Happy Sabbath 9/04/2021

um oh there it is one side of that thank i think it's just not picking up a signal hello like thank you is is let's go yes points so blue oh good morning so um good morning good morning and good morning happy sabbath to each and every one of you who have logged on for this first word tonight or today rather i am your host my name is pastor shea to my left we have pastor al lamkin jonathan johnson pastor anthony adams you know i already i messed up with it with the good good evening good night you know this these blue lights man the av they have this the atmosphere set just right and so i thought we were in the evening setting we have a very a very um informative sabbath school lesson for you all on this morning and we're ready to dive into it so let's start off with the word of prayer and then we're going to get started our god in heaven we're grateful that we serve such an amazing god we're grateful that you have given us such a beautiful gift in the sabbath and as we are recharging our batteries staying connected to you we also realize that today is a perfect opportunity to give the king of kings and the lord of lords great praise and great worship bless and keep us allow your holy spirit to lead our discussion in christ's sake we pray amen and amen so we're dealing with the sabbath sabbath rest on today um now there are a lot of conversations and or arguments as to why the seventh-day sabbath is no longer applicable or we do not have to keep it um but just for a moment as we just kind of go around can you all give a textual reason as to why the seventh-day sabbath is still binding absolutely i've given this uh particular question some thought uh the two things that come to my mind as we look for the textual support the first thing that uh i'm grateful for is the gift of memory uh that at that point actually came out in our lesson studied as we've been studying this past week and the gift of memory uh we see it uh really coming uh to the forefront in the heart of the ten commandments right there in the center in the middle in the in the very heart of the ten commandments the bible says remember the sabbath day so we look for text but then one of the texts that we certainly can uh take as a text that we can stand on with all the assurance is the text that is found in the heart of the ten commandments which is the heart of the moral law that governs not only our world but all the all the all the universe so remember the sabbath day and what so so as i remember this gift of memory as i remember the sabbath day if somehow i began to drift off and somehow i uh begin to kind of get caught up in the affairs of this world and with some of the myths and some of the theories and some of the various of views the bible calls me back and says remember what is it that i'm supposed to remember remember the sabbath day what's so important about the sabbath well the sabbath has come about because of a creator it was the creator who created the sabbath and it was a creator who created all the days that would lead into the sabbath it was it was a lord who made the sabbath and made the sabbath for mankind and made mankind and made all creation so it reveals the creative power of the creator and it distinguishes the creator from any and everyone else because he's the creator i love how psalms of the hundredth uh division says it says it is he who made us and not we who made ourselves so so so we're reminded uh so right there and there's hundreds of biblical texts but that is one of the solid texts of course the bible begins uh talking about the sabbath it's mentioned in the second chapter of the book of genesis the second book of the bible uh where it says that the lord ended his work uh which he had made and he rested and uh and then he set aside a day that that day was unlike all the other days because the other days were numbered this day was named and it was called the sabbath day this day he rested he didn't rest on the other day this day is blessed he didn't bless the other days uh this day is uh sanctified set apart so when we talk about something being holy uh we're talking about the fact that it is set apart for a special use the weekdays are are available to us for us to do our daily duties but the sabbath is a special time of communion with god one last thing i need to say about this though and that is i made mention of the fact of the gift of memory uh and that gift of memory is built into the fourth commandment remember the sabbath day but the other thing and this is uh important too and that is the resurrection story so i at one time was not a seventh-day adventist did not understand the sabbath but then i came into the knowledge of the sabbath through biblical texts and through the and through the word of god there are those who have yet to know the sabbath as we understand the sabbath how is it that they're going to know the sabbath through the word of god so let me just share a couple quick uh texts that's buried right in the uh resurrection story and i actually use a good choice of words when i said buried because what the devil has sought to do is to bury the sabbath where would actually we would not even remember the sabbath but i find it interesting i had an interesting experience i was pastoring a college hill church in knoxville tennessee i was in my office doing my duties and i received a telephone call and the telephone call was from the news station and they wanted to interview someone who was a sabbath keeper and this particular year i can't remember which year it was but it was this particular year in the city of knoxville uh it was controversial about chick-fil-a closing its doors on sunday the very fact that this was a restaurant a lot of people love going to the restaurant they love their food and sunday the day was that the church was i mean the the the restaurant was closed and so uh it became an interesting story kind of controversial kind of story in the city of knoxville that particular time so then they decided to call a jewish priest and then they wanted to call people who were sabot keepers so i was one of the individuals who received that call and would later on that day be on the news to talk about the blessed sabbath that god has set apart but let me share with you quickly the text of scripture uh we want to show that to you on the screen it begins in the book of luke uh chapter uh uh oh my good gracious i gotta look at it again and see it myself yes is luke it's the last chapter of luke i believe it's chapter 23 of luke and in that uh passage of scripture it talks about uh the sabbath so that how do we share what's oh there it is yes that's what i needed you you could tell i was struggling with it i had that thing in my memory and it just dropped out so luke chapter 23 and this is uh so we we we we know that there is a day that god has set aside uh and it's the sabbath and a lot of people observe it and and i just referenced the fact about chick-fil-a owner how they reference the sabbath uh but now the question is which day is the sabbath so we know there's a day which day so so it talks about the day was the preparation and the sabbath drew on so the day that jesus christ died was the day of preparation and the bible identifies the day of preparation as the day before the sabbath and then it goes on and it says that the women rested and they rested right here chapter 23 verse 54 through 56 and they rested on the sabbath according to the commandment the commandment that is found in exodus chapter 20 and uh remember the sabbath they rest according to that and then it goes on and it says now on the first day of the week very early in the morning they and certain other women with them went to the sepulcher and when they went to the sepulcher jesus was not present and of course the angel would say uh whom do you seek and they said we come to see oh jesus well he's not here he is risen so right there in the resurrection story we see god's precious sabbath protected preserved and although the devil throughout the centuries would attempt to try to do away with god's sabbath it's right there in god's word that as we open our hearts and open our minds we see it and it's revealed to us uh and uh we're able uh to accept it or to reject it and i've chosen to accept it and i trust that there are viewers who have chosen to accept god's sabbath as well amen amen any others nope jonathan um i would say for a textual um highlight it would be probably looking at even in death that jesus rested on the sabbath even in death he could have rose on on saturday but he chose not to because he chose to acknowledge his own self on that day so that gives me further evidence and further conviction and further hope that i that if he and even in death will rest that i should take that time to rest as well i like it i like it great great observation all right we're going to circle right back to you jonathan man and why is the world remember you know we i know as children we that word was told to us over and over and over and over again but talk to us about the importance of that word remembering the fourth commandment and the impact that he's had in your life i think that um the word remember is important for a couple reasons one the israelites in that time and had to god was was telling them just to draw back and remember remember the commandment as itself because at that time they were coming out of slavery their minds were messed up they had no idea what the sabbath was anymore they had no idea how to keep the sabbath how to operate how to really celebrate so god had to tell them remember because at that time you know the law was written was not written down it was past the passport and through word and through rhetoric and all that kind of stuff but god had to tell them to be to remember but also for us this is the second reason is it was for to be intentional for us to be intentional so it the the root of the word the the hebrew word means it called to be called to intention so when we think about what's going on in our world without let's just talk about in our personal lives we're just so much going on there's so much happening sure there's just covet that you got rain ida going on you got stuff going on in afghanistan but god calls us to step away take a break to take a breather stop for a second and be intentional in stopping i don't know about you but i'm i'm grateful for some stop signs that are around if you don't have a stop sign everybody's gonna run into something or someone and it's gonna be mass chaos but god in his wisdom and his infinite wisdom has called us to stop okay because if we don't stop i'm going to run into lampkin i want to run into crockett i'm going to run into anthony i want to run it i'm getting out of the way something's going to happen it's going to be horrible but god calls us to be able to stop and breathe for a second because he saw down through the ages of eternity that these people are going to mess themselves up so i need them to take a minute and just remember not just remember me but remember what i've done for them remember where i brought them from and where i'm taking them to all right and it's a holy day and i thank god for that and one of the things that we look at is again like you said the god of the universe stepped out of eternity into where we are and he paused when he was doing everything that he was doing he paused and look it is it's a call to worship it's a call and a response to a livelihood and so when god said remember the sabbath day everything ceased and you take in all the wonderful things that god has created the the system the economic system of the united states means that we're trying to change time okay they say 24 7 and then some folks say you know 28 32 or something like that so that you continuously run folk take work from home i mean from work and bring it home and they are working in their bed they're working at their children's soccer game they're working at this and so that pause that you're talking about that reflection of holiness of who god is god said i'm the one with all power and i can do all things but what i do even in doing all things and create where were you i like when he talked to the uh to serve it he said where were you when i put put the stars up in the sky where were you where were you when you know when when i hung the moon where were you and so the god of the universe if he can take the time to stop to worship and to fellowship with his people we should be more than willing to stop and i just thank god like lamb said you know i didn't grow up adventist so the stop sign for the sabbath blew my mind and so here i am now 10 years removed and i'm just like lord thank you for allowing my life to reset and accepting your sabbath day arrest folks say you know it's a cult you're in a cult no it's not a cult it's worship it's his word it's amazing how his word becomes the anyway come on um i think just adding just adding to it you know i try to tell my sons i love them as often as i can praise god praise god um now i show it by my actions right but i try to tell them i love them as often as i can because i never want them to forget that i love them and they are very special to me and so yes i believe god because we know he's all seeing he's unknowing he looked down the road of humanity he knew humanity would forget but i do also think because even with the commandments thou shall not we always like to put a negative you know kind of connotation to it um but i heard i heard explain in another way that when god says thou shalt not it's because when you allow him to be lord of your life he's going to keep you so you're not going to because it's his power that that keeps you from it um and i don't think it's so much that he thought that we it was just that he thought we would forget but it was also how important the day was remember how important it is um and the sabbath is a very beautiful day it is like none other and it's so vital it's so vital that while some institutions may not be able at this time to back up and say i i i may have had it wrong the sabbath is important we still see we now see other faith practices other institutions having a sabbath service or taking time or having a sabbath but the truth of the matter is is god already in the seven week cycle seven day cycle put into it rest yes he set it apart he hollowed it and he asked that we would remember it one more thing one thing is also if you look at it that's the only commandment that has remember in it like you mentioned sure and if you look at all the other commandments the other nine they they make com they're the common sense even for foreign people and in the israelite days it was common but this one just kind of stood out a little bit more than the others because it told you to stop they were used to always working they were always used to just doing something doing something doing something doing something so this one says stop why to just who god is to let him know that he loves you that you love him and just think about what he's done it it causes you to actually think about those things if you're actually in in the operation of celebrating the sabbath but if you're just going to keep on going do what you're regularly doing it's not going to mean anything to you but when you stop and you actually think you know what the song says when i think about the goodness of jesus all he's done for me my soul cries out hallelujah it gives you time to actually have that hallelujah moment sure and i think we're just gonna stay here for a little while you know um one of the things i've preached this and i've shared with with with you all that the sabbath was a keepsake from the garden okay right um because it was a reminder of what god plans for us work and we were supposed to live in perfect harmony we weren't supposed to be stressed out sweating you know dealing with this rough ground that's not how god intended for our lives to be and so the sabbath once a week the sabbath is is an opportunity for us to think about how it was in the garden okay right because on the sabbath we we're not worried about our bills i got some bills i got i ain't worried about them right now that's it that's right assignments right homework we're not worried about that stuff our focus is on our lord and savior and on the sabbath we have a piece that literally surpasses all understanding and that's one of the things about the sabbath that god gave adam and eve as they left the garden it was a keepsake for them to be able to once a week just think back to how it was and if it was that way before one day god is going to restore us so that's one of the reasons why the sabbath has importance in my life because it reminds me that one day soon we're going to be made new yeah and i don't have to worry about wars or rumor wars i don't have to worry about clocking in clocking out i don't have to worry about when my battery my pacemaker going down i don't gotta worry about none of that stuff i'll just have a piece that always surpasses understanding um so the sabbath is definitely a very beautiful um gift that god has left for us all right we're gonna we're gonna keep moving we're gonna try and get through this lesson we're gonna try and get through this lesson we're gonna see we're gonna see how successful we are um talk to us about genesis chapter 1 verses 26 and 27 and also genesis 9 6 how do these verses teach us about god's view of humanity and why is it important for us to understand the distinction of pastor lamkin oh absolutely um so uh in that particular passage of scripture we're talking about the creation of mankind uh the creation of adam and eve and uh uh the key word there is uh created in the image of god i have to confess uh when i was a little kid growing up and any my uh aunt uh would say you look just like your daddy when he was that age and that kind of thing and of course you know for a young person growing up you just smile from cheek to cheek and uh from ear to ear i should say and it that was wonderful it's funny and that as an adult and uh um uh when my father was alive people would say hey well i tell you look just like your father so it still touched me my dad passed away now but it still touched me even as an adult just like it did as as a child uh because of my great admiration for my father uh so it's interesting we're created an image of god but as we're created an image of god it's important for us to understand not just physically we're created an image of god in totality so what do i mean by that you got the physical you got the spiritual you got the mental you got the social you got the ethical you got the moral you got the judgment uh the very fact that that uh what distinguishes humans from uh the animal creations the very fact we we are able to process and make judgment you know uh the animal creation we call it basic instinct instinct uh uh once they're frightened and they feel as if they're threatened they fight back we have the judgment to say that hey listen maybe there are other options we can look at things from a different perspective well we got to remember we're created an image of god and the god who has uh uh who you know one of the other things that's interesting in the times in which we live too people will ask you uh or observe a feature in you whether or not you can multitask you know and we don't even think about it the very fact that when we're walking down the street uh it's effortless to actually think and talk you know and yet they're two different functions aren't they you know uh uh so you're thinking you're talking chewing your gum listening to your radio and yet you're still walking down the street well remember what i just said the fact of the matter is we are created in the image of god and god multitasks he's able to do so much and uh now we can't do completely what he does i mean he's able to be concerned about everybody on this panel when i do the best that i can to be concerned about me you know but but but he's able to put everything in the uh into proper place and satisfy all of our needs even if our needs conflict with one another what a great god we serve now having said that the other thing that i want to say is uh is uh is is the fact that uh uh uh when we look at the uh at that story we see uh were created in the image of of god in in totality not just in uh one uh aspect uh and then uh there is other thing that um here's another illustration that comes to mind that i have to share when parents have little children and of course dr shea you got two handsome young boys there uh that first child comes when the second child comes the first child tends to be a little jealous of the child or the children that are coming later but most parents are observant of this and how do they best uh counteract that jealousy and i'll tell you what they do they will say to the older one that hey listen here's your little brother and i want you to hold him for me and you know what happens when that little when that little three-year-old holds that little infant or that four-year-old holds that little small infant after a while there's this bonding that takes place that they feel connected to the child and no longer are they jealous of that child now they feel i'm that child's protector i find it interesting in that at the beginning of creation rather than god naming all of his creation what does he do he calls adam and he says hey i want you to name the creation now adam has bonded with god's creation see everything that god makes he made for a purpose and we ought to observe and be respectful of the sanctity of life whether it is human life whether it is animal life or whatever we ought to respect that sanctity so god has commissioned or god commissioned adam to be the caretaker of the earth and so in the book of revelation the book of revelation reminds us that those who hurt the earth will have to contend with god you know so um uh god has placed that that that void that space in us that we're always reaching out to him because i made mention of judgment but the other thing that we have within us is this desire for worship this desire for worship and when it is uh channeled correctly that worship goes to god uh when it is channeled incorrectly we tend to worship ourselves we tend to worship our money we tend to worship our things and i mean there are people who shoot you down in cold blood just to protect their home you know so so so so we put a lot of emphasis there but when it's channeled correctly then that worship goes to god and our respect for all that god has created and made is because of the fact that god has placed that within us that we have this interest this vested interest this bonding with uh the creation that our lord has made amen um pastor adams um we think about we think about society and you know the temptations that our young people face and also just the image um and man um i'm grateful that i'm not growing up in this age with social media with just everything that's going on what is so beautiful what is so amazing regardless of color regardless of where you're from how much money you make what is so amazing about being made in the image of god talk to us a little bit about being made in the image of god good morning happy sabbath again family it's yeah this this lesson has been deep but at the same time it needs to be revealing so these are the questions they throw me for the rubber to hit the road and uh to be honest with you um it's hard because growing up you find out that your image consultant that you've been looking at has been the media has been people when i was growing up it was ll cool j i was trying to get the lips you know because the ladies like the lips it was run dmc because they had on all the fresh adidas where it was you know it we had the beepers with the little gold the fake gold chain the strap to your belt and different things like that so pagers excuse me for those that you know but that's how we grew up we grew up with the acid washed jeans we grew up with the um at one point with the you say careful we had the overalls oh yeah with the bart simpson on it i don't know yeah i'm showing to the back to the back to the back like criss cross and so the image consultants that we were looking at all had to do with the world and it seems like the we only begin to look at god when we get older folk expect you to find jesus then but i had a relationship with god when i was that age even though i was still confused i believe that right now in this in this 21st century that the church still has an identity crisis because we're still our image consultant is still outside the doors of the church and so what does it mean to have to understand pastor lamkin tapped dancing ran all over it when he was talking about the image of your daddy and one thing about the image it goes deeper when you have jesus because what happened is it's a dna swab ah somebody when god applies the blood to your life it then becomes a dna swap and they no longer can see the identity of your father who was a drug addict your mother who was promiscuous you know that that your debt or your social income and your economic strife they no longer see that because what happens is the transfer that happens he takes on your shame and your guilt and your your convictions he takes those things on and he gives you your his peace and he gives you his love his long suffering and even though you may still look the outside the same to the outside world what happens is he begins to work on the inside first and then those things begin to flow out if it was not for andrea's grandmother i'd love to say this and by the way i love my wife 13 years of marriage this week congratulations we coming through you know i'm saying you know it's my girl so yeah we're coming on through but i thank god for him allowing her to be an example to what christianity really looks like she loves god through and through and it shows through her walk it shows through her talk it shows through her discipline with spending time with god that's what it looks like when the image of god is really all over you when you get that it is a dna swap and i thank god for seeing somebody like me that was a castaway somebody that folks still talk about that's okay talk about me because my god is still he's still working some things out for me so what does it look like to be an image consultant in the kingdom jesus did it all and what he's doing is he's not saying you know i need you to throw away those baggy pants or i need you to you know wear a skirt down to your ankle what he's saying is that your character needs to reflect who i am and when you do that everybody knows that it's something different about it all right amen amen amen you do know that um auntie ellen ellen white she did give instructions for women to wear shorter dresses oh my oh my let me get some contacts let me give you the contacts please let me clean it up cause we're about to get hate mail on here we gotta look at this why it's let's put this right you got our attention yeah i got everything in the sanctuary everybody go viral um because in ellen's white we gotta look at the day and time uh ellen in her time dresses were long they were dragging on the floor which means of transportations were horses horses were dropping feces and so the dresses were dragging on the street and picking up all of the feces and then you bring it into your house now we're not going to tell how high she recommends those dresses to be but she did recommend that those dresses not be on the ground so this is one of those things that is important while we're talking about image and we talk about things to look at the context as we're trying to gear and steer our children in the right way because context is everything all right all right um jonathan yeah so talk to us about creation um the creation story and our i guess the parallel with us to creation just kind of talk about that for us so let's let's just let's just get real for a second [Laughter] disposition change yeah god is like so dope in how he operates and how he does dope for somebody god is so awesome that god is so great like it's mesmerizing how he does things how he did things in creation so can you think about this there's a garden that has everything you need everything when i say food shelter water every everything that you need god made sure was prepared and look at the creation day the last thing last thing that god did before the sabbath was he created adam and so he said adam here here's your garden and he gives him the responsibility and the freedom to take care of the garden he doesn't say all right i'm going to teach you how to do this this is that here everything's set up for you just take care of it and you can move and operate how you want to it's awesome how god also does the same thing with us he gives us everything that we need he gives us the wife that we need yes he does come on come chat 13 years 13 years yes he does he gives us the children that we need oh lord he gives us the job that we need we don't think and sometimes it's not what we expect it to be but it's exactly what we need not what we want yeah you gotta we gotta understand the difference the difference between our needs and our wants and he gives us those things and he says i want you to take care of it yeah he gets he wants us to cultivate he wants it he gives us the responsibility and the freedom look look look at the comparison here the responsibility that means that you that you are that you are uh obligated to take care of this thing but also the freedom that you can make choices to to do what you need what you want to do with it he doesn't he doesn't hover over us he doesn't he doesn't tell us what to do he doesn't say no no he doesn't control us he says here you got the choice and he gives you the gives you he makes us here's the word stewards of these things he gives us makes us stewards of our families he makes us stewards of our jobs because we this is a this is the underlining thing about all of it and with creation it belongs all to him absolutely he just get he just wants us to partake in it so he gives it to you it says here you can have it i know how to operate and deal with it but i want you to to deal with it but also this is one thing that you you touched on lampkin is this so when god when god created the adam he brought the animals to adam and said i want you to name them that's odd that god will say i want you to name it it's like okay it's like god was trying to check if adam was in alignment with him god already had the names already in line in mind for them he already knew what they were he just wanted to make sure that adam had the same was in alignment with him and had the same was in the same direction as him because he he wanted to make sure that there was nothing off there was nothing drawing him away and god wants the same same thing for us he wants us in alignment with him he doesn't want us off off kilter have you ever ever well i know i i i need to go to the chiropractor because i know i'm off into my alignment and how i walk i can tell when i'm off in my alignment i got to get my back i saw that i was going to say nothing but i yeah when you you can tell when somebody's not in an alignment in proper alignment especially in their in their in their spine you can tell how they walk so you have to go get a readjusted and got to get cracked and got to get do all these other things so within the parallel between between creation and now i think that god wants us to be make sure that we're checked that we're in alignment with him but also that we have the that we're taking care of what he's given to us amen and he's a great physician who else to realign you yeah yeah who else to put you back in order the wave of his hand that's it yeah speaker i'm looking at the time is getting away from us it's not going to be a long skip but we're going to get down to celebrating freedom celebrating freedom and the the first born israelite children were saved by the blood of the lamb smeared on the doorposts the night before the exodus from egypt see this in exodus chapter 12 pastor adams can you talk to us about freedom in christ that we don't deserve right this is freedom in christ that we know we don't deserve but that is offered to us through the bloodshed of jesus christ what is man that now are mindful of him you know and that passage always comes to me when it says when you're looking at the grace and the mercy of god shown to a man or to a fallible creature who was made in perfection but chose to fall away from god through disobedience what is it that god wants to be in fellowship with us so much so that he says what the devil wants to do is take you out because he's jealous of our relationship and he's looking to destroy you and so what i'm going to do is i'm going to have the blood of the lamb smeared across the door so that again here we go back to this blood thing man this blood transfusion we're going to smear the blood so that when the the death angel comes it's gonna pass over yeah i don't know about y'all but there are some things in my life that i needed past over i needed some things he didn't overlook them but what he said was i'm gonna pass over you because he's not ready yet it's it's i saw yeah it's like taking a cake out the oven you know the cake is gonna get good i eat the batter beforehand sometimes when they scrape in a bowl as a little boy with the egg and i would ask for the batter yeah come on i'm from the south yeah yeah every we had a tank stomach we would ask for the the batter on the spoon or on the beaters just to get a sample of what it is and my grandmother would say it's not ready yet she wouldn't allow us to walk in the kitchen on the kitchen floor because we had the wooden floors and the cake would fall if you were moving well that's what she told us the cake would fall if you moved around she probably just wanted to sit down somewhere but the cake would fall if you move too much in the kitchen before it was ready all i'm saying is that the blood that jesus put on the doorpost had something to do with us not being ready for everything that he had for us so what he did was he hit us away that blood hides you away before it's your time and then when it is your time that blood still is applied to your life for you to do greater work so what about this grace and this mercy that we don't deserve oh come on man we are wretched undone we know how trifling we are we know how throw it away we know how double-minded we are in some things god is saying that because i love you so much i'm going to pass by you i'm going to pass by your mistakes i'm going to pass by the things that you said you wouldn't do anymore anthony i'm going to pass over those things and i'm gonna allow you the more grace and mercy that it needs until you're ready and when you're ready i don't know about y'all but a nice hot piece of sour cream pound cake and some tea or some kool-aid or something like that it's probably why you're diabetical now that nice pound can't get when you get that nice piece when it's ready and it comes out i don't like for mine to cool down i don't need it to settle i want to get it while it's hot and that's what god is doing he's preparing us for better grace mercy blood passing over god has a mission for you too amen amen amen pound cake ministries that pound cake minutes but sour cream pound cake of that all right we're gonna move around just a little bit with the egg in mind i want the egg so pastor lamkin yes sir how can you keeping the sabbath be a witness to someone who does not keep the sabbath we need to understand that our lives are actually a witness each and every day um so it's either a good witness or poor witness that's important thing you know we've actually heard people make the statement to say that uh you know there's some people that we learn what to do and then there are other people we learn what not to do you know so so our lives are constant testimonies now the question is whether or not it's a positive testimony a negative testimony of what kind of testimony it might uh be so uh when it comes to someone being led to christ think about when we came to christ well i could speak for my own experience because of the fact that i did not um uh how shall i say become a second third fourth generation adventist i'm a first-generation adventist although i joined the church as a young person but it was from another denomination and from another a walk of life uh that i uh united uh with the fellowship and it was the testimony and the lives uh life experiences of the people that i was around that as i listened to dr anthony when he was shared with us he said i love my wife but he also referenced the fact about mrs stiff who i know as well his uh his wife's grandmother and his wife and others how their marvelous example just impressed them that hey listen there's something about this and you want to do more investigation and you discover that you want to do more so that didn't just happen to you it's happened to most of us who are part of this fellowship uh today and and and here's the good news and because it has happened to us that's the reason why time continues on not just because we're waiting for some prophecies to be fulfilled which will be fulfilled no question about that but because of the fact that there is a god who sent his son to die on the cross not so that his son just went through the motion but in order to save the loss there are people who are lost in darkness and they don't realize they're in darkness they don't realize that they're lost but god allows time to just continue just a little while longer just to allow someone to be able to enter into the ark so let me close on these on this point right here so now that i am aware that uh that my life is a testimony then uh my testimony could be a 30 minute testimony it could be a three minute testimony so let's for example if it's a three minute testimony it's three things that i want to remember and that is my life before i was converted so i share with individuals what you know uh my experience uh the things and and the emptiness it's interesting uh we look at or listen to testimonies we think oh my good gracious life unless i was a pimp or some person who committed murder i don't have a testimony you know i don't have a testimony you know but here's the deal the thing is is that i could live pretty much a good human life a humanistic life you know doing all the right things but i feel empty yeah i feel void i feel a spirit of loss so we all have different experiences not everyone has to have that really dramatic you know uh experience where uh they were in this car crash and somehow they walked out alive and that changed their lives you can have that experience but it can just simply be the fact that there's a void that emptiness that lost so i talked about about my experience before i was converted then i talked about uh my conversion and how my life has been made for the better and how uh uh you know that even in the time of storm i'm enjoying peace and talk about that joy and let that joy exude and then talk about my experience after my conversion how is the best uh decision that i've ever made in my life that's our testimony let's constantly have that consciously in our mind and think about the fact that when people ask us hey tell me a little bit about your faith that hey yeah let me share a little bit and i don't want to glorify the past i don't want to make it seem like oh my good grace is alive i gave up all that i don't want to come across like that i wanted to be clear that uh just like paul said he said i count all things but dung and no one has to clarify what he means by that do they we understand what he means he says i count all that but but for the excellency see me after service for the interpretation of dawn but for the excellency of of jesus christ and his righteousness amen amen they actually say you know we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the words of our testimony and i think some of us especially for younger folk they see the example that we are now and they say well you've never been through anything that's that one-on-one time that they need to understand where you've been what you see you don't have to step on this landmine you just choose to it's hot don't touch it but i'ma touch it anyway but that testimony is there young people to help you not to run your life or to rule you but we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the words of our testimony so but i think you also you have to open up and tell your testimony there's so many of us that are sitting on our testimony and not saying nothing it could change literal lies by just us opening up and sharing hey this is where i was but this is where i am now because of the blood of the lamb i was uh i was traveling to uh to georgia welcome welcome to the great estate and um i got pulled over i bet you did it was sunday i got pulled over um i wasn't doing anything wrong i was guilty of driving while being anyways so i had a out of town tag i was like i wasn't i wasn't even speeding y'all but i got pulled over i pulled over i got pulled over the officer approaches the vehicle he asked me if i was okay i crossed the line a couple of times i ain't crossed online but when we get to dialogue and he's asking for my license my registration now i'm not gonna lie occasionally okay when i'm pulled over i'll just put out there that i'm a pastor okay i just want a little grace and mercy right so i just kind of put out there that i was a pastor right uh and the question that came back to me was why aren't you in church it was sunday it was sunday yeah why aren't you in church um and then i told them i was seventh day adventist and i was an associate pastor at first seventh adventist church we have about fourteen hundred members so if you do anything to me there's gonna be fourteen hundred people look i ain't telling him that y'all but i ended up getting um they asked me to sit in the in this in the squad car with them and um i sat in that that vehicle with them for a matter of time a duration of time but i literally had a bible study with them about the sabbath um i don't know if they didn't believe that i was a pastor i ended up showing them my credentials um but whatever the cause i was able to walk them through why we keep the sabbath and of course i'm here they let me go by my way um and everything was was was good to go but that was an opportunity where i was able to be a witness to somebody they had heard of seventh day at adventures or adventists um but i was able to explain to them what it meant to be seven days but just think of christians what would have happened if your disposition would have been nothing of holiness you know nothing of uh what if your disposition was something where you weren't available to receive grace you know what you could have done versus what you did do and so i think you said the key word there was the opportunity to minister even in that bad situation that could have turned worse you had the opportunity to share the grace and i we always have to look for that opportunity to share our testimony in our grace give people the three-minute testimony though y'all don't give them the 25-hour testimony we know you've been through something we've all been through give them the three-minute testimony all right that's true i guess you give them the short version especially when you're first meeting somebody but above all follow the spirit of god amen are this next was for all of us what verse or what was it that connected the dots for you that salvation is given to us only by the power of christ not by any of our human efforts i think when you look at the cross and you ask yourself why did jesus die on the cross why such an extreme um uh situation and uh and and and i love uh how the penis inspiration reminds us uh that uh we ought to spend time just contemplating isaiah chapter 53 all week and i mean there's a lot of verses prior to with this verse 6 where it says all we like sheep have gone astray and the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all and you reflect on that and you and you continue to look at uh 53 and you continue to focus on the cross and you see jesus uh life uh literally being squeezed out by uh by the enemy or by all of his enemies and and and then you read what paul says in ephesians where he says for by grace are you saved i need you to get off my answer sir [Laughter] and and that not of yourself but it's a gift of god and and and so there's nothing i can do to earn my salvation there's i can't work hard enough uh i can't do enough pentenant uh so so then i'm just left to just accept it and the very fact that uh we see enough illustrations and i'm gonna close on this so you can be able to have your your say uh uh when i think of the the wonderful story of the prodigal son where the kid who has it all has everything that he can imagine he has a loving parent he has loving parents he has a is a wonderful home they have riches they have servants they have all these things and yet it's not good enough he's got to see what the world has to offer and he goes out and discover what his parents have been trying to tell him all of his life but he had to experience it for himself here's the thing that's so remarkable this is what i want to close on but when he returns home you know how we would respond you know you know how we would treat that that that wayward child we gotta we will take him back in we're gonna we're gonna find a room for him but we're going to give him a talking to you and yet that's not the response and so that response was supposed to be an example of of of of the loving god that we serve that when we return to him as james says he will not push us away if we confess our sins he's faithful i think i'm just going to read a couple verses and that will be my answer romans 8 35 can anything ever separate us from christ's love does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death ask us as the scripture says for we for your sake we are killed every day we are being slaughtered like sheep no despite all these things overwhelming victory is ours through christ who loves us and i am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from god from god's love neither death nor life neither angels nor demons neither fears for today nor worries about tomorrow not even the powers of hell can separate us from god's love no power in the sky for above or in the earth below indeed nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of god that was revealed in christ jesus our lord mine is ephesians again uh 2 and 8 and it says for it is by grace that you have been saved through faith and this is not of yourselves it is a gift of god not by your works so that no one can boast i love when god takes it out of our hands and he says you're not gonna be saved by your grandma you're gonna be saved by me for we are god's handiwork created in christ jesus to do good works which god prepared in advance for us to do give one i think we got time for one individual we know there's no rest like sabbath rests after after that meal right um but beyond lay activity what is it that we're supposed to be doing on the sabbath we got about 45 seconds and somebody just want to talk about some good deeds that we could do on the sabbath serve man service is always i believe available is to us to do on the sabbath you know many times we pass church to get to church and so those that we see that need help i believe that we can actually do that as well feeding the homeless i believe that you know worship is good in the household as well i used to when i first came to sda i was kind of confused because all people talked about was the naps that they got on the sabbath you know and they still talk about the naps that they get and nothing like them but i believe that we can get out and we can be of service to individuals in our community as well i think that um also one thing we mentioned already is our testimony it never goes out of date it's never expired and plus the bible says his mercies are new every morning greatest is faithfulness so there's something new to talk about there's nothing new to always testify about and like we already said they overcame by the lamb and the word of their testimony i would say this that it's interesting when you think about if you are on a job that you don't like it's a burden yeah it's a burden i mean you go to work because you have to rather than going to work because you want to and and in isaiah chapter 58 there are four points that are made about uh how we should look to the sabbath and one of the points that i just wanted to share in this little short time that we have and that is delight yourself in the lord so the opposite of a burden is a blessing and so we want to look uh at god's special sabbath day as it is intended to be a bit of blessing amen amen well as we prepare to worship the king of kings and lord of lords on this sabbath we thank each of you all for taking time to log in and worship with us on today at this time we're going to go ahead and kick things over to elder mccrary as he gives us our stewardship spotlight my name is eric mcqueary stewardship director of the first seventh-day adventist church where broken lives are made whole we're so excited to join you this week and thank you for all the great things that god has done in our lives today we're going to deal with some issues for the next few weeks next few weeks we're going to talk about some things that's very very probably a little private for most of us but something everybody has to learn to do and you say brother macquarie what is that first of all you got to learn how to manage manage manage manage why did i say managed so many times because that's the area of life where we really feel that we think that if we give god back money then we did something we really didn't because god doesn't need his money everything on this earth is god's everything on the earth is god so you can but he's looking for a special gift he's looking for this gift of management you say why why is that so important you have to learn how to manage first of all your time and you say why is that well god said we should give give him the first 10 percent first 10 so let's talk about time in that aspect time is simply this you got 24 hours in a day so that means that 10 of 24 hours is 2 hours and 40 minutes and you know what we'll say most of the time we say we really i really don't have enough time to be spending that kind of time with god well that's our first mistake i want us to begin to practice how we can spend two hours and 40 minutes a day in prayer and fellowship talking about the word with others also in reading the word we need to do that i think that's so very important and what will happen you'll find out like when you watch that great game on television and it lasts three and a half hours and you wish it would go on and on and on and on you don't have a problem with that because you're looking at entertainment but when you start talking about management you start looking at deeper things that's inside of your life that you need to change that god wants to change so what is god looking for he's looking for management and i want to let you know is for the reason why he tells us that it's simply this when it comes to money he's just letting us know that i just want 10 of your money not because i need it you need to give it to me you say what do you what god already owns everything well no he needs to know that we're gonna manage what he's giving us a lot of us uh we have houses some people have cars some people have all kinds of stuff and even people who are not even even christian but you know one thing they had in common they had they were good managers of what god has given them no matter if they're not even following they understood management and i want us to begin in our church and the church people around us to understand that management is so very important in our lives and it's something that we need to ask god to give us more of an insight on so on the next few weeks we're going to talk about how we can manage our lives in such a way that god can be pleased so until then we want to thank you look and find out what it means to manage and find out what management can do in your life and through the power of the holy spirit we're going to do something great for god we're going to move and do things that we never thought we could do we're only dreaming about always remember that god is interested in management we love you and we thank you we ask god to do exceedingly and abundantly above all you can ask to think in christ's name amen thank you enjoy your day it's going to be a great day of worship [Music] happy sabbath so [Music] so happy sabbath church it is our great joy today to present to the lord a miracle baby and little ethan bernard we're grateful to have pastor david p.a of the southeastern conference who is a very very dear friend to this family to help lead out in this endeavor and so elder we're going to hand it over to you as you begin the process of presenting baby ethan to the lord today family is good every day that we get to go to a service such as this and be able to know from which is [Music] there were times when the word came back to us that the answer was no but then we received a phone call saying that god indeed has answered prayer but then not only did he answer prayer he continued to answer prayer he answered prayer through doctors here and over in birmingham [Music] but now unfortunately ethan has to grow up in a society now that has become more jaded now things are not easy or easier as those of us who have uh a few years behind us and and we talk about how things used to be where things are not as they used to be unfortunately coveted has made it so that people becoming more anti-social things are becoming much more difficult you can't even go to church the way you used to not now but that's the reason why ethan's first church is in his home with his mother and his father see when when you all get up in the morning a radio or television should not be the first thing that you turn on your responsibility now is to take ethan to the family altar that you already established in your home your responsibility is to teach them about jesus [Music] every day you turn on the television or you look at the news or you read it you're finding that young people just don't seem to have a love for life they're either taking it or taking their own but that is the society that god had permitted this little life to come up into so the bible tells us to train up a child the way he should go and when he's old he won't depart from it doesn't mean he's not going to make mistakes what it means is is that even when he starts to stray because god is in him he's going to bring him back so god is going to do what you and his mother and father can't do and that is he's going to keep him even in your absence he's going to keep him so at this time we're going to offer him to the lord [Music] this time we want to offer a prayer of dedication for baby ethan and for the entire bernard family as you present him to jesus christ father it is with a heart bursting with praise that we offer this young male child back to you and lord our joy is simply because his birth is a living monument that you are still in the prayer answering business each and every day that he arises it is a reminder to his parents and to his family that you still work miracles and we're so grateful as has been stated that when the world or certain experts say no we know that you can still say yes so thank you father for being sovereign for being in control for hearing the prayers of your people and so lord i raise up little ethan to you today asking dear god that you have placed a heavy and strong anointing upon his life and father i am praying to god that whatever the calling is that as a young age he will be able to discern your purpose and your plan for him and so dear god i pray that the promise of proverbs would be a reality for him that the steps of a good man will be ordered by the lord so i pray that you would pre-arrange every step that he shall ever take we pray to god that you would ordain all of his teachers that you will go ahead and choose all of his friends lord we pray that you would sprinkle just enough adversity keep him humble and prayerful lord we ask your god that you would choose his career the city in which he shall live the car in which he shall drive the houses in which he shall abide and ultimately the spouse that shall partner with him throughout eternity and so god we ask your god that you would just create a blueprint lord that he and his parents follow all the days of his life and so father we pray for brother bernard we thank you for giving him the opportunity to steward a a son and god i pray to god that he would lead his family uh in a way that is spiritually strong i pray to god that he would instill in ethan convictions that are not flexible that he himself would not just leave it to a sabbath school teacher or a pastor but i pray that he would teach him the ways of the most high lord i pray in a very special way for sister marcia that even as she is thankful and grateful the task before her is still large and the responsibilities are still immense and so god i pray that each and every day she will get a fresh hold on your divine power and grace lord would you give them wisdom would you give them understanding and lord i pray that their home would be a cocoon of righteousness lord where ethan can be sheltered from all of the influences of the world the thought patterns that would draw him away from the cross and god i just asked their god as they commit them him to you that they would just follow up each and every day teaching him about the things of god at home having those things reinforced in school and at church and so lord we praying that your hand would be so heavy upon uh baby ethan that he will be blessed all the days of his life that it will be said that which was spoken of jesus that he whacks in favor with both god and with man so lord would you bless him would you keep him place a hedge of protection around his health that you would he would walk with you all the days of his life we offer up this petition today in faith not hoping or wishing but believing we shall receive what we ask for we lay all these things before you in the great name of jesus our lord let god's people say together amen so this time brother sister bernard we have some special tokens we want to present to you today our clerk is going to present to you ethan's first little bible and we want to encourage you to even now begin reading the word of god aloud over him as he sleeps the bible is not a dead book it's not just an informational book it is a living book and we believe the properties of god's word will begin bonding itself to his baby heart and mind as you expose him to the scriptures even then and also you have a certificate of dedication that simply states that on this day here in the month of september that he was presented to god and so we encourage you with this certificate along with the pictures that are being taken today to tuck it away to perhaps he's around the age of 12 where in ancient times the boy was considered a man and pull it out that day and let him know that from the beginning of his life he was dedicated to god his cause and his mission may god richly bless you as you continue this journey of raising him together in god in the faith god bless you [Music] greetings first church family and friends we've missed you during our time apart after 15 months we are ready to begin phase one of our return to the building on july 17th but before we see you there are a few changes that we want you to be aware of if you are planning to attend our worship service in person we ask that you visit first sdachurch.com and click on the church reserve link there you will be taken through various steps that will allow us to accommodate and reserve proper seating whether you are attending church alone or with your family during phase one we will not be having sabbath school classes in the building instead they will remain online via our facebook and youtube pages we encourage you to continue to join us there however if you want to join us for in-person service know that our building doors will open properly at 11 am upon your arrival every person no matter their vaccination status will go through our temperature check and health screening we ask that you answer all questions honestly once you've been approved at our health station you will proceed with your mask on to the next checkpoint in order to ensure that everyone is properly socially distanced in the sanctuary you will be asked to go directly to your reserve seat don't worry if you didn't reserve a seat through our app our amazing team will be able to direct you to seating that can accommodate you and your family we ask that you allow our ushers to open and close all doors for you as you enter and leave the sanctuary once inside we will ask that you keep your mask on over your nose and your mouth while you engage in service during our phase one while we won't be incorporating our large choirs or full praise teams we can assure you that our service will still be a worship experience you will never forget during your time with us we would like to direct your attention to our sanitation stations spread throughout our hallway use them freely as you enter and exit the sanctuary our hallway attendance are in place to assure that we do not exceed the number of individuals allowed in the restroom they are also there to direct you to any available facility so that you or the person you're with can be accommodated while waves are welcome during our phase one we are incorporating a strict no contact policy regardless of vaccination status please be mindful of this request during your time in the building at the end of service we're asking that everyone exit the building and refrain from congregating in large groups and doors as difficult as this may sound we are confident that such measures encourage healthy practices during these times [Music] our phase one process has been in the works for several months all with the safety of you in mind we ask for your continued patience as we look forward to being able to worship together safely for more information about our phase one return or to reserve your seat please visit our website at firstsdachurch.com or call our front office at 256-852-8360 [Music] first church where we are safely assuring that broken lives are made whole [Music] good morning first church family and welcome to another holy ghost field time here at the first seventh-day adventist church huntsville alabama on behalf of our pastoral staff our senior pastor pastor deblie airsnell we would like to welcome you here to this house of worship those of you all that can be here in the house y'all get ready those of you all that are locked in from around the world we thank you we know that there are many places that you could have gone on this morning to actually be in service but you decided to be here where the meat is plentiful and we thank god for being here and for you being here with us family here are your announcements for this week we have no ays tonight no ays that's the adventist youth we have no ays tonight we have what's called the plug the plug and the plug is prepare leaders under grace this is a mentorship program that runs for two years where we're taking at-risk students students that are performing beneath the standards right now and we're taking them and we're mentoring them um in the way that they should go and then we're also working on scholarships for them for more information we're going to ask that you contact our front office um talk to ms shari ford she's able to direct you in the path in which you should go as far as getting information for this mentorship program look the flyer is going to be on our facebook page on our on our social media uh platforms we ask that you take that flyer pass it around to the schools here in the area look we're here to help everyone this is a great mentorship program and we're looking forward to your children being a part of that hey it's okay to ask for help and we all need help so this community and this body of worshipers we believe that we are here with the being the hands and the feet of christ to be able to help your children get this platform and launch into their future amen amen family don't forget first watch first watch is still on sundays on wednesdays on fridays first watch on sunday wednesday and friday starting at 8 a.m on sundays we want you to turn right over after you finish first watch at 8 a.m turn over to your local cw where our very own pastor snell is going to be preaching another impactful word for your life so come on and get that double portion get first watch at 8 a.m and then turn over to your local cw where pastor snell will be breathing the breath of life into your households via the television ministry for you all that are supporting this television ministry thank you so very much and we're looking forward to greater things going on in the name of jesus christ family we also want to tell you as far as tithe and offering is concerned if you are still online and you're we have platforms that are going to um that are applicable for you to be able to uh send your tithe in your offering online but if you're here in the local area and you want to drop off your tithe and offering please just come on over to 1303 evangel drive here in huntsville and the office hours are posted on the door also on the website come on in and see us we are still accepting them in person as well family our next we have a food a grocery giveaway our next grocery giveaway is going to be september 19th starting at 10 a.m what day is that september 19th starting at 10 a.m 10 to 12 10 to 12. so what we're going to ask is that you again bring your mask have your id with you and look we're putting these groceries in the back of your trunk so we're going to ask that you clear some space out the way we don't want to put in the back seat we want to put it in the trunk if we can and we want to make sure that you get this blessing that god has in store for us family we also want to thank you for the prayers that you're sending out for the different families that are in need i know that we broadcast these often but we want to make sure that you know that we are very thankful for the prayers and the petitioning you standing in the gap for those that are in the hospital those that have been sick those that are having surgery we thank god for your prayers and your blessings and family those of you all that are in the midst of a need understand that we are here to support you as well we're praying for you we're praying with you at this time what we want to do is turn our service over y'all get ready get ready get ready turn our service over to our praise and worship followed by intercessory prayer let's go family [Music] happy sabbath everyone oh that was someone happy sabbath everyone we're so grateful and thankful to see you in the house of the lord for those who are in the building and we're grateful uh to be joined by those who are watching us online once again today we want to go ahead and begin by igniting our worship service today so if you don't mind just stand to your feet right where you are as we begin the process of just formally worshiping our lord and our savior and uh do me a favor if you don't mind if there is somebody in your vicinity just give them an air pound just show them a little love right there amen if there's somebody close on the other side give a little air hug let them know i'm glad to see you in the house of the lord and for those online i'm sending you a love love a hug right here from the sanctuary today today we want to begin by repeating our sabbath covenant which is found in exodus chapter 20 verses 8 through 11. let's repeat that together this morning remember the sabbath day to keep it holy six days shall thou labor and do all thy work but the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord thy god in it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter nor thy manservant nor thy maidservant nor thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within thy gates for in six days the lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in the midst and rested the seventh day wherefore the lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it the bible says in psalm 47 oh clap your hands o ye people and shout unto the lord with the voice of triumph for the lord most high is awesome and he is a great king over all the earth and if you're just glad to be in the house of the lord one more time or if you're just glad online that the lord woke you up to see another day one more time let's just put our hands together for the king of kings and the lord of lords giving him the praise and honor that his name is due today as all right now as we begin we're going to ask god's anointing over our services today if you don't mind let's just lift holy hands to the lord uh as we seek his face father in heaven we just ask in a very special way for a strong anointing over the services today we pray to god to the same way your spirit hovered above the waters when you created the beginning we pray to god that your spirit would hover above the service as you make new creations inside of us and so to god we ask that whether we are online or whether we are in the building we pray to god that you would do something that is new that you would do something that is transformative i pray to god that as a result of today's service that we would never ever be the same so lord change our spiritual arc change our spiritual trajectory lord would you point us toward that which is eternal today we pray in the maxis name of jesus christ let those that believe say together amen and hallelujah so do me a favor saints would invite you to remain standing as we sing a few songs of thanksgiving and praise to our great god in our king today [Music] let's praise him amen one two three one two three one two three ready and afraid [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus is is [Music] is is is [Music] is jesus [Music] glory oh you up there virtually we want to hear you too all right there is a name i love to hear i love him too how about you here we go [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is oh [Music] oh [Music] oh oh [Music] oh [Music] love me give god the glory to god be the glory [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is oh uh oh please is with us all the things [Applause] maybe see it's prayer time [Music] there has been so much that's been going on in society and i don't know about you but this week was a very difficult week for me it just seemed like the enemy just kept steering up stirring up mess all week long even on yesterday i i got word that a good friend of mine she lost a mother so i know death is no stranger to any of us for all of us have been impacted by death in some shape form fashion or another i do have a word for you all and myself on today isaiah 41 and 10 says so do not fear for i am with you do not be dismayed for i am your god i will strengthen you and help you i will uphold you with my righteous right hand and i don't know about you but there's no hands like our father's hands his hands have done some miraculous things some mighty things some marvelous things and we got god upholding us everything is going to be all right so if you will wherever you are if you if you are able to if you would reverently kneel if you aren't if you were kneeling your hearts as we speak to the creator of the universe our god in heaven we come to you today boldly we come to you today laying all of our requests in front of you whether it be financial whether it be physical whether it be emotional we lay our requests before you because you are our daddy which means you know not only have to protect us but you also must provide for us you also must deliver us out of the evil that we are in even now so god take your mighty right hand god that hand that still waters that hand that healed the sick that made the lame to walk the blind to see take your hand god the hand that formed men out of dirt breathing it the breath of life and we became living beings take your hand god and as your word has promised us uphold us god we're in the midst of this pandemic you know better than we do because we are your children in every life that is lost every life that falls asleep in your arms touches you and god from our vantage point truth be told we don't understand why mama had to go we don't understand why daddy had to go we don't understand why we are going through what we are going through right now but we're willing to trust you a because your resume is flawless you've never made a mistake but we're also going to trust you because what else is there to do you're sovereign which means your way is your way your will is your will and so god what we are attempting to do god we are attempting to trust you holy and completely but the truth of the matter is that sometimes we wrestle with this thing god there are moments when we wish that we can take it over and we can have control in and of in ourselves but truth be told when we look over our lives and the decisions that we have made we have messed up over and over again and you and your grace and mercy have covered us you've picked us up you've dusted us off and you have set us back on our roads so god we give you full reign we give you full control over our lives because there are no better hands than yours god it's your hands that led us here we did not come to the realization that we needed to dwell in your presence unless the holy spirit placed it upon our minds it wasn't our alarm clocks that woke us up this morning it was not the crying baby it was not our loved one next to us no it was your spirit it was the hand of god that touched us and woke us out of our sleep we are alive and well only because the grace and mercy of god and so now god i'm asking since it's your will for us to be here is your desire for us to tabernacle here that god you would send your manservant a word a transformative word that would speak to the issues of the heart that will make plain the path to you that will cause us as sinners to run back to you to repent of our wrongdoing turn from our wicked ways and so god use your man's servant in such a way allow the distractions in the house to be so minimized focus can be on you as we continue to praise and worship the king of kings and lord of lords please accept our worship as pleasing in your sight and allow god allow the experience at home for those who are watching and viewing on their devices allow that experience at home to be just as it is here the same spirit that they ministered to us when we when the doors of the church were closed we trusted that same spirit is ministering to those who aren't with us right now and we praise you in advance for deliverance we praise you in advance for the breakthroughs we praise you in advance for the souls that will be added to the kingdom of god this is our prayer in christ said we pray amen and amen [Music] [Applause] please [Music] is [Music] amen amen amen our sabbath service is going well we started off we had a baby blessing amen a dedication of a little precious one and now we're going to have baptism amen and a man [Applause] first in the pool we're going to have ella hobbes ella hobbs first church do you mind standing to your feet as we support ella hobbes [Music] [Music] to [Music] [Applause] take me [Music] hello because of your dedication to the lord because of your decision to follow jesus christ all the way into the watery grave we baptize you in the name of the father the son the holy ghost amen and amen [Music] oh [Music] in the pool now we have france arch france because of your decision to follow jesus christ all the way into the pool of baptism we baptize you in the name of the father son and the holy ghost amen and amen [Music] in the pool in the pool we have a couple y'all that are getting ready to get married and what they wanted to do they wanted to start their marriage off the right way so in the pool we have brittanya deshay white and darius lamar true brittanya and darius because you have decided to follow jesus christ all the way to the pool of baptism because of your dedication to him and your decision to make a public display we baptize you in the name of the father the son and the holy ghost amen and amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] these four individuals be added to the kingdom of god they were examined in the back we saw them go down before our very eyes what is your pleasure and added them to this church body it's been moved is there a second all in favor i oppose it is carry let's put our hands together for these four individuals and perhaps perhaps you've been you've been in the valley of decision whether you're in the house or you're online today is the perfect opportunity to give your life to the lord and if it's your desire to be the next baptism or one to come just put your hand in the air if you're in the house today just put your hand in the air and we're going to make it happen our clerks are ready to respond to you if you're in the house put your hand in the air and we will make it happen if you're online just go ahead make that request known you can email us at prayer first sdachurch.com prayer first sdachurch.com you also can respond to the appeal at the appropriate time at the end of our pastor's message god bless each and every one of you as we continue to worship god in spirit and in truth so [Music] with a foreign is [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] of is name make his praise with a voice [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] we are thankful that you guys have decided to give and join us today to those online and to those who haven't given yet we want to talk to you about double duty so in malachi 3 we always take that for granted but what was happening was the children of israel had just returned from exile and god said to them i've brought you out of exile but we're not good you have not returned to me or done the things that you were supposed to do if you want to be saved you've got to return to me and they said well god we didn't really leave on our own he says no the way you return is with your money your tithe and your offering so i'm doing double duty with that i'm blessing you because you returned the tithing offering and i'm saving you because in this example that the most important research you have to survive is tithe and offering so while you're there in this moment remember to give it gives you life i had the ability to claim every promise in the bible while i was sick i was like yeah though i walked through the valley of the shadow of debt boom he gave me life i was like ever i will supply all your needs according to my riches i missed two months of pay with no pay when i came out i was in school and they had refunded all the money i had paid for tuition to my account it was over six thousand dollars when you think about returning time just think about your salvation first and your provision second let us pray father god because you have replaced face-to-face connection with prayer and because you have replaced our sins with the blood of jesus we are thankful to return to you tithe and offering bless every person in this building in a special way and every person online who's watching in a special way in jesus name i pray amen [Music] so [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] hollywood hallelujah [Music] [Music] please [Music] is [Music] is who you are [Music] let us praise [Music] [Music] so [Music] hmm [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] through trials and tribulations wanna say it again [Music] let me say it again [Music] shall inherit all [Music] help of the things anybody can make it i know this [Music] through trials and [Music] through depression and despair [Music] we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed [Music] the trumpet shall sound [Music] [Music] mystery [Music] in [Music] me hallelujah hallelujah [Music] oh [Music] hallelujah i [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] oh [Applause] hey [Applause] little let all the overcomers put their hands together one more time for the king of kings and lord of lords [Music] i'm so thankful for the assurance that no matter how dark the day no matter how long the night i want somebody in this building or somebody watching online to know that the word says we're gonna make it over that god has the final say and that the christ is going to reign forever and ever and ever to god be the glory let's give our church corral another hearty amen for their ministry and song today [Applause] thank you choir for lifting our hearts higher and preparing us to be able to receive the word of the living god and if you don't mind just give anybody that is in a first church uniform a deaconess a deacon an usher a greeter a clerk anybody that's serving can you give them a hearty amen we thank god for you your dedication on this holiday weekend to the service of god praise god for you and we're grateful to see all of you who are in the building as well as those who are joining us online today we want to go ahead and jump into the word of god is that all right and so do me a favor invite you to stand to your feet as we go in our bibles to the book of revelation chapter 12. revelation chapter 12 and we're going to begin together verse number one revelation chapter 12. that's the last book of the bible when you get there just say pastor i'm here revelation the 12th chapter and we're going to begin together at verse number one and let me just take a quick moment let me acknowledge anybody who is here at first church for the very first time or maybe you're visiting from out of town we just raise your hand so we can see you today anybody here for the first time god bless you let's give all of our guests a hearty amen god bless you guests from chicago and tennessee and from all over we are glad to have you with us and we pray that your worship experience is rich and also i want to acknowledge you know you all know my parents have moved here uh you know back to work the fault this is their first time in the building this morning so glad to see y'all here today as well god bless you amen revelation chapter 12 and verse number one now i'm going to admit and acknowledge today saints that i probably tried to put a little too much in this one sermon so what i'm going to do is i'm going to break it up into a couple of parts or else we'll be here to 3 30 this afternoon come on save that revelation chapter 12 we're going to break it up we're going to break it up um and so we're not going to work through the entire chapter but there are some things that we're going to look at this week as we kind of continue in our series doctrine is not a dirty word now last week we talked about the doctrine of the church but today we're going to look at the church in the context of the great controversy and then my next sermon with you i'm going to be talking about the traits or the characteristics of the remnant church is that all right so do me a favor revelation 12 verse one when you get there say amen the bible says here john envisions sees this now a great sign appeared in heaven a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head a garland of 12 stars then being with child she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth then another sign appeared in heaven behold a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on its head and his tail through drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born and she bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron then her child was caught up to god and to his throne then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by who by god that they should feed her their 1260 dates and the bible says in war broke out in heaven michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought but somebody ought to shout because the bible says they did not prevail they did not prevail nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer so the great dragon was cast out the serpent of old called the devil and satan who deceives the whole world he was cast out and his angels were cast out with him then i heard a loud voice in heaven saying now salvation and strength and the kingdom of god and the power of his christ have come for the accuser of our brethren who accuse them before god day and night has been cast down and the bible says and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to death and notice this warning it says therefore rejoice o heavens and you who dwell therein but woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea for the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knows i wish y'all knew he knows that he has but a short time now when the dragon saw that he had been cast out to the earth he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child but she the woman was given two wings of an eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place where she would be nourished for a time and a time and a half of times from the presence of the serpent today saints i want to talk to you for a little while under the subject this is not your fight this is not your fight let's pray together father i pray for permission to join my human weakness my lack to your divine strength and lord i i need you today to perfect your strength and my human weakness father i'm praying that as we look to your word that we will gain strength for the now and that you would also equip us for the times that are ahead and father i pray that in the hearing of the word the faith will be multiplied so would you please hide me in the shadows of the cross that jesus alone might be seen that christ alone will be heard and at the end of our message may jesus alone be praised and i pray that our takeaway today would not be about the dragon that our primary focus would not be on the beast but i pray that we will be able to see jesus high and lifted up and as we see him high and lifted up maybe we'll be drawn into closer fellowship with thee we pray this in the name of him who is altogether lovely it is in the name of jesus that we pray let god's people say together amen and amen you may be seated in the house of the lord and or there online as the people of god gather in that way again we're talking today under the subject this is not your fight i guess about two years ago i've shared that my kids and i embarked upon the task of staining the wooden fence in our backyard and after a little while of work the kids came in a panic saying dad there are hornets and wasps that are swirling around the area where we are working and so i told my oldest son to go and get the raid wasp and hornet killer and to spray them down as he had done in times past and so he went into the garage to get the spray uh to do what he was instructed to do and after a little while they came back in an even greater panic saying daddy we sprayed the wasp and the harness but the spray did not kill them and so thinking something was wrong or something had been at least exaggerated i took the can to go and do what i sent them to do and when i got to their area of the fence the first thing i begin to note is that they were not dealing with wasps or hornets what they were dealing with was actually carpenter bees and see what happened is in their description they lumped all flying objects together in one category and see their first problem is they didn't know what they were up against and because they didn't know what they were up against they sought to use the wrong weapons you see we learned the hard way that wasp spray has no effect on carpenter bees and as much friend of mine as i wanted to leave this issue alone notice that the bees were diving i told the kids to go ahead and go inside to avoid being stung and my oldest son break her uh wanting to be brave he said daddy do you want me to stay here and help you i said son i want you to go ahead inside because this is not your fight in other words i need you to get saints that the the bees didn't really have an issue with my children see this was actually a battle over dominion you see these bees had burrowed their way into offense that i had paid for in other words they were trying to claim dominion over something that i had the deed to and so after a while i got an insecticide and put in their hole that made it impossible for them to thrive but for the bees that were still thriving there had to be a battle that took place and so i got my rake that had a wide base and because the big bees were kind of slow i was able to knock a couple of them to the ground and mash them underneath my heel but as i continued in the warfare i heard something that said sometimes you've got to let a bee sting you because if you let the bee sting you sometimes their stinger will get caught in your clothes our garments and it will disembowel the bee so that he can no longer live and i was trying to brace myself to receive the sting now i want you to know that this story would be dope if i allowed myself to get stung by the bee but my mama didn't raise no food are y'all hearing me saints i i just let the insecticide do its work but the larger idea i want somebody to get is that if you're gonna be in spiritual warfare you've got to have the right weapons and the second thing that somebody's got to know is that this battle is not yours it actually belongs to the lord because this spiritual warfare is actually a battle for dominion for the enemy has sought to claim dominion over that which christ has paid for and how many of us know that it is good news that we have a savior that was willing to voluntarily take the sting that your pastor tried hard to avoid and is there anybody that's grateful that in the midst of all of life's sorrows god never sends you by yourself and even though we sometimes come under attack when it gets hard or too difficult jesus steps in to let you know that this is not your fight and even in the midst of great trial and adversity of our time there is somebody that needs to be reminded that this battle is not ours but this battle belongs to the lord can you say amen today and so go back with me if you don't mind to revelation chapter 12 and verse number 1 as we unpack the word today revelation 12 and verse 1 the bible says now a great sign appeared in heaven a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head were a garland of 12 stars the word says now understand friends of mine that this text today teaches us some powerful lessons for this moment and also for the end of time now on last week we spent some time talking about the doctrine of the church and today as we look at it a little further i want us to look at the church in the context of the great controversy and as i stated earlier we're going to look at the church later on and its remnant characteristics now remember on last week in ephesians chapter 5 we learned that the bible describes the church as a woman or specifically as the bride of christ and remember in ephesians chapter 5 the apostle paul prophesied that in time christ is going to perfect his church so that he can present it to himself without spot or blemish and it's amazing how paul says that the church is going to be perfected but in revelation 12 john sees the church after it has been perfected now i need y'all to know saints that the woman's outfit actually is an announcement that the work of christ has been completed notice how she is described in the vision she is literally adorned by all of the natural light sources of the cosmos the bible says that she has a garland of 12 stars on her head the bible says she is clothed with the sun and the bible says that she has the moon under her feet in other words saints her physical description is an expression of the complete sufficiency of the sacrifice of jesus are y'all with me today church see notice that the bible says that she is clothed with the light of the sun in other words ellen white says that when john looks upon the woman in vision he can hardly stare right at her because she is clothed with the light and the brilliant radiance of the sun and is there anybody that's ever tried to look directly at the sun you know you have a hard time looking at it because its brightness has the capability to damage your eyes and the bible literally lets us know that this girl is clothed with the light of the sun so guess what saints if she's got some flaws you can't see him because she's dressed in sunlight even if she's got some blemishes you can't tell because she's dressed in sunlight if she's got some scars you can't identify them because she's dressed in sunlight if she's got some disfiguration you can't see it because she's clothed in the light of the sun and understand friends that the woman being clothed with the light of the sun is symbolic of how christ is going to clothe his church with his righteousness in other words remember paul says he's going to present to himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing and the reason you can't see her spots the reason you can't see the wrinkles is because she is clothed in the righteousness of jesus christ and see how many of us know that the church is not perfected through good deeds the church is not perfected through good behavior the church is not perfected just by right beliefs the church is perfected by the righteousness of jesus are y'all hearing me today saints and see the thing i need somebody to get about the righteousness of christ is that it is not created it's imputed the righteousness of christ is not conjured or earned it is borrowed or transferred from the savior to the center and the thing friends i like about the righteousness of jesus is that it doesn't just cover sections it doesn't just cover portions it doesn't just cover parts of us is there anybody thankful that his righteousness covers us from the crown of our heads all the way down to the souls of our feet and see i need y'all to get something epic about this in other words the righteousness that she's wearing it's like the sun it is so brilliant and so bright that if john looks at her too directly he might hurt his eyes or be blinded if he tries to look at her or investigate her too much y'all not with me today in other words saints friends of mine i need you to know that when you're covered in the righteousness of jesus if somebody tries to look for your dirt guess what they might go blind because you're covered by the light of the sun in other words god is setting up in such a way that you actually hurt yourself trying to find dirt on somebody else in other words some of y'all have gone blind trying to stare at somebody else's son y'all not with me today in other words friends of mine just as foolish as it is to try to stare at the sun it's equally foolish to try to find dirt on somebody that's been covered by the righteousness of jesus christ are y'all hearing me today saints and notice friends of mine that that the word says can you all hear me today the the word literally says that that the moon is underneath her feet now i need you to remember something about the moon y'all remember that even though the moon it is a great luminary you know that the moon does not provide light the moon doesn't create light all the moon does is reflect the light of the sun so so so that even when the sun appears guess what the moon instantly becomes obsolete because the presence of the sun has shown up and notice that the bible describes the woman as having the moon underneath her feet now you notice that in the bible whenever something is described as being placed underneath somebody's feet it's saying that that thing has lost its significance it's saying that that thing is no longer uh no it's no longer worthy that whatever has been placed underneath somebody's feet is a thing of the past it means it's come to its fulfillment it means it no longer has a place are y'all with me today i said i need you to know that the moon represents the symbols and practices of the ceremonial law of the old covenant you remember saints that ended the old covenant there were a number of practices that foreshadowed the coming of the messiah so you realize that even the old testament sanctuary was simply a reflection of what jesus would do in the heavenly sanctuary you remember that the old testament lambs were simply to reflect the light of the lamb of god who would take away the sin of the world even the old testament feast days were simply to reflect what would happen when christ showed up even the priests and their mediatorial work was simply a reflection of christ our high priest and how he will bring salvation to our souls but if you recall in the new testament there was always this strange tension between new covenant believers and old conservative judaizers who were trying to merge or amalgamate the new covenant with the relics of the old covenant are y'all hearing me so remember they would always bring things into the church saying you've got to be circumcised and you've got to keep certain fish festivals or feast days you got to hold on to the things that represented right religion up until the time of jesus christ but what they didn't realize is that by trying to merge the old with the new they were moonlighting in other words they were trying to stand in the light of the moon when the sun had already appeared and see i need you to understand friends that we thank god for the sacrifices that pointed us to jesus we thank god for the feast days that pointed us to jesus we thank god for the mediators that pointed us to jesus but guess what once the sun shows up the moon has to be put underneath our feet in other words her outfit is a reminder that we are under a new and better covenant and the reason i'm saying this is because there are some of us that have gotten caught up with strange theories that said we've got to continue to keep the feast days and the festivals as a sign that we are in covenant there are some that claim that we've got to claim our african heritage to the hebrew nation in order to obtain ourselves as covenant people but how many of us know that the bible makes clear in the book of galatians that there is no jew and there is no greek and there is no gentile in other words god only has one covenant people and it is those that acclaim jesus by faith in other words god in the book of hugologians lets us know that you ain't got to pay attention to a new moon or a festival or a feast day why because those things were a shadow of things to come but why am i dwelling in the shadow if the figure has already appeared oh y'all hear what i'm saying today and see there are some of us that can't really praise god for the joy of the new covenant because all we really know is the new covenant but is there anybody that's thankful today that you ain't never have to kill your own lamb because jesus made and died once and sufficiently for all mankind is there anybody thankful that the presence of god doesn't dwell in a temple but the holy spirit dwells in these body temples is there anybody thankful that you ain't got to go to an earthly priest or mediator to confess your sins but the bible says there is one mediator between christ and man and it is the man christ jesus i thank god for the feast days that said the messiah is coming but the reason i celebrate communion is because the messiah has already come are y'all hearing me today's saints and god is trying to help us to understand that even the woman's outfit is a reminder that the work of jesus has been completed are y'all hearing me today saints and so the word says to us here in in revelation 12 and verse 2 the bible literally says this that then she being with child cried out in labor and in pain to give birth the bible says another sign appeared in heaven behold the fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his head and his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven and threw them down to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour the child as soon as it was born and she bore a male child who would rule all nations with a rod of iron and the child was caught up to god and to his throne are y'all hearing the word today so friends of mine i need us to look at this thing because see this text provides tremendous clarity about why god's people are going to have to cry sometimes because see the great controversy motif surges through in a way that is not always as obvious in what we see in revelation 12. you see before i take a moment to identify all of the characters see i want you to notice something about the nature of the dragon see the reason john puts this in narrative form is not just to give information but the way he tells the story is so you can see something about who you are up against so the bible literally says that there is a woman who is pregnant with child she is not in first trimester or second like she is literally about to sit on a birthing stool and notice that the bible says that there is a fiery red dragon who represents satan who turns his fury and his anger toward the woman who symbolizes the church are y'all with me saints not the reason i need you to get something about the character of the dragon is this is because you know even from ancient times there were certain rules to war that there was a certain moral construct about warfare so that even in the most tense war there were certain groups that were off limits so that in warfare you didn't really go after women in warfare you didn't seek to kill children and you had to be a cold-blooded hateful person to attack a woman that was about to be give birth to a child i mean you had to have no compassion to attack a pregnant why y'all with me today saints but i need you to know that john is showing us something about the nature of the dragon in other words like the dragon doesn't wait until after she has the baby to come for the woman but the bible literally says that the dragon finds the woman in a vulnerable position where she is about to give birth and he sits there in a crouching position to devour the child after it has come forth and guess what he comes for the woman when she's about to give birth which means guess what she can't fight and because she's about to give birth she can't run he attacks the woman when she's in her most vulnerable situation and see i need us to understand something about the dragon i need you to know that he will attack you when you're in your most vulnerable situation of life you see one of the things you got to understand about the devil friends of mine is that there ain't nothing in your life that he deems off limits see i need y'all to understand that in his warfare there ain't no rules there is no construct he functions with no boundaries i need you to understand saints of god that the devil doesn't consider anything off limits in other words he will come for your marriage he will come for your health he will come for your children he will come for your state of mind and the thing i need somebody to understand is the same way he attacks a pregnant woman the same way he shows her no compassion i need you to know in the same fashion he shows no compassion for the people of god in our time i see my prayer for somebody today is that your spiritual senses are being quickened because see one of the things that has happened it's become very popular in our time to say we got to stop blaming everything on the devil and even though i understand the sentiment behind it and that we do have the power of choice but see the problem with some of us and we become so logical in our thinking we become so educated and linear in our thoughts that we lose sight of the fact that we are in a spiritual warfare that is invisible to human eyes and you have an enemy that has no compassion no scruples no integrity and no limits are y'all hearing me today saints and see there's some of us who are walking around saying pastor man the problem with your church folk is y'all always trying to spiritualize no your problem is that you ain't got no spiritual eyes see see the issue is that if you if you recognize that if god was just to pull back the veil for a moment unless you look into the heavenly realm like you can look into your physical realm do you realize that even on your way to church that there were principalities that set up traps and snares and attacks all along the highway so you could make it into the house of god and let me just pause and say to somebody cause somebody's saying i can't praise god because of what happened in my life i'm saying you ought to praise god because of what didn't happen in your life is there anybody that knows the only way you made it is because god blocked some stuff god kept some stuff god prevented some stuff and then let it come to pass oh y'all hear what i'm saying you today search [Applause] see i need you to understand that's why ephesians says we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places i need you to know what's happening in your world it's not just a result of good luck or bad luck or good fortune or bad fortune i need you to know there is an enemy who despises you because you look like the one that he could not defeat [Applause] and i need you to know ain't nothing off limit y'all hear what i'm saying church see if spiritual warfare wasn't real you wouldn't have the worst arguments with your spouse on sabbath morning in other words that's why your greatest arguments happen the one time y'all get ready to do something spiritual come on and say amen see if spiritual warfare wasn't real you wouldn't be in and out of the hospital all this time if spiritual warfare wasn't real your privileged kids wouldn't be contemplating suicide every other week if spiritual warfare wasn't real you wouldn't have energy for work and for the game but all of a sudden you ain't got no energy for prayer and church because you're being resisted in a way that you cannot see and instead of talking about how people spiritualize maybe you want to start opening up your spiritual eyes are y'all hearing me today saints see see the reason you got to understand what type of battle you're in is because when you know what kind of battle you're in you understand what type of weapons you have to use and say i want to take a portion of this message and i want to call the people of god back to a place of radical petition and a radical dependence upon god and a radical turning to the scriptures are y'all here to hear me today saints what i'm saying to somebody today is we got to stop worrying so much about nike and prada and louie and we got to start putting on the whole armor of the lord jesus christ are y'all hearing what i'm saying see y'all gotta understand that the enemy is such a destiny's rascal that he literally wants to attack whatever area is sensitive or unguarded in your life that's why you gotta have the helmet of salvation on your head you got to have the breastplate of righteousness on your heart you've got to have the uh your your loins girded about with truth you've got to have your feet shot with the gospel of peace you've got to have a shield of faith where if you quench the fiery darts of the enemy and you've got to have the sword of the spirit which is the word of the living god i need somebody to know that we've got to get back to a place where we learn how to get fortified by calling on the name of the lord in prayer are y'all hearing me today saints and i need y'all to know it's going to be unpopular but what i'm saying is that we've just gotten way too ceremonial in our prayer life we've gotten way too just habitual in our prayer life where we're not really calling on god with urgency we're just muttering words in the air that we heard somebody say in church but what i'm saying to somebody is i rebuke every rehearsed prayer that has no urgency in it i rebuke all your prayer life being revolved around your prayer that you say right before your food i rebuke you just opening up the bible only the time you hear a sermon i rebuke somebody online that's going to listen to 17 sermons but you never ever open up the word of the living god god is saying that you've got to get to a place where you're seeking me with a greater urgency is it there no wonder why our houses are falling apart it's no wonder that our kids are leaving the church it is no wonder that churches are not growing it's no wonder that we don't see miracles it's a wonder that divorces are not ceasing it is because we are not calling on the name of the lord in a radical way are y'all hearing me today saints and what i'm saying is some of the families of god what some of us need to learn how to do in the evenings is sometimes we better turn off some of these devices oh so y'all gonna be mad so i might as well stay here today turn off some of these devices and start opening up the scripture and imparting into our kids the things of the almighty god what i'm saying to somebody today is that we ought to stop the rehearsed prayers and set a goal of adding five minutes every month to your daily prayer time that you spend talking to god we ought to get to a place where we ain't got to think about whether or not we come into church oh god in other words you shouldn't have to decide that when you wake up sabbath morning you should have made your mind up about that on tuesday or wednesday and you got to be like david when he says i was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the lord god is calling somebody that whenever you wind up awake in the middle of the night turn that our inability to sleep into an all-night prayer meeting because whenever god wakes you up at two in the morning it's because he knows he can't get your attention at two in the afternoon and so god is saying i gotta wake you up before you go to work and before you go to school and before you go about your business and i need you to murder the more you pray guess what the better you gonna sleep oh y'all hearing me today's things and see i'm saying to us church we got to get to that place where we spend less time on amazon and more time with the alpha we got to spend less time on netflix oh i know it's going to get quiet and more time on our knees where we spend less time with the playstation and more time in our prayer station where we spend less time on facebook and more time in a faith book where we less time on instagram and more time in intercession oh what peace we often forfeit oh what needless pains we bear all because we do not carry everything to god in prayer and see the problem is we walking around here complaining about the attacks when that ain't really the issue you got to make sure you got on the whole armor and that you're covered are y'all hearing what i'm saying man i really shouldn't say this after i talk so hard about being spiritual uh but but like on saturday nights and sunday sometimes in my house me and the kids we play a serious game of uno do i have any uno saints out here now i need you to understand that's why stats really shouldn't say this i need to know one of the things about daddy when you play the kids against the kids if they leave their hands unguarded don't judge me and i won't judge you are y'all hearing in other words if they if their hand is not covered i'm gonna go ahead and confess daddy is gonna look all in your hand and see the problem is sometimes the kids get mad they say daddy why why are you cheating why are you looking in our hand and i'm saying your problem is not that i'm trying to look because if you leave it vulnerable or you'll not hear me if you leave it open i'm going to exploit whatever weakness you make available today so your issue is not that i'm trying to look your issue is that your stuff ain't covered and see the problem is you mad that he's attacking your house and he's attacking your kids and he's attacking your marriage and he's attacking your faith but that ain't the problem the problem that it ain't covered by nothing you gotta get covered by the word and covered by prayer and covered by intercession [Applause] stop complaining that the devil is attack he don't care nothing about your complaints you just got to make sure you got on the whole arm of god come on say amen [Music] so then this this woman right this woman represents the church in both phases both god's old covenant people in the old testament and the church of the apostles in in the new testament in fact this woman is pregnant with with the child jesus christ remember now that the 12 stars represent the 12 tribes of israel and it is through the lineage of israel that the messiah actually does come are y'all still with me church but but i need you to notice something that as soon as this happens that the dragon is waiting for the woman waiting for her to give birth to the child i need to get that this is simply an illusion to what happened in the time period of christ where the roman government under herod literally put forth a census or decree that all of the male children in israel in the time of christ's birth that they should be destroyed in other words under the inspect instruction of the dragon that this agency or government will go after the male child are y'all still with me today but i need you to notice that after jesus lived his life covered by the hand of god he completes this mission on the cross and he uh raises on the third day and the bible lets us know that he is caught back up into heaven after his resurrection but notice something france that the dragon then to put put his full attention on the woman until it became clear that he can do nothing with the male child okay y'all y'all not thinking with me today cece i need y'all to understand on the front end it looks like he's mad with the woman but when you look at it a little closer who he's really coming for is the male child but when he came for the male child he was unsexual unsuccessful he couldn't touch him he couldn't stand nothing like he literally had to come for the male child when he was a baby because that's the only time he knew he had a chance but the bible says god protected and shielded the male child and it wasn't until he could do nothing with the male child that he turned his eyes on the woman or the church which shows us guess what this fight is not really about the church it is simply collateral damage in a war that is between christ and the devil are y'all hear me today see saints need to understand the devil don't really care nothing about you he's just trying to claim dominion over something that christ paid for and the battle is simply this see he knows see remember our pastor lampkin talked to us about to say how in heaven that that was christ who was a third of the godhead but then you had this angel named lucifer who was the covering cherub i need you to understand that lucifer was the chief of the angelic host that he was the leader of the praise team your boy lucifer was decked down with every precious stone the word says every precious stone was his covering but eventually lucifer got to a place where he was tired of giving praise he was ready to get some praise lucifer like i hit some hot notes up in here i didn't gave god a lot of glory and you know how it is when somebody invests in something long enough they begin to want partnerships oh y'all not with me but god is saying you ain't got no partnership because you ain't got no creative or redemptive power so so literally what lucifer does is he engages in a character assassination he begins to go about in underground territory of spreading lies against the character of the almighty god and i need you to know that lucifer was so sophisticated lucifer was so smooth that the bible says that the dragon gathered one third of the stars of heaven and that he got one third of the angels to side with him in his rebellion the bible lets us know that there was war in heaven michael and his angels fought against the dragon his angels but the good news somebody is the bible says that the dragon prevailed not neither was there any place found for them in heaven any longer that o great dragon called the devil was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him now as i kind of talk about the church and the great controversy there are three quick things that i want to share with you today and i'm praying that these things will build up your faith see the one thing i need somebody to understand about this battle even though we're caught in a world war between two worlds the one thing i need somebody to get is that your ally is greater than your enemy okay why am i saying this because as the people of god we are functionally functioning with entirely too much fear like no no no no come on come on come on like with everything that's happening in the world with covet and and and divisions over whether or not you get the vaccine and wars in afghanistan and hurricanes in louisiana and earthquakes and hate there's there is sometimes almost an unconscious pressure that we have just when we turn on the news in the afternoon am i telling the truth today saints and there are some of us that underneath our suits and our sabbath best and our our smiles we are functioning with uncertainty and we have insecurity there is somebody who is sitting here quaking in their church shoes because they don't know where the money is going to come from at the end of the month there's somebody who is dealing with a health prognosis and they're not sure what the end is going to be there is somebody weighed down by anxiety about where your kids are in life and the thing that i need somebody to understand as you look at this battle and you work through your prayer life i need you to have clarity on the fact that your ally is greater than your enemy are y'all hear what i'm saying church seeing that's why friends of mine what you need to learn how to do every now and then is you need to just look at your bible and look at what happened every time jesus and the devil went head-to-head in other words you just read it there in revelation 12 the bible says that there was war in heaven michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels and it prevailed not and but notice what the bible says rejoice ye heavens and you that dwell therein but woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath because he knows that he half but a short time in other words jesus defeated him heaven because jesus is superior than the devil all right y'all not with me go there to the book of job where satan came face to face with the savior again and jesus said to him satan what's coming from where for which cometh where where do you come from and satan says from romans 2 and 4 up in the earth and god says have you not considered my servant job and satan says the only reason he serves you is because he gave him a lot of money and you gave him a lot of stuff and you gave him favor all over his life but god knew that his goodness was so specific for job that he says you can take his house you can take his stuff you can take his kids you can even touch his health and satan went about and took away joe's stuff took away his land took away his option put his finger on his health but the bible says that job stood up and says naked i came from my mother's womb and naked i shall return but blessed be the name of the lord and he did not charge god with god god went wrong and round two went to jesus christ but then satan and jesus came head to head again when they disputed about the body of moses the book of jude lets us know that when jesus came to resurrect moses that the enemy stood on moses grave and said because he struck the rock moses belongs to me he ain't going nowhere but the angel of the lord stood up and said the lord rebuked thee satan and the bible says that he took moses on up to glory but then guess what they stood toe-to-toe again in the wilderness after 40 days when jesus was his most depleted spiritually and physically and he took him up to an exceedingly high melted and he overcame with all of the sins where adam fell with appetite the pride of life and the lusts of the flesh and the bible lets us know that he overcame because he didn't stand on his own strength but he simply says it is written and because he stood on the word he overcame the enemy again but then they stood toe-to-toe again right there in the garden of gethsemane read it in desire of ages jesus literally says that satan showed up in the garden as an angel of light and he tried to tell the devil look at me in my glorious splendor and look at yourself in a peasant form and he literally tried to convince the the the savior that your sacrifice is not gonna be worth it but guess what the lord did he didn't really listen to what he said he simply called on the name of the lord in prayer and said father not my will but your will be done one area he overcame by the word another area he overcame in prayer i'm trying to tell y'all something today but then they came together again when jesus was on the cross because understanding that the enemy didn't want him to go to the cross so he and enclothed himself in human flesh and he told them to tell jesus others he saved but himself he cannot say but notice that jesus didn't get off the cross in fact he prayed father forgive them for they know not what they do but then satan had one last trick if he could keep him from dying the only thing he could do after that was keep him from getting up so he put the biggest stone over the tomb and had it sealed with a signet ring but guess what early on sunday morning my jesus rose up with all power in his hands and i guess what i'm saying if jesus was stronger in heaven if he was stronger in job's life if he was stronger in moses like if he was stronger in the wilderness if he was stronger in the garden if he was stronger on the cross if he was stronger at the time he's stronger in your bills he's stronger in your health he's stronger in your relationships he is greater our god is greater our god is stronger our god is higher than any other how great is our god are y'all hearing the word of god today saints listen see i need y'all to know that we are on the winning side so we don't have to fret we don't have to fear we just got to know whose side we're standing on can the church say amen so the bible says here watch this revelation 12 in verse 6 i'm almost done the bible says watch this who saints bible says then the woman fled into the wilderness where she are y'all with me saints where she had a place what she had a place prepared by god that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days y'all stay with me church see i need y'all to understand this that number three the god of number four god allows trouble but he never allows the trouble that he doesn't make provision for see now i understand because i get to email some of y'all don't like the way i preach prophecy because see some of y'all like prophecy that makes you scared [Applause] and if you ain't scared about your salvation you feel like that when god's will but you realize that the purpose of prophecy is not to make you afraid the reason he lets us see the end of the story is so we can have courage about what's going to come to pass and y'all hear what i'm doing they say anything so the word says that the woman flees into the wilderness to a place that was prepared for her by god where she would be nourished and strengthened for the what the bible refers to as 1260 days now let me pause for just a moment you guys know that according to numbers chapter 3 and 14 and also in the book of ezekiel that in prophecy there were times where a day was symbolic of a what of a year so what the bible is referring to is a prophesied time of 1260 years from 538 a.d to 1298 where god would nourish and take care of a church that would live under the seas of persecution now i need to get that in the early century stay with me saints i need you to know that the church would be attacked by fiery outward persecution from pagan rome but from about 30 8 to about 12 uh 98 what would happen is it would live under ecclesiastical or or or clergy oppression from papal wrong are y'all with me today saints and this woman is scattered she is dispersed she is chased into the wilderness to a place that the bible says was prepared for her it was prepared by god now this word prepared in the greek is haito is hatred matzo it literally means to make ready because of anticipation oh god no no no y'all to get this the reason he prepared a place was because he already anticipated the problem oh god some of y'all missed your shout in other words god saw the trouble god anticipated the trouble god saw it with foresight and he was able to prepare a way of escape even before the dragon showed up to attack y'all didn't get this how many of us know that god is so good that god prepares for your trouble before your troublemaker shows up oh yeah god has made provision for the trouble even before the troubler shows up now watch this because the dragon chases her into the wilderness and when he chases her into the world and guess what the dragon think he did something the dragon thought he won because he chased her off the scene so the dragon is walking around beating his chest he's doing a victory lap but what the dragon didn't know is that the dragon simply chased her into the place that god already plans for her to be in the first place oh god oh y'all hear what i'm saying and see i need somebody to understand that god never allows a trouble to come upon his people that he has not prepared you for y'all see it in the word of god am i telling the truth somebody remember god told abraham i want you to sacrifice your son isaac but abraham didn't know that god had already prepared a ram in the thicket so that isaac could get back home remember when elijah ran away from jezebel he didn't realize that god had prepared a raven that was gonna bring bread and meat every morning and every evening you remember now that before the children got to a place in the wilderness where there was no water to drink god had prepared a rock and when god said moses struck the rock it was going to send water to quench all of their thirsty souls y'all not with me remember when the disciples had fished all night and yet they couldn't catch nothing when they came up jesus was on the side preparing a salmon croquette dinner took to stop some prayer for their starving souls before jonah got too far from god god prepared a fish to redirect him into purpose and i just want to say to somebody today if you don't get nothing else i need you to get this that god will never allow an attack he will never allow a deficit he will never allow a need to come upon you that he had already made preparation for anybody ever had a situation where as soon as you lost one job god opened up a door for you to be fed through another means okay y'all to hear me anybody ever had a situation where as soon as you got some extra money the car broke down or the roof started leaking and you thought the dragon had won but the dragon was just chasing you to the provision that god had already prepared or made for those who love him uh has god ever fed anybody in a pandemic has god ever opened up doors that no man could open has god ever shut any doors that no man could close i need somebody to know that everything you're going through god is already prepared for you i need you to know your provision has been prepared i want you to know your peace has been prepared i want you to know your victory has been prepared i want you to know your employment has been prepared i want you to know your healing has been prepared i want you to know your job has been prepared single folk your boo has been prepared and i need the sick to know that even if god doesn't prepare healing go back to john 14 for he says in john 14 let not your heart be troubled if you believe in god believe also in me for in my father's house on many mansions if it were not so i would have told you so even if you go to sleep he says i gotta go and prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place i will come again and receive you to myself are y'all hearing me today saints i need you to know there ain't nothing that you will face that god has not made provision for indulge me those of y'all who've been with me for a long time i tell the story whenever i feel laid by the spirit i remember man like back in the day my wife and i were living in lexington kentucky we had come upon some really difficult heart our financial hardship our medical bills from some procedures had just gotten the best of us and we were in that one of those stresses i don't know if you all been one of those stretches where you've been so broke you can't pay attention like like your money is funny your change is strange and your credit can't get it and we're about 700 short of what we needed to make it to the end of the month and i remember we were getting ready to call home to our parents for the first time since we had gotten married and before we made the call my wife said baby why don't we just take one more night to pray about that thing and i need you to know we got down on our knees that night and prayed now i don't know if you ever prayed one of those prayers where when you pray you claim every promise in the word of god we got down our knees and said lord you say you would open up the windows of heaven lord you said the righteous will never be forsaken lord you said our seed will never be breaking bread lord you said you shall supply all our needs according to our riches and glory so we got down on our knees and we claim the promises of the word of god and i remember the very next day not expecting anything i just went to the mailbox as it was my custom and i got an envelope from the kentucky department of revenue at first my countenance failed i said lord i ask for a blessing [Applause] and you sent a bill from the irs on this day of all days where you had jesus and i open up the envelope and it reads louis he said sir this is the kentucky department of revenue we regret to inform you that on the previous year we overcharge you for the property taxes on your house in this envelope is a refund check in the amount of 1100. oh y'all not hearing me today i need you to know that god took it from us the year before held it in evans escrow he anticipated when the knee he said it before we pray because isaiah is true that before you call he's already answered while you're yet speaking he's already heard he prepared the provision before we had the debt so it was already in the mail oh y'all didn't catch it before we prayed it was in the mail while we were calculating it's in the mail why are we tripping it's in the mail it's in the mail it's around the corner check the email tonight at sunset you don't know how god is gonna come through for his children if you know that god prepares put your hands together in praise and praise it go praise and fall praise him in advance praise him in anticipation he's prepared the heal the provision he's prepared whatever you stand in need of today saints are y'all hearing the word today and god is saying to somebody you might as well stop all your worry stop all your fretting stop all your ruminating stop trying to figure it out because while you trying to figure it out i know y'all didn't heard me say that story but but he didn't already worked it out [Music] all y'all hearing what i'm saying and see god is wanting somebody to understand because see you're thinking this is about you [Music] but you know what god stood me up here to tell you today that this is not your fight see this is why i need you to read the book of revelation because see the reason he showed us what's happening in revelation is so that we'll know what the end is going to be now the reason this is critical saints and let me just say this because see there is a part of us the reason we are so fearful about prophecy is because we think we've got to get really spiritual and really deep and really wilderness aware so we can take care of ourselves but you know that's not what that's about [Music] prophecy is not about you being so spiritual or deep that you can take care of yourself prophecy is about understanding that when you can't buy or sell or engage in society that there is a god who says i prepared everything you will ever stand in me [Music] prophecy is not about how you take care of you the book of revelation is about how god is going to take care of you are y'all hear what i'm saying today if there's anybody today that simply just wants to say god i'm done worrying i'm done tripping i'm done going online to figure out all the symptoms and reasons i'm done i'm done studying the nasdaq and the dial i'm i'm done i'm done with with all this all this stuff that is designed to make me think i got to figure it out i'm i'm done with the worry i'm done with stressing i'm done with caring i'm done trying to trying to operate it on my own but lord i'm just going to trust that you got it all prepared if there's anybody that wants to make this covenant with the pastors and say sayonara to all your words to say adios to all your stresses to say arvida say goodbye to everything that is wavy weighing you down i want you to stand to your feet right now you're someone saying i'm i'm done tripping about this see somebody needs to just acknowledge i've wasted too much time worrying about that which i cannot control see some of us i need you to understand you are literally worrying out of your lane you see you all over in god's lane trying to dictate and manipulate what only god can control and handle are y'all hear what i'm saying says god says man look at the lilies of the field they neither toil nor spin and yet solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these look at the grass of the field which is it's here today it's cut down tomorrow and thrown into the into the furnace look at these look at these barrels they can be sold for a penny if if my eye is on them you should know i'm watching over you [Music] so so the covenant you're you're making a covenant in your own heart just say god i'm i'm done tripping i'm just god i'm i'm going what i'm determined to learn how to cast first peter 5 7 all my cares on you [Music] i know you care for me somebody just just do it physically just take your head set it down today just set it down set it down set it down i know that your kids but he gave them to you set it down i know it's your job and you work that no no his job is not the source your whole vagina is just you guys try to set it down you paid all this money to get them in school no no you got to set it down and then some of us said we're worried about a myriad of things quandary things but i want you to learn how to cast it on the lord because he says i care for you i've prepared you forever i've prepared you for every moment you will ever face in your life i prepared for the trouble even before your troublemaker showed up [Music] but there's somebody today [Music] you're complaining about the attacks of the dragon when your real problem is that you ain't covered you're not covered spiritually there are too many of us that are just functioning with this indifference where saints are see we pass the point where you can just pray when you feel like them days is in the rearview mirror those days is over where where you can just listen to your favorite preacher and and put whatever he says on facebook no it we in that season where you gotta you gotta start getting in this book for yourself that there needs to be net less netflix binging and more bible binging into the house of god [Music] no no no no don't look at me like this we got to get to the place where we literally say listen i'm going to dedicate some hours to the study of the world [Music] and see you know and see you know why you in this space that you're in because you see what i'm teaching you as unreasonable [Music] but what i'm talking about ain't talking to babies no more i'm trying to get some folk on some meat i'm trying to get some folk out of diapers to get your big your big boy pants your big girl pants on to say i thank god for mama's prayers and and daddy's prayers but i'm i'm i'm gonna learn how to connect with god for myself i'm gonna put on the whole armor of god so that there is no part of me left exposed for the enemy of my soul to come and just run roughshod and overtake and overwhelm the children of god so today right now as every head is about every eyes closed there's somebody today some man some woman some boy or girl that needs to make it up in their mind and say i need to be covered you want to say i want to get under divine care and divine direction i realize that this is not my fight but but but but in order for for for me to survive what is happening what is to come you got to make it up in your mind and say i need to get on the winning side you need to make it up in your mind this day this hour this service just say i'm going all the way with jesus christ and maybe there's somebody today under the sound of my voice under the prompting of the holy spirit and you're saying today i want to receive jesus you're saying today i want to go all the way in my personal relationship and walk with the savior you're saying today i want to begin serving god for myself and so maybe you're a young person you're you're a young adult and maybe you've grown up around church but it's it's been cultural it's it's been inherited meaning you've been born into it but but you've never been born again and today you want to say i want to receive jesus as my own i want to go all the way with christ through baptism and bible studies if you're here today just raise your hand wherever you are to say i'm going to be baptized for the remission of all of my sins i want to go all the way with jesus christ if you're here today would you receive the lord just raise your hand wherever you are if you're in the balcony you can say yes if you're on the floor you can say yes i need you to know that the appeal that is coming to you today is coming from the lord jesus christ god bless you little lady is there somebody else today that wants to receive the lord jesus christ got got another young man over here who is raising his hand maybe dad you can give him some direction young man praise god for you god bless is there somebody else today and maybe maybe you're a college student maybe you're a high school you want to say i need jesus in my life i want to i want him operating inside of me i want to be born again maybe you're an older person and you've been saying no and hesitating and saying wait for a long time but today you're going to say yes here today just raise your hand wherever you are man woman boy girl say i want to go all the way to save relationship with jesus christ god bless you young man in the balcony keep that hand up god bless you right over there praise god got another young man right here in the front god bless you as well and the front of the balcony got two in this side of the balcony hold keep those hands held up high do me a favor put your hands together encourage those who made decisions for christ today keep those hands up a young man in blue another young man in green here's somebody else today you want to say yes to the lord jesus christ you want to be born again you want to say i'm going all the way with him would you receive the lord today and even as i'm praying this prayer you can still raise your hand maybe i got a college student maybe there's somebody you just haven't been to church in a long time maybe you're online you're online but you're saying i can't delay i can't push this back no further i can't push this back no further whether you're in huntsville or maybe you're in another city or state just email us at prayer at first sdachurch.com prayer at first sdachurch.com and i need you to know that by tuesday of this week somebody from our staff will be getting in touch with you you're another city or state we'll get you connected with a church that is nearby to your location or if you're in huntsville we want to get you studying the word of god so that you can be joined up with the family of the most high god wherever you are would you say yes to the lord would you receive him today right now we're about to pray about to seek the face of the lord and somebody you're just saying lord i'm done worry i'm done stressing i'm laying it at your feet and lord i am leaving it right there would you receive the word of the lord right now we're praying father in heaven father in heaven we thank you so much for your word your word is a lamp into our feet and it is a light unto our path and father i thank you for those who made a decision for jesus christ right now would you put your seal on them would you put the seal of the most high god upon them so that they would never ever turn away from following after you would you give them your spirit may it operate and abide deeply on the inside of these sons and daughters of god but lord i'm praying for the larger body this afternoon you know we we are making a covenant and we're coming in agreement with what jesus taught us that we shouldn't worry about our lives what we're going to wear what we're going to eat or where we're going to drink or where we're going to live lord you told us pagans seek after that stuff but what we are making a decision to do is to seek first the kingdom of god and all its righteousness and we know all other things will be added to us lord i'm praying for the first church community not just those who are in the building but those who are online or anybody that's just sharing in this ministry i pray that we would not hear this message with offense but i'm praying that we would take it to heart lord help us to set aside at least one or two days a week where where we don't put a limit on how long we study but may we just get lost in the scriptures [Music] may we set a goal to add five months each five minutes each month to our prayer time so that we can get to a place where we hear your voice and we know you respond to the prayers of your people teach us how to be fervent believers set our souls on fire god may we experience a pentecost that does not just happen when we come together in an upper room but may it happen in a living room a bedroom a backyard jesus you said if any man be in christ he is a new creation all things are passed away behold all things have become like new so lord i'm praying i'm praying i'm praying jesus that you would raise up a church [Music] that is like the church of apostolic times that is devoted to this keeping of the apostles doctrine to prayer the study of the word and fellowship with one another lord we want to be the church that you called us to be and lord even as we grow in righteousness may we not become blinded trying to look at the sun trying to find dirt on somebody that's been covered in your righteousness lord would you bless us would you keep us would you let your seal rest upon us oh god we pray this in the name of our almighty savior let god's people say together amen and amen give jesus praise one more time as you take your seat in this place today [Applause] so again thanks god i want you to just stay with us for just a tad longer next time i'm with you we're going to be talking about the church and the remnant its mission and its characteristics but saints again again i just want to just share something with you i'm going to ask if our media team for those in the building we're going to let you go in just a moment we just play a quick video uh about a mentorship initiative that we're starting called the plug i want to talk to you about that and seek for your cooperation so if you don't mind if you just play that video at this time for those of you during the pandemic some of the most affected were our young people we faced a time where education had to revamp and restructure this caused some of our students to become uninspired and others to underperform that's why we'd like to introduce you to the prepared leaders under grace youth leadership academy at the plug we have created a program that helps students in retaining a better grade point average helps them outline future goals and eventually provides financial help for their professional aspirations whether it be college trade school or starting a business because we are invested in every student our two year program which only meets twice a month works closely with your student school is involved with local businesses as they shadow professionals and even takes motivation and educational field trips so they are exposed to everything the world has to offer eligible students must be entering their junior year in high school with a gpa that doesn't exceed 2.25 spaces are limited so we encourage any interested parent to visit our website to fill out the application or visit our office to fill it out in person applications are due september 1st our goal is to get your students in the class of 2023 back on track we see your struggling students and we want to help them plug back in for more information or to fill out an application please visit our website at firstsdachurch.com or call us at 256-852-0731 the prepare leaders under grace first church youth leadership academy helping to inspire students to plug back in hey family we are so excited about this initiative we believe it's going to be a game changer six high school juniors somebody say six juniors six males and six females what we're looking for is some young people who may have a sagging gpa somewhere under 2.5 or 2.25 what we're going to be doing twice a month over here at community service center we're going to be making huge deposits into these young men these young women from their junior year through their senior year and our goal at the end of their senior year is to pay for them to get a full ride through college or trade school can the church say amen to that today and i want you to know that god has already begun working we've been communicating with the president of our alma mater president leslie pollard and he's already set aside four full scholarships for 2023 for a young person who is willing to matriculate through this program now we've been laying this out for for a couple of months now and we have not had saints this is breaking my heart we have not had any parents get their kids signed up and so what i need you to do friends i need you to get your sons your daughters your nephews your nieces your grandkids if they're a high school junior go on go online get them signed up we're going to push the deadline back from september 1 to october 1. we're going to push the program start back to the middle of october because we want to pour into some young people over the course of the next two years and so whether they go to college trade school junior college or community school whatever it is they want beauty school cosmetology school we want to help finance that and so friends of mine we're just asking that you would help us get the word out in the school system various places where we can be a blessing to the young people in our community if that's all right and i can count on your help let me just hear you say amen one more time amen god bless you and this time we're going to prepare for our prayer of benediction then our choir is going to sing us out today oh i'm sorry before we have our benediction one last thing amen come on up sister clerks we have some individuals who were baptized today come on and say amen so we want to invite those individuals who are baptized to come on down and receive their baptismal gifts amen god bless come on down put our hands together for the newest seven-day adventist christians anywhere in the world the newest members of your first church family god bless you [Music] amen got a couple here that's about to be married go to give them a hearty amen as well god bless you [Music] so so whenever you see them in the hallway of the corridors make sure you give them the fist bump of fellowship oh y'all didn't get that you we used to do the right hand of fellowship i guess if you have to tell why your jokes is funny it's not funny you give them the fist bump of fellowship welcome them let them know that we are glad to be have them as members of the family of god god bless you have a fantastic afternoon [Music] we ask that you remain seated after prayer and allow the ushers to usher you out in an orderly fashion to make sure that we are properly social distancing and that we protect you from the virus or anything else that could happen to you medically now god we are appreciative that before the foundation of the world was laid you knew that each and every one of us would be right here in this situation at this time and you prepared us with everything we needed to make it through so we know that there is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of god and we thank you for that opportunity dismiss us from this church but never from your presence in jesus name i pray amen now we thank you for that mighty word in which you preach there's always some bread yeah yeah i got to know i told you it was meat in this house there is always something to eat here spiritually in this house and we thank god for the manservant of the hour family we also want to remind you again the announcements that were at the top of the hour we have first watched we have people praying over people i don't think i mentioned that people praying over people that's that um on wednesdays at 12 noon that's pop with pastor i'm sorry yes pastor al lamkin we thank you all so much for being with us remember all the announcements look at the website y'all do the the seat reserve so that you can be here in the house if you're going to be in the area look on our facebook page look on our um our social media platforms and sign up first sdachurch.com sign up for in-person worship reserve your seat have your mass get ready to go and get ready to worship next week so family right now let's pray and we'll get on out your way for the sabbath father we thank you so much for this day i thank you for the mighty man of god that you've sent to this household god to be able to give us the breath of life so father we pray right now that we not grow weary and well doing god that we would be in this season with you god being your hands and your feet your mouthpiece father use us in a mighty way as we've been planted a seed has been planted in us allow us oh god to go out and share it with somebody else father we love you we thank you we praise you in jesus name amen family we love you guys and we will see you again next week god bless [Music] [Music] get ready let's go [Music] jesus god made me a part of his story i will live all for his glory every day every night so come on we're gonna go [Music] get change let's go [Music] god [Music] heaven and do earth serve almighty god say amen amen do we serve a mighty god say oh yeah oh yeah amen amen oh [Music] we yeah [Music] [Applause] the bible is filled with stories of god sending his special messengers called prophets to cities filled with wicked people warning them to change their ways or be punished for their sins [Music] of all the cities that received these warnings nineveh was one of the worst so when the lord called on jonah to go to nineveh and preach to the people there he was terrified jonah was so scared that he decided to travel in the opposite direction of nineveh he went down to the port city of joppa where he found a ship leaving for tashish he bought a ticket and went on board hoping that tarshish would be far enough away that he could escape from the lord and his mission while out to sea the lord sent a powerful wind causing a violent storm that threatened to sink the ship fearing for their lives the desperate sailors begged their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to help make the ship lighter and stay afloat [Music] but below the ship's deck jonah slept peacefully until the captain found him how can you at a time like this the captain shouted get up and pray to your god maybe he will pay attention and save our lives [Music] the ship's crew wanted to know who had offended the gods causing this terrible storm so they cast lots the lots revealed that jonah was at fault the crew demanded to know what jonah had done to put them all in danger who are you what is your line of work what country are you from what is your nationality they asked jonah answered i am a hebrew and i worship the lord the god of heaven who made the sea and the land now jonah had already told the sailors that the purpose for his trip was to run away from the lord so when they found out who jonah's god was the sailors were terrified what have you done they asked jonah as the storm continued to get worse they asked jonah what they could do to him to bring i see your face me i'm making [Music] you want my way jesus i see oh [Applause] i could follow jesus anywhere never have a second thought he never fails and he's always there i'm gonna give him everything that i've had [Music] [Music] is do what he teaches me [Music] hello hello i am andrea adams and this is god's word no cap i know that my steps are ordered by god because i believe in what the word of god says i trust him completely and why do i say that i want to look at psalms chapter 37 and verse 23 and this is what it says it says the lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him that's it because i delight in him because i trust him i know that he's ordering my every step every time that i try to do it my own way and if you think about it every time that you've tried to do it your own way every time i've tried to go my own way he has always turned me the way that he wanted me to go initially his plan never changes what he wants for you never changes his will is not going to change we take detours along the way we take the long way sometimes unnecessarily because we try to do it on our own but guess what his word still holds true if you delight yourself in him trust me i know for myself i've seen it in my life and in my families he's going to redirect your steps and his word always comes back to him because his word never will return unto him boy you can trust his every word believe me i know it for myself and i've seen him for myself again i'm andrean adams and this is god's word no cab you

Channel: First Seventh-day Adventist Church

Views: 8,173

Rating: 4.915493 out of 5

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Id: H9l2P-1502E

Length: 231min 44sec (13904 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 04 2021