly the same thing that we're seeing here hezekiah has had this high spiritual mountaintop experience and usually after a mountaintop experience trouble comes do you ever notice that he has this this great victory i'm not going to read it to you but you go back and you look at the story and you'll see that god sent an angel of the lord and in one night a hundred and eighty-five thousand assyrians are slaughtered god took care of the matter there was this mountaintop victory because this this is the great controversy that's going on this war between christ and satan and we see that god has won the victory here and there's this high mountaintop experience and so the devil just says well i guess i can't do anything about that and he walks away right no no now he's going to attack hezekiah's health right and hezekiah has this illness that is going to take his life in fact god sends isaiah to him to tell him put your house in order you're about to have an end of life and of course hezekiah does what we all should do rather than going and trusting the doctors rather than trusting the government to help him he goes to the one who truly can help and he goes back into the house of the lord he pours out his heart to the lord and the lord immediately answers that prayer and sends isaiah back to him and tell him that god is going to give him 15 more years and he's going to give him a supernatural sign that he's going to do this i want you to look with me in isaiah chapter 38 starting in verse 6. notice what god says i will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of assyria and i will defend this city and this is the sign to you from the lord that the lord will do this thing which he has spoken behold i will bring the shadow on the sundial which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of ahaz 10 degrees backwards so that the sun returned 10 degrees on the dial by which it had gone down now jump with me to verse 21. verse 21 and 22 say now isaiah had said let them take a lump of figs and apply it to a poultice on the boil and he shall recover and hezekiah had said what is the sign that i shall go up to the house of the lord so here we see that hezekiah is told that he is going to get 15 more years of life and hezekiah essentially says how can i be sure of this and so god says i'm going to do something very important i'm going to i'm going to do something supernatural here to prove to you that you can trust me friends in whom are you going to place your trust can god be trusted where is god in the midst of your calamities god had revealed himself to hezekiah in a very powerful way and perhaps he's done the same thing for you i can tell you from my own experience god has done some miraculous things some supernatural things for my behalf but friends hezekiah makes a critical mistake friends even those who belong to god even those who who love god can make mistakes we see that in david with bathsheba and now we see it with hezekiah but remember how we started our message this morning there's nothing new under the sun everything that was written down was written for our learning and we have nothing to fear from the future except that we forget how god has led in the past and friends we don't want to make the same mistake that hezekiah did because god did something supernatural this was the perfect opportunity for hezekiah to share his amazing god you see the babylonians you'll remember that later in history several hundred years that the wise men from the east from babylon are going to follow a star to bethlehem and worship baby jesus the the babylonians were very interested in this in the stars in astrology and it would not have been beyond them to notice something supernatural had happened and they have heard about this great victory in the assyrian army slate and so they send an envoy to israel to find out the story what has truly happened here and this is the perfect opportunity for hezekiah to share his great and amazing and powerful god but hezekiah takes the glory for himself and when they come he shows them all the splendor of his kingdom friends in whom are you going to place your trust can god be trusted where is god in your calamities and number four when god delivers you from all of your troubles are you going to give him the glory or are you going to take it for yourselves friends we want to learn from history so that we don't make the same mistake is that the desire of your heart do you want to make sure that you learn from these things so that you don't make these mistakes because friends we are heading into some difficulties do you think that this is the end of it with covid19 no we are heading into some very challenging days and are you going to give god the glory when he delivers you or are you going to try and take it for yourself well while you're thinking about that question we're out of time so let's pray father in heaven lord you are truly amazing and we are so grateful and thankful for all that you've done and all that you are doing but lord there are certain things that we have to do ourselves and then there are things we can't do and so lord it's in those times that we pray that you would work mightily with a with an outstretched arm and a powerful hand and you would deliver us from the enemy of our souls and we ask in jesus name amen friends i want to remind you that our free offer today is saved from certain death and you can get that by calling 866 788-3966 or you can and ask for number 109 or you can text the code sh060 to number 40544 god bless you and have a great day [Music] throughout history mankind has been obsessed with the idea of living forever take for example chen chu wang the first emperor to unite greater china during his rule about 250 bc he started work on what would become the great wall of china but ember one was also obsessed with eternity he dispatched entire armies to search for the fabled elixir of life a magical drink that would allow him to live forever fearing they'd be punished if they came back empty-handed most of these soldiers never returned because of his obsession with eternity the emperor also began working on his burial city when only 13 years old he filled vast underground caverns around his tomb with a replica of his court believing that somehow they'd come to life in the next world archaeologists found more than 8 000 life-sized terracotta statues of musicians troops of acrobats strongmen soldiers and horses to guard his gravesite no two are the same it's believed to have taken around seven hundred thousand workers approximately 38 years to complete this wonder tragically chin shu one died when only 49 years of age evidently by mercury poisoning he drank a bizarre lethal cocktail as doctors gave him to supposedly help him live longer many others through history have looked for this elusive living water alexander the great was said to have come across a healing river of paradise in the 4th century bc others have gone on epic quests vainly searching for the holy grail a mythical chalice from the last supper that would purportedly give eternal life to whoever could drink water from it spanish navigator juan ponce de leon he heard from natives in puerto rico that there was an island called bimini that had a fountain of youth today scientists are taking a more pragmatic approach experimenting with stem cells and genetic engineering all in a concerted effort to slow stop or maybe even reverse the aging process let's face it we're all pre-programmed for self-preservation people want to survive and live so wouldn't you be interested if i told you about a viable way that you could increase your lifespan not by 20 or 30 years but forever did you know the bible actually does talk about the secret fountain of youth that's right jesus said whoever drinks the water of life that i will give him will never thirst but the water that i will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life in fact the bible ends by inviting people to drink from this living water and the spirit and the bride say come and let him who hears say come and let who is a thirst come and whoever will let him take the water of life freely well friend it's real and the bible teaches that god deeply wants to give you this gift of everlasting life but you might be thinking there has to be a catch how exactly do you receive this free gift in the next few moments i'm going to share with you five practical steps that you can take that will place the keys of eternal life within your reach what you do with them is up to you [Music] first we must recognize there's obviously a problem death disease terrorism pain none of this was god's original plan in the world around us we can see a spiritual battle is raging between light and darkness good and evil right and wrong it all began eons ago when the highest of god's creations a beautiful and powerful angel named lucifer now better known as satan became inflamed with jealousy he resented that he could not have all of the power of god that's when following a lengthy and slanderous campaign lucifer led one-third of the angels of god in an all-out rebellion against the creator satan next deceived the first humans into disbelieving and disobeying god so they unwittingly surrendered the dominion of this world to the devil our beautiful planet was hijacked by an evil fiend and his forces that filled the world with their spirit of sin and selfishness but god sent his son into the world as a human to guide to rescue and ultimately to redeem those that would trust in him we're all sinners for we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of god it's true of you it's true of me all we like sheep have gone astray we've turned everyone to his own way and the lord laid upon him jesus the iniquity of us all whether it's lying or stealing or evil thoughts we have all broken the golden rule god's law of love better known as the ten commandments the principles of god's law are meant to protect us and to ensure a life of peace and safety the bible reveals that the penalty for sin breaking god's law is death because sin naturally separates us from the one who gives life are there unkind words that you've spoken or actions that you've taken in your life that have hurt others or even yourself god is asking you to acknowledge that you're a sinner so that you can take the next step the second step to eternity is to believe you can in fact be saved and that's the good news of salvation a roman jailer once asked the apostle paul what must i do to be saved paul answered believe in the lord jesus christ and you will be saved to believe in christ means to believe in who he is the son of god and savior of the world and to trust him with your life unlike you or i jesus lived a perfect sinless life by faith he never broke a commandment of god he now offers to take your sinful record in exchange for his perfect life he literally died in your place so that you can live forever in a paradise without sin jesus suffered in your place for your sin so you can be forgiven you must accept this by faith he that believes in the son has everlasting life isn't that simple will you believe this message of hope that jesus is offering you right now the third step in receiving the gift of salvation is to confess and repent of your sins tell god you're sorry the bible says he that covers his sins will not prosper but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy jesus also said unless you repent you will all likewise perish to repent means to make a determined choice to turn away from the self-destructive lifestyle of sin and to trust that god will help you do it it means to honor god's commandments in your mind in your heart and in your actions let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return to the lord and he will have mercy on him and to our god for he will abundantly pardon a person who repents is genuinely sorry for sinning and they turn their hearts towards god the lord then promises to give them the transforming power of the holy spirit he'll place within you a new heart and a new mind now god does not expect you to remember and confess every sin you've ever committed just humbly come to him in the name of jesus and willingly confess you've broken his laws there may be some specific things the holy spirit will bring to your attention tell him you're sorry ask him to wash away your sins when you do the bible says you can have complete assurance that he will fully forgive you if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness will you please open your heart now to the lord confess your sins and then believe he has forgiven you eternal life you're almost there the fourth step to eternity is to willingly receive jesus as your personal savior christ said behold i stand at the door in log if anyone hears my voice and opens the door i will come into him and dine with him and he with me you receive christ by audibly praying and inviting him into your heart this is god's amazing gift to you for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life but receiving christ also means more it means trusting in his instruction and guiding influence in your life and actions therefore if anyone is in christ he's a new creation old things have passed away behold all things are become new will you now receive jesus into your life and give him permission to abide in you now is the best time will you ask him sincerely pray this simple prayer and then review the steps that we just covered dear god i know that i've broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you i believe that your son jesus died for my sins and was resurrected from the dead and is alive in heaven and hears my prayers i am truly sorry for my past sins and i now want to turn to you and turn away from sin please forgive me and help me to walk in a new life i invite jesus to become the lord of my life to rule and to reign in my heart from this day forward please send your holy spirit to help me obey you and to do your will for the rest of my life and i pray these things in jesus name amen the fifth step to eternity is to now confess jesus as your lord eternal life is more than just receiving it's also about giving to keep your faith you need to share it with others by word and example the bible tells us if you confess with your mouth the lord jesus christ and believe in your heart that god has raised him from the dead you will be saved he then says for with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation to confess jesus as your lord means to choose to follow him every day christ said whoever desires to come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me friend remember following jesus is an ongoing walk a love relationship if you stumble and fall along the way don't be discouraged he's promised i will never leave you or forsake you just get up god wants to set you free from the burden of guilt and sin in your life god loves you so much he sent jesus who willingly took the wages of your sins upon himself christ died so you can live live forever let him free you from sin now and experience a real and lasting peace so i'd like to offer you a free gift to strengthen you in your new relationship with jesus to receive your free gift and discover more about walking with jesus call us today and ask for offer number 102 thank you so much for watching and now share this gift of everlasting life with others by passing on this video [Music] good morning friends we'd like to welcome you to the granite bay worship service we'd like to welcome those joining us across the country and around the world on af tv also on social media and the internet perhaps you're watching this on another network we'd like to welcome you thank you for being a part of the granite bay church service we do have some announcements that we'd like to bring to your attention first of all i want to remind you that the granite bay church website just granite bay sda.org that right there on the website you'll be able to find the bulletin with all of the announcements so if you want to go back through and review some of these announcement announcements please do so i'd like to remind you about our wednesday bible study every wednesday at seven o'clock uh we do a bible study through the book of second samuel is what we're currently studying and you're able to view that at the granite bay church facebook page so we encourage you to be a part of that we also would like to remind you that uh with reference to your ties and offerings you can give online as we've mentioned before you can also mail in your tithes and offerings uh to the church and the address the mailing address is also in the bulletin also like to let you know about various church news updates if you would send us your email to office at granite bay sda.org you'll be able to receive an email update every thursday about happenings here at the granite bay church so we want to keep you connected so please go ahead and send us your email address to office granite bay sd.org there's also some announcements with reference to volunteers for amazing facts also if you have any prayer requests you're able to post that at the granite bay church website and then we have the first reading for transfers folks transferring their membership into the granite bay church that is all available in the church bulletin so we want to encourage you when you have a chance to take a look at that we'll have the second reading next week again welcome we pray that this service will be a rich blessing to you and then most of all you'll be drawn closer to god through the prayer through the song and through the opening of the word at this time we'd like to invite you to join us as we sing our call to worship it's we have this hope you'll see the words on the lower part of your screen so let's stand as we sing together we have this hope we have this hope that burns we have this faith that christ alone imparts faith in the promise of his word we believe the time is here when the nations far and near shall awaken shout and sing hallelujah christ is king we have this hope that burns within our hearts of the lord in heaven as we close our eyes as we bow our heads before you lord we bow before you and ask that you might be able to bless this service in a very special way we want to pray that your presence will truly be with us that we will not be alone but you will be present we pray for your holy angels to be able to be the ones that accompany us here as well and that you will hold back the powers of darkness that we might be able to connect with you and receive the fruits of the spirit that you so much continue want to give us that we might continue to be transformed as we connect to you and we glorify you and exalt you lord god we want to pray that you will bless each and every person that is here those who are arriving and coming into the sanctuary to worship you here today want to pray a special blessing upon them we want to thank you for each and every visitor that has come and is joining us either online or god we want to pray that you will bless us and keep us and and god that you will continue to help us to be able to to be able to sense your presence and so god we want to thank you for these things in jesus name we pray amen please be seated it's our time and our service when we have the joy and the privilege to give back to the lord and today our free free offering is for religious liberty if there has ever been a time in earth's history when religious liberty is going to be attacked here in america we are entering that time amen so for those of you that are here on your way out the door you can drop those at the outer door or those that are watching online you can go on to the granite bay sda.org website you can give there or you can write a check and send it to the granite bay sda church post office box 910 rockland california 9567 and let's bow our heads and pray father in heaven we thank you for all that you have given us and it's our great joy and privilege to give back a portion to you and lord our prayer is that you would take all that we give and you would bless it and you would multiply it and lord you would use it for your glory and we ask it all in jesus name [Music] amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello morning church family happy sabbath please stand for scripture reading a scripture this morning is psalms 23 the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he makes me to lie down in green pastures he leads me beside the still waters he restores my soul he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake yea though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me you prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup runs over surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and i will dwell in the house of the lord forever amen please remain standing as we prepare our hearts for prayer i invite you to sing with me as we come to you now dear lord as we pray take our hearts and minds far away from the press of the world all around to your throne where grace does abound may your lives be transformed by your love may our souls be refreshed from above at this moment let people everywhere join us now as we come to you in [Music] praise we're going to have a word of prayer for those that can nail and want to join me go ahead and those that are at in home and they would like to join us also heavenly father we thank you for another beautiful day of life and we know father that this is not any day that this is your your holy sabbath day the day that we come together to honor you to give you the glory to give you all the credit for being our god for creating us for redeeming us and for sanctifying us we thank you for this great privilege and this honor that you have given us to come together and we know that during this week there were many difficulties many tribulations tough times we raise in prayer bob farner and the family for the loss of their wife we know that many other people have gone through some struggles and difficulties during this week father but at the same time the seventh day is a day when we come together and despite whatever downfall that we might have experienced during the week we can come and say thank you god we honor you and we praise you because you are faithful you are trustworthy and we know that you are faithful to your word so we thank you father as we come together we ask that if anybody has come here today with a heavy heart with a burden with something that is not giving them peace we ask that your spirit may give them that soothing comfort knowing that we are in your presence that there's nothing in this earth that can separate us from you except if we choose to do so but if we are here today and those that are watching on tv on social media if we are here today it's because we love you it's because we want to draw closer to you because we want to know you better and we want to see and experience your power so we thank you father for this opportunity we ask a special prayer for my brother and pastor sean may you anoint his lips may it not be him who speaks but your spirits who speaks through him and may the message today we might not only understand it and grasp it but we may apply it and live by it we thank you father again for this wonderful beautiful opportunity to come together as your church and we're looking forward to that day when it says in isaiah chapter 66 that from new moon to new moon and from sabbath to sabbath all shall come to worship you this is just practice we're just getting ready father and so we want to thank you because we're all looking forward to that day but we know that there is a work that needs to be done here before we are able to join enjoy that wonderful those sabbath days in the new earth so thank you again father for this opportunity we ask and we beg these things in the precious name of our lord and savior jesus christ amen you know it's times like this that we're going through here in the united states that i have to confess that i wish i was back in my early 20s and reason being for that is i remember when i was in my early 20s and you see this on interviews sometimes when different journalists are going around different campuses and interviewing them and asking them you know who is in this ministry or in this particular party and at the capitol and so on and they're just blissfully ignorant to it all and uh you know i kind of envy those days because i remember when i was in my 20s i was the same thing i was just blissfully ignorant of all the gruesome details of what's going on at the capitol and the different gruesome details that take place at that kind of arena but what happens is as the older you get uh some of those primary things that were new and your new experience as an adult kind of disappear they start to fade away a little bit more and you start to get more interested in the bigger picture and you start to find yourself watching the news just a little bit more carefully more often and you're starting to take interest in policies and political parties and philosophies and and all these other things and uh and it's tough to be able to do that today and so yeah i i really do wish i was back in my 20s at this point in a real way let's pray father in heaven i might add my prayers to my brother carlos i thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to share here uh today god want to pray that you will bless me and that father you will continue to use me as i give myself to you as your servant in jesus name i pray these things god amen um you know one of the intriguing and interesting things about uh recent years and i know that most if not all of you have uh caught on to that is that there's a growing number of people and it's more than just two or three or four that are quite interested and quite excited about getting into a spaceship flying for several years until they land in in this case uh planet mars and uh and cozy up into their new capsule that they're going to live in for the rest of their life as they're living in this kind of self-contained colonization that a growing number of people are investing a lot of time and money and energy into trying to achieve and uh my fear is that uh i i think that a lot of these people that are excited and some of them even signing up already i haven't really thought it all the way through and it really hit me as i was taking a family vacation this last summer as our family was making our way over to utah to one of the national parks there to do some camping we got our first experience in going across the nevada desert so as we crossed the state of nevada to get from here in california over to utah you know we just drive for hours and it was just no man's land and i thought to myself you know this is closest to mars as you could possibly get as i'm driving through because you go for hours and nothing is you don't see a single soul not a living creature not a living person not a house no civilization of any sort as you're going through and some of these are big mountain i've went over mountain range after mountain range pass after pass and again not a soul to be seen and i thought to myself you know these people that are signing up to go and colonize mars or the moon or wherever they're thinking of going really should you know they should build a bit of a colonization replica right in the middle of the nevada desert there and and just let them park there for a couple of years and and then say to themselves and then get them to ask themselves whether or not they would like to do that for the rest of their life i really don't think that they've really thought it all the way through because mars is one of the most uninhabited most hostile environments that you could possibly choose and you know you're stuck in in your little colonized capsule and that capsule colonized capsules would make new york city look like the whole continental usa in proportion and so i think that people just really haven't thought it all the way through god has not intended mars to be a place for life forms at this point in history to be able to inhabit why am i bringing this up there is a very largely celebrated and famous scientist astrophysicist cosmologist writer by the name of stephen hawking and i know that most if not all of you have heard of stephen hawking he passed away about two years ago he's in the grave resting right now but during his life he was a very outspoken voice that had a lot of different listeners and i'd like to share with you a bit of a quote that he shared in a lecture that he gave in hong kong back in 2006 and it kind of goes along with our message here today this is quote quoting again directly from stephen hawking it says life on earth at the is at the ever increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming nuclear war a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of it is important for the human race to spread out and to colonize space for the survival of the species well in response to that there was a newspaper article that i was reading and the newspaper article and writer had responded about a week later and and this is what he said he said stephen i wish you had chatted with me prior to our boarding ye old earthship i fear you have stepped right into a black hole i for one am quite ready i'm not quite ready to blast off into deep cosmic space without first exploring the deepest riches of human inner space your star trek-ish view of the future of humanity does not factor in a few very important ingredients that make up the core of human character then he goes on to share some good and not so good suggestions in the rest of the article and and uh and is kind of ruminating on that most important exploration of inner space rather than outer space but in the concluding paragraph he goes ahead and writes this he said what concerns me about hawking's vision for the future of humanity in outer space is that if we set about going and colonizing the moon without first laying claim to our own inner space outer space will eventually look a whole lot like our present place and i don't think that that particular author could be more true on that count on that on that point and i'm here today friends to be able to discover with you again that it is christ who claims that he is the only one with the solution to the biggest problem that we face and that is not colonization that is not spreading out it's dealing with our inner space it's not outer space that's the problem it's inner space now christ was a very dogmatic person he was a very dogmatic figure and rightly so because he is the maker of the universe he has the right to do so he knows all things he is the source of all truth and so some of the things he said was very unpopular still unpopular today both within religious circles as well as without religious circles christ says that he is the only solution no one can come down to the father no one can receive this fruits of the spirit no one can be born again unless they connect with christ christ says that he is the only solution that he has it is the only solution that he offers that is the only solution that we can really cling on to and know that we have found a permanent and eternal solution now among many places that we can find in the scriptures in which god communicates this in a very needful way we find it being played out in a very powerful way right from beginning to end in a little psalm in the book of psalms called psalm 46. and so i'd like to invite you if you have your bibles to open with me to that particular psalm we're going to psalm 46. and we're going to start with verse 1 and make our way through this entire psalm psalm 46 and we're going to start with verse 1. so again psalm 46 and verse 1 we come to a verse some of you may have even memorized this many of you are familiar with it we come back in a nether way some of you are learning it for the very first time psalm 46 says god is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble now friends that just says a whole lot to you and me this is the god of the universe the maker of the heavens of the earth the one that knows the beginning from the end the one that is the alpha and the mega the one that is lit from eternity past to eternity present and he is the one that is personally speaking to you here this morning and that same god is telling you he's making you an offer and friends i hope it is an offer that you cannot refuse it is my prayer today that it is an offer that you will grab onto if you have not already i know there is more than one that is that is clinging to this offer and writing and experience this offer from day to day but i know there is also more than one that is watching here today that has not yet taken god up on this offer god says listen i am offering myself to you as a help in time of need as a help in time of trouble i want to be your refuge i want to be your strength now i've met some pretty strong people that aren't religious they got some pretty strong characters some of them are very outspoken some of them have some great integrity but friends their strength is nothing compared to the strength that christ gives to us the offer that god has just placed before us in the very first verse in the midst of all the storms of life and in this world and all of its sin and evil and corruption that continues to reign upon this planet god says listen in the midst of it all i want to be a refuge i want to be your strength i want to offer to you that i might be a present help in in trouble god says that he wants to walk with us he says not only will i give it to you but i'm not going to just give it to you and walk away i'm going to walk right beside you i am going to be a very present help in time of need now this confirms exactly what jesus said uh later on of course some centuries later when he walked upon the earth and he gave the greatest sermon that was ever preached in matthew chapter 6 in the middle of that greatest sermon ever preached in verse 34 jesus says listen do not worry about tomorrow he tells us why he says for tomorrow has will worry about its own things why for sufficient for the day is its own trouble i see some of you saying out loud here as you know this particular important statement and counsel that god gives to us that we might make our way through the day with him a very present help in time of trouble in time of need you see jesus was simply confirming what he had already inspired the psalmist to write so many centuries before that even for the believer when as long as we're on this planet as long as we continue to get up on this planet planet earth we will face troubles that's just part of reality that's part of reality of living in a sinful corrupt and evil world thank god there's an end to it amen thank god that jesus says that one day i will come and i will judge all evil and bring an end to it permanently for all of eternity but until then the bible continues to confirm both here and the sermon on the mountain that indeed even for the believer there are troubles that we face from day to day now thank god not every day we have large troubles but every day we have problems every day we have challenges that come up in a negative way from a negative world that continues to cling to sin into evil some people have misunderstood the christian experience and they say well that's totally foreign to what i understood to be a christian because when i thought i was going to be a christian i was just kind of going to just kind of float through the day and and that was going to be one of the untouchables no that's not what the bible says at all now don't get me wrong it is true the more that we follow the word of god the closer that we stake to jesus christ himself the maker of the heavens and the earth the less troubles we will experience to be sure there are many negative consequences that i know that god has helped me to avoid because he has told me right from wrong he has helped me to be able to avoid so many different things that have brought so much pain in my life and troubles in my life as well as the life of others but god doesn't anywhere in the bible tell us that when we come to walk with him that he promises a rose garden anybody that's been a christian more than a week knows that and so god because of that tells you and i as believers and those who are potential believers those of you who might be watching and worshiping here today and are considering being a believer that god has made the greatest offer in which you can accept one of the greatest offers the greatest offering he gave to all mankind was on the cross of calvary father forgive them for they know not what they do but this is one of the greatest offers that god gives to you and me and then we go on to verse 2 and it says therefore in light of this offer in which god has given to us and that's why therefore is therefore he says therefore in light of this offer we will not fear can you say amen god tells us that because we grab onto that offer that god has given to us we can walk through life without fear we no longer have to be the scared of the things of this world we no longer have to fear the threats and the and the turmoil and the conflict that continues to take place in the storms of this planet and the storms of our personal life god goes on and use some very metaphorical language to be able to describe the inevitable storms of life that comes into the into the days of every single human believer believers and unbelievers it says therefore we will not fear even though the earth be removed and so again we come back to our friend stephen hawking and he says listen we need to remove ourselves because one day the earth may remove itself through climate change or some deadly virus or so through some nuclear war and so on god is saying even when the even if the earth be removed i will not fear and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea and though its waters roar and be troubled and though the mountains shake with its swelling and so friends here we have that metaphorical language that jesus picked up on that he also reflected upon when he said to his disciples one day he says if you have faith assuredly i say to you you can say to this mountain be moved out of its place and be thrown into the sea and it will be done for you if you believe and do not doubt therefore whatever you ask in my name it will be done you know when i first read that verse and for years afterwards i used to believe every time that jesus is saying there are times in which we literally will speak to a mountain and it will move literally into the ocean but i forgot even as pastor doug had clarified last week again for me and for many of us that we're here worshiping that indeed jesus is using what he so consistently often did not always but quite often he would speak in metaphorical and hyperboles and so jesus is not talking about literally moving a literal mountain into the literal sea god is saying listen if one of you are crazy enough to be able to believe without doubting that you can move one of my mountains into one of my seas don't believe it because it ain't gonna happen i haven't seen a christian yet that has taken a mountain levitated it over and then fell and dropped it into the sea i have been around long enough that i think there's a few of us that have been crazy enough to think that we could but that's not what god is talking about he's saying listen we can move mountains in our life what are the mountains that god in the bible that jesus here is talking about he's talking about when we show up at work one day work that we've been at for years faithfully and loyally giving our all a job that we've loved and we show up one day and we didn't see it coming not at all but all of a sudden we're sitting in the boss's office and he's explaining to us why he has to let me go and i'm going to lose that job that i've put my heart and soul in for so many years he's talking about when we go to the doctor and the doctor is giving us our results of our annual physical and there's a surprise there that tells us that our life is on the line in a way that we had no idea until we sat before that doctor he's talking about when our house forecloses and we had no idea that was coming he's talking about all the different troubles and mountains that that that that are thrown at us at different times the storms of life and therefore he talks not only about this massive massive scale earthquake that he describes in verse two but he's also talking about massive and very uh life-threatening storms on the sea as the waters are roaring the wind is blowing and the rain is descending and beating upon your life and god stands up in the midst of it all even as jesus did when he was walking on water that night you know so often people think well he pictured jesus walking on water one of the most famous miracles that he had and we picture him and so many people picture him walking on this nice calm lake one day but they haven't really read the important details the important details that jesus was walking on the water while the waves were breaking over top of him and the waves were breaking over top of the boat to the point where the disciples and these these hard and experienced fishermen thought that they were going to die jesus was symbolizing himself in the sea and in the in the storms of life that he might be able to communicate to us that jesus is in control of all things in life and that he has all things covered you know when you're going through the worst you have the biggest mountain in front of you you're walking through one of the worst storms jesus is saying and i think he wants us to keep stopping as we come to verses and and and and passages like this and say hey listen i've got it covered don't worry i've got it covered and thus he says though the earth being removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea though the waters roar and be troubled though the mountains shake with its swelling you know there's a number of storms that we're all going through together and i know that there's a lot of different personal storms that are being represented even here today as people are watching this programming as people are joining us with this particular warship the present storms that were all experienced as an international pandemic a shutdown that has shut down so much of what we have always taken for granted so many of the activities of life are no longer an option and haven't been for almost a year now a very real and international storm that has swept across this this this planet it continues to challenge us from day to day and make life much more difficult on a lot a lot of different fronts and for many of us much more even than the rest thousands of businesses across this nation have gone or are going bankrupt even as we worship here this morning personal and national storms that we're experiencing in a very real way the american national debt has gone through the roof in past decades but now friends we have almost doubled that that that astronomical debt just within the last year we are at levels of national debt that we could hardly have imagined even three years ago we are in the midst of a massive political and cultural conflict one side of this country is in complete conflict against the other side i don't believe that america has experienced this kind of conflict since the civil war 150 years since we've experienced this kind of conflict we are going through some very real present storms the waters are roaring the rain is descending the wind is blowing and friends the bible tells us that only things are only going to get worse now i'm not saying that it's not going to get a little bit better before it gets worse i'm not a prophet i do not know but one thing i do know is that god has made very clear that everything that we know about american society will unravel before jesus comes again that's one thing i do know because the lord has told us ahead of time these things i tell you ahead of time so that when they happen you may believe and know that i'm in charge i've got it covered because i don't know about you but sometimes i have to stop and just take a deep breath father help me to remember that you are in charge help me to remember that you have all this covered and even though it's true that things in this lifetime very likely may completely unravel itself all the things that we have taken for granted in this great nation that has shined so brightly for so many years in modern history will unravel god has told us listen i am your refuge i am your strength i'm a very present help and trouble verse four he goes on and he says there is a river i love this verse there is a river whose stream shall make glad the city of god the holy place of the tabernacle of the most high and by the bible tells me that jesus is that river the bible tells us that jesus is the river of life as he told the woman at the well so long ago when he was visiting with her at jacob's well and he said listen he who drinks of the water in which i will give him will never thirst again because the water that i will give him will become a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life jesus is the river of life now don't get me wrong revelation tells me that there will be a literal river of life that will stream from the very throne of god that god will set up when he makes this planet new and he sets up the new jerusalem in which the tree of life will break bud and grow and be available from month to month that you and i may eat from it and live for all of eternity but jesus is the ultimate river of life the bible tells us in verse 4 there is a river that streams whose stream shall make glad the city of god and then verse 5 it goes on and says god is in the midst of her and she shall not be moved god shall help her just at the break of dawn now friends this is ultimately pointing to the new jerusalem this is ultimately pointing to the second coming of jesus christ now it's also pointing to the different storms in which you and i go through and so there's a dual application here to be sure for god indeed is telling us that the only way that we can experience true gladness and the only way we can achieve true peace and true joy and and true love and all these other things that god tells us comes from the fruits of the spirit is only found in god and with god in our hearts but indeed the bible also tells us here and is telling us in verses 4 and 5 there is a new jerusalem there is a holy city in which jesus himself will be our light and he will be our river of life it is also pointing us to the time in which we will cry out we have wait this is our god we have waited for him we have waited for him and we will be glad as they cry out and record in isaiah chapter 25. god breaks through the dawn he breaks through with help just at the break of dawn have you ever noticed that god so often only comes through at the very last minute have you ever noticed that almost i can't even i can't remember there probably was one time but i honestly i can't remember one time when i faced a mountain that metaphorical mountain that is raised up before me it was a storm that starts to blow and and beat upon my life i can't remember one time where i said lord please help me relieve me from this give me the solution that i need to be able to move this mountain into the sea that i might be able to continue on with the life and the plan that you have for me and he just instantaneously removed it have you experienced that have you noticed that but so often he makes a struggle through it and we pray through it we persist and we work with him and we pray and then we work and then we pray and then we work and then we pray and then we work and then finally god brings us to to the end and he breaks through just at the dawn why because well most of the time it's because of character development but i think the other reason is that it's also faith development amen character development and faith development and so god will help he shall help her just at the break of dawn the bible says in verse 6 it says the nations raged the kingdoms were moved he uttered his voice and the earth was melted oh friends this i just love this verse it's deep it's sober but it reminds me again that god is the one that is in control of the nations it reminds me again that the nations don't answer to themselves first they answer to god now some of them aren't acknowledging god some of them don't want anything to do with god but nevertheless daniel chapter 2 and verse 21 makes it very clear that it is god who removes kings and it is god who lifts up kings god is the one that actually has the final say in all governments in all ways at all times now sometimes it's hard to believe that at times because when you have nero on the throne in ancient times and others on the throne in modern times we ask ourselves how could that be but the bible says it so either we believe it we accept it or we don't amen the bible tells us that it is god who raises up kings it is god who removes kings and it is god who decides when those raising up and those lowerings take place sometimes it is beyond our understanding sometimes we shake our heads and say how could it be o lord but it says very clearly to me that the nation's rage the kingdom is removed but he utters his voice and the earth was melted it very clearly says god who raises up kings and removes them and so i accept it i believe in it it also gives me the reassurance that god has the devil and his demons on a leash now it's true that the devil came up before god as recorded in the first chapter of job and said god said where have you been he said oh i've been down on planet earth going back and forth here and there across the earth indicating his princehood is his royalty his majesty his control of the earth but god made it very clear in the conversation that followed on all the actions that followed after that that the devil actually was on a leash was he not and god said i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna loosen that leash and i'm gonna lengthen it just a little bit here but this far and no farther you see the devil and his demons have always been on a leash they've never been the true sovereign of this world god has always been the sovereign of this world the devil has the devil and demons on a leash shortening and lengthening to achieve his purposes of judgment and a salvation his number one purpose in all things in all ways and even using evil against evil to be able to achieve as much salvation amongst as many as many people as is possible that's the god in whom we serve the ones in charge of all the nations verse 7 says the lord of hosts is with us and the god of jacob is our refuge he is our shelter he is our help and so the offer is there at the beginning and then it's reconfirmed again as we come to verse seven it's repeated later on in the very same verse and verse 80 continues to go on and it says come behold the works of the lord who has made desolations in the earth he makes the wars to cease to the ends of the earth he breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two he burns the chariot in the fire and so here it's telling us that god draws lines he draws lines and he limits the different wars of evil that have taken place and will take place upon this earth again revealing that god has the devil and his demons on a leash and not only that but he also has those who are bent on evil and those who are choosing evil those who are leading in evil he also has them on a leash as well king nebuchadnezzar was a man that was not working for god most of his life now god's grace he eventually came to be converted and followed and was a worshiper of god for the last years of his life but up until then he was an agent of the devil first he was an agent of the devil but he also reveals he was also an agent of god and so god was using some of his evil intentions to be able to achieve god's own purposes but nevertheless we find that god drew a line and he said this far and no farther and so god is revealing here that he has a line for each and every evil war that has ever taken place or ever will upon the planet when hitler was doing his thing and it looked like he was going to achieve his great purposes and he was taking one nation after another nation after another nation and it was just almost like a domino effect and people are saying he's going to do it he's actually going to achieve it he's going to conquer the entire eastern european continent but god was looking down the entire time and he was saying listen i've got you on a leash and you're going to go this far and no further so often we make the mistakes as politicians as leaders as citizens and so on and we we fall into the trap of thinking that we're in control thinking that somehow it was us that drew the leash now we were involved in it there's many troops and there's different americans canadians europeans and so on they gave their lives to be able to stop that evil and gave their lives to stop that evil war but it was god that brought the ultimate end to that war he was using those who were willing to sacrifice to help make that happen but god is watching over every nation over every war over every ruler and thank god that he knows every thought and intent of the heart thank god that he knows so much more than you and i friends we can spend the rest of our lives instead of spreading the gospel and witnessing about jesus we can we can immerse ourselves in conspiracy theories until we're until we're dead and will still not be able to uncover every conspiracy but the problem with the conspiracy theory trap is that we can not only lose our lives and and lose all that precious energy and time that god would rather use for the spreading and propagating of the gospel of jesus christ not only do we allow ourselves to be robbed of that friends but most of the time we really don't know because it is only god who knows the heart it is only god that knows every detail he is the only one that knows every backroom conversation that is taking place the greatest conspirators and the greatest deceivers of all of history are so good at it that you'll never be able to uncover it in your place and spot where was i oh we are talking about verse eight verse eight and nine yeah god is in control of all the nations then we come to the punch line of this particular psalm and message here today and it's one in which all of us probably are accustomed or acquainted with in verse 10 it says be still be still and know that i am god friends we have some people that have wisely put that on plaques they put it on their walls they put it on their bedroom mirrors somewhere be still god says and know that i am god and friends when we come to that spot spot this is the eye of the storm you know they say the eye of the storm it's one of those wild places and i guess am i right and i've watched some of those documentaries in years past where you have the storm chasers and even some government planes and aircraft and so on and they'll just bravely find themselves they'll just fly right into a hurricane now i don't know if you could pay me enough to be able to get onto that plane and do that but there are people that are willing to do it at a high salary i'm sure and take these specialized aircraft and fly right into it into a into a you know a class class five class six or whatever hurricane but if they pursue through and they are able to sustain the the rigors and all of that massive life-threatening stress that takes place as they're making their way into the very into the very heart of that storm when they come into the center they come into the eye of the storm and all of a sudden they begin to experience this uncanny peace this perfect calm still that is taking place in the middle of that storm and that's where god is and that's where god is inviting us again to here today he says be still and know that i am god why does god say that because he knows how often we default to the opposite have you noticed that the mountain appears before us the storm starts to beat around us and what do we do we go to ourselves we go to our lawyer we go to our banker we go to our investment invest and i'm not saying that all these people don't have a place in our life and they all have a very valuable role to be able to play on a practical basis but we go to them first when god is saying remember be still and know that i am god the first place that we need to go into is into our closet and on our knees and i'm not saying i've never been guilty of it i know that i doubt there's anybody here today that is watching and that is worshipping with us here today that has not found themselves guilty of that at some point now that by god's grace he reminds us and that still small voice speaks to us and says sean what are you doing what are you doing you're playing god again you're going off and you're trying to solve the problems of the storm that has arrived in your life and you're trying to do without me and so i respond to the voice when i'm guilty at those different times and i get into my closet as soon as i possibly can into my privacy of my room and i get down on my knees and then i stop and i be still take a deep breath be still and know that i am god and when we arrive at that place we enter into the eye of the storm now we have to get off our knees and enter into the storm again just like the aircraft needs to leave that that eye they can't remain there they have to get home and join their families and so they leave the eye of the storm and they go back out into the storm and they make their way through the riggers and the stresses until they make their way back into the safety of the airport in their home and friends we need to go off our knees and go back into the storm and continue to walk and and to be able to work and work in in a partnership with him you know ellen white put it this way she said you know every time we're on our knees we should be praying like our lives depend upon it and then when we get up off our knees we need to work towards the solution like our lives depend upon it in other words we need to apply just as much vigor and enthusiasm and focus in working in partnership with god in solving the problems and the storms of life and finding those solutions as we do on our knees and when we do that friends we have the success for life the success that god wants to bring you and me be still and know that i am god i will be exalted among the nations i will be exalted in the earth god is an international god the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our refuge amen in psalm 23 we read during our scripture reading invite you to come back to the first three verses there in psalm 23 we have david david knew the storms of life he'd experienced more than a couple of them we find the details recorded of those storms some of them were caused by others some of those storms and consequences were negative consequences that he experienced in a very negative and very challenging way because of of the bad and sinful choices of others some of them were because of his own bad and sinful choices but he had a number of storms and so he was very well acquainted with storms and he says to the lord he says the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he knew that in spite of everything that is thrown at him in this life when we find ourselves in a regular worship and surrender and following of god you know for our loyalty and our connection with christ we will always have our needs our bread and our water will be sure god will always put a roof over our heads he makes me to lie down in green pastures whose makes me to lie down in green pastures god does god causes us to lie down in green pastures it's so important for us to be able to pick that up when i was preparing for this message it's sunk in more than ever before that's what i love about being a preacher you know as i'm pouring over these different scriptures and as i'm praying over them things will be clarified for me that i've never seen before and then i get to share it with you he makes me to lie down in green pastures not my neighbor not my parent not my wife not my lawyer not my investment advisor it's god that caused me to lie down in green pastures it's he that makes me to cause it's he who leads me beside the still waters it's he who restores my soul it is he it is god who leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake friends it's all about god you see what the bible here in these verses and these and these passages and these psalms are trying to tell us is that our lives no need to be christ-centered now i know we say that over and over again but i'm not sure if sometimes if we just say it but we're not thinking it all the way through in other words our whole life and worldview and perspective and thought patterns always have to have god at the very center of it god you are the maker in the heavens of all the earth you are the one that is going to bring me through this day i don't want to live this life alone i want to have you as my refuge and as my strength a very present help in time of trouble and need and then god answers it over and over and over there's not a single human being in which we call that insincerity before him in which he does not answer now again the storm might might be there for a while it's not going to go away over the next hour or the next week sometimes not even over the next month it might take years before that storm has finally subsided but god is there as your refuge and your strength he will give you the strength that you need to be able to get through to the end in which he has given you you see we can only really win in this life when we make everything about god and nothing about us everything about god and nothing about us when we find ourselves in that spot that is the safe spot what do we call that that's the safe place that's the safe place i want to close by reading a bit of an illustration that i picked up on the internet some time ago and uh it just reflects some of the different distractions that can come to us in the midst of of that invitation and counsel that god has given to us again here today where he says be still and know that i am god it says the paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers we have wider freeways but narrower viewpoints we spend more but we have less we buy more but we enjoy less we have bigger houses and smaller families we have more conveniences but less time we have more degrees but less sense we have more knowledge but less judgment we have more experts and yet we have more problems we have more medicine but less wellness we drink too much we smoke too much we spend too recklessly we laugh too little we drive too fast we get too angry we stay up too late we get up too tired we read too little we watch tv too much and we pray to seldom we have multiplied our possessions but we have reduced our values we talk too much we love to seldom and we hate too often we've learned how to make a living but not a life we've added years to life but not life to years we've been all the way to the moon and back and but yet we still have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor we conquered our outer space but not our inner space we've done larger things but not better things we've cleaned up the air but we've polluted the soul we've conquered the atom but not our prejudice we write more but we learn less we plan more but we accomplish less we've learned to rush but not to wait we build more computers to hold more information than ever but we communicate less than ever these are the times of fast foods and slow digestion big men in small character steep profits and shallow relationships these are the days of two incomes but more divorce fancier houses but broken homes these are the days of quick trips and disposable diapers and throw away morality one night stands and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet to kill it is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom be still god says and know that i am god may god bless you we're going to stand for our closing hymn which is um i must tell jesus i think it's 485 it'll be on the screen for us here this morning as well number 45 please stand i must tell jesus all of my trials i cannot bear these burdens alone in my distress he kindly will help me he ever loves and cares for his own i must tell jesus i must tell jesus i cannot bear my burdens alone i must tell jesus i must tell jesus jesus can help me jesus alone i must tell jesus all of my troubles he is a kind compassionate friend if i but ask him he will deliver makes up my troubles quickly and i must tell jesus i must tell jesus i cannot bear my burdens alone i must tell jesus i must tell jesus jesus can help me jesus alone oh how the world do evil allures me oh how my heart is tempted to sin i must tell jesus and he will help me over the world the victory to win i must tell jesus i must tell jesus i cannot bear my burdens alone i must tell jesus i must tell jesus jesus can help me jesus the lord [Music] this opportunity to worship you again today father in the midst of all the storms some of them that have even kept us home in this pandemic that continues to restrict us and challenge us in so many different ways lord and all the other turmoil that's taking place within our culture within our politics and all these other things lord the economy that that is doing well on one hand and yet is devastating for so many thousands of us in our small businesses across the lands father in heaven we come before you in the midst of all of these storms and we want to pray that we might be able to truly take you up on your offer today and that we will accept you into our hearts and say lord i want you to be my refuge i want to shelter in time of storm and need i want you to be my strength that you might be my help in time of trouble god we take you up on this offer even right now we want to pray god in heaven that we will be still and that we will let you be god and that we will remember and be reminded on a daily and regular basis that you have everything covered that you're in charge and that by god's grace as we stay connected with you we will be able to fulfill our small but very important part in propagating and spreading the gospel helping as many people as possible to have the opportunity to be able to accept you as their lord and savior and be ready and be able to cry out when jesus comes in all of his glory and say this is our god we have waited behold this is our god and he will save us we want to pray that you will help us from day to day and that we will lean upon you that we might be able to find the strength and the wisdom and the solutions that we need for the storms and the problems of life bless each one as we go through the rest of our sabbath day and as we go into the next rest of the week as the sabbath finds itself coming to an end and that we might be able to find ourselves coming back together again next week knowing that you were our present help in jesus name we pray these things god amen well god bless you it's nice to be able to have uh those who are able to join us here today and we'll look forward to seeing you on uh sabbath next week don't forget midwife's midweek study wednesday at seven o'clock on facebook you

Channel: Granite Bay Hilltop SDA Church

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Published: Sat Jan 23 2021