Hope Sabbath School Lesson 5 Learning From Jesus The Master Teacher MF

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] welcome to hope sabbath school an in-depth interactive study of the word of god i'm excited as we continue this series on lessons for life it's education but it's from the bible today jesus the master teacher is going to help us to learn some lessons for life i'm glad you join us and welcome to our gideon's band team take a look folks there's only five we did not fire the other seven but because of the health pandemic we've got limited participation but we're discovering that god is blessing even in spite of the challenges just like he did with gideon's band he can give a victory with many or with views so thanks for being part of our hope sabbath school today we're always happy to hear from you our hope sabbath school members here's a note from melitha in south africa maleetha says i am from this town of george in south africa i love hope sabbath school and i watch all your episodes with my family you make everything so clear and i can understand it and i'm 10 years old wow i just love that melita we're so glad that you wrote to us greetings to your parents too we're glad that you watch hope sabbath school together and you know i think that's something about jesus we're talking about the master teacher he would teach in a way that the children could understand and the theologians would walk away going that is so profound you know like building on a rock building on a rock thanks for writing to us from south africa bella writes to us from papua new guinea and says greetings from port morrisbeat we tune in to hope sabbath school every sabbath morning and enjoy the in-depth interactive study thank you for this ministry we pray god's blessings upon you all well bella we have lots of hope sabbath school members around the world but it's great to hear from papua new guinea and know that god is blessing you in your study of the word of god there here's a note from a donor in califor in california in the united states and actually from a couple in california we often watch the very inspiring programs on hope channel over satellite and internet we believe that god is doing a great work through these broadcasts as we prepare for the soon coming of jesus enclosed is our donation to help with your expenses may god continue to bless your evangelistic media ministry through hope channel and a gift of a hundred dollars amen i just want to say thank you to our friends in california and wherever you are around the world we're a donor-supported ministry especially at this time of the year hope tv.org donate you can partner with us and can be a blessing and thank you for your commitment here's a note from cameroon this is my last oh i've got two two more here cameroon lieber lye bet i don't know if i'm saying liba's name correctly but greetings hope sabba school class i am from cameroon and i watch hope sabbath school every morning at 5 00 a.m getting up early to with the word of god each time i watch your presentation i see myself on my way to heaven isn't that beautiful you've helped me to be able to reach out to many through recordings i produce and share with others may god bless us as we wait in joyful hope for the second coming of our lord jesus to take us home amen amen amen well you know that's really exciting it's not just about watching a program it's about joining jesus in his mission and we're just so excited that you are doing that in cameroon here's the last note from tatiana in canada and tatiana says thank you so much for hope sabbath school i've learned a lot and the godly atmosphere you're maintaining is very encouraging they notice yeah i feel jesus presence when we study the bible together amen amen i just want to use my favorite hebrew word hallelujah hallelujah because that's a miracle really isn't it yeah it's a miracle of the holy spirit let god continue to bless you and keep you safe with christian love tatiana well tatiana writing to us from canada we're glad you're part of our hope samus school family right now we need you to sing for us we're not allowed to sing during this pandemic here in the studio but you can sing our theme song is from proverbs chapter 19 verse 20. listen to counsel receive instruction that you may be wise in your latter days let's sing it together listen to counsel receive instruction that you may be wise you may be wise in your latter days listen to counsel receive instruction [Music] that you may be wise you may be wise in your latter days trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding listen to cancer receive instruction that you may be wise you may be wise in your latter days [Music] listen to counsel receive instruction that you may be wise [Music] you may be wise in your latter days a merry heart does good like medicine but a broken spirit dries their bones a merry heart does good like medicine but a broken spirit dries the bones listen to cancer receive instruction that you may be wise you may be wise in your latter days listen to counsel receive instruction that you may be wise you may be wise in your latter days pleasant words are like a honeycomb sweetness to the soul and health to the bones pleasant words are like a honeycomb sweetness to the soul and health to the bones listen to cancer receive instruction that you may be wise you may be wise in your labs for days listen to counsel receive instruction that you may be wise you may be wise in your latter days you may be wise in your latter days father in heaven as we continue this series uh lessons for life we're getting an education from the word of god and today we're excited because the master teacher jesus we're going to learn from him and i pray the holy spirit would guide us here in the studio and around the world as hope sabbath school members that we would hear a life-changing word from jesus in jesus name we pray amen amen amen well i want to start out you would expect us to start somewhere in the gospels matthew mark luke or john but i'd actually like us to start in the book of hebrews toward the end of the new testament because there at the very beginning of the book of hebrews we find a clear description of the mission of jesus and we're going to learn from jesus today that one of his most important missions is also our most important mission so let's begin our study stephanie if you could take us to hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 to 4. all right and i'll be reading from the king james version god who in sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds who being in the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty in heaven being made so much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they now that's an amazing uh inspired testimony what do you learn there about jesus from this from this text sabine yeah we can learn here that he came to make the representation of god to us in person all right so he's on a mission to reveal the character of god anything else in the text jason we see that he's the creator he's the one who actually formed this world isn't that interesting it reminds us of going back to genesis god said let us make man in our image and then in the gospel of john remember all things the word was with god and was god and all things were made by him and stephanie i saw you quoting verse 14 the word became flesh the son of god came into humanity as jesus as our savior so it's really important that there's this revelation of the character of god jesus made a bold claim in john chapter 14 and verse 9. he was speaking to his disciple philip sabina do you have that what did jesus say to philip and i think to all of his disciples yes i'll be reading that from the new international version so john chapter 14 verse 9 jesus answered don't you know me philip even after i have been among you such a long time anyone who has seen me has seen the father how can you say show us the father now nowhere in the gospels does jesus say i am the father nowhere right he does say the father and i are one and here he says if you see me if you've seen me you've seen the father oh yeah you know what the father is like yeah yeah so why was it so important you say well derek jesus also came to save us from our sins and the bible says he died for our sins according to the scriptures he was the lamb of god so that's not unimportant we need a savior too don't we we need a hope in him but why was it so important that he would tell the truth about the character of god why was that so important billy well i mean given the context during that time period the pharisees you know they were in power and the pharisees did not do a great job at representing who god is so jesus was sort of like a spiritual janitor like he was there to um give the right description of you know who god really is who the father really is and that was part of his mission so you would say some of the religious leaders were not telling the truth about the character of our heavenly father gary yeah and i would say the one who inspired the religious leaders to have that distorted view satan himself told told a lie to the whole universe about who god really was and jesus came to show that god is really love he doesn't force us to follow him he wants us to dwell with him and that was part that was the crux of his mission i mean saving us from our sins that's all a revelation of who god the father is but it's bigger than that you're saying i was remembering where jesus spoke of satan as a liar and the father of lies and the greatest lie was a lie about the character of god right yes in fact do you remember in revelation where it talks about war in heaven yeah the word that's used there is is not so much uh hand-to-hand combat where is that in revelation 12 and verse 7 isn't it there was war in heaven the word that's used there is is a polemic it's it's a war of words so what words is god using what's he saying i'm love i love you truth and and lucifer who becomes satan cast out is using what under your air fear lies lies deception [Music] and he brings that deception we know to planet earth we've read about that in this series and and what's his first lie to to to eve there in genesis chapter three maybe we should look at that together genesis chapter three i sometimes when we look at a text we think well everybody knows this but is it possible someone's watching hope sabbath school for the first time today yes yes and so they don't know what the lie was genesis chapter 3. jason if you could read the first five verses for us and it's interesting the lie comes from an angel who was cast out of heaven for saying i want to be like god not i want to reflect the beautiful character of god but i want to usurp the authority of god yeah let's see what he says in genesis 3 in the form of a serpent to our first parent and i'm reading here from the new king james version genesis chapter 3 verses 1 through 5 now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the lord god had made and he said to the woman has god indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden and the woman said to the serpent we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden god has said you shall not eat it nor shall you touch it lest you die then the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die for god knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like god knowing good and evil what's what's he saying to to eve stephanie he's giving her a lie he's mixing truth and error i should say he's mixing truth with error that's their eyes we're open deception isn't it right mixing of truth and error what's it what is he actually saying about god that god was a liar that god is the liar yeah god is the deceiver yes that god knows yes that if you eat this fruit you'll become like god yeah he doesn't want the best for you i mean at the end of the day it's it was striking home at oh wow he doesn't he doesn't care about us enough to give us the best in the first place yeah wow so how how how would you say how effectively has satan disseminated that lie on planet earth stephanie very well and i was just thinking as as he was speaking that people are always they're believing this lie because they think it's truth so how important it is to have truth to disseminate the error so they're believing that i'm not worth anything that you know god doesn't love me that's right and he's not a merciful god and i've walked through some of the medieval churches and seen some of the artwork and thinking where did this come from it doesn't come from the teaching of the bible about the character of god it sounds like god is a tyrant you know that he will not wish you the best that he just wants wants you to be on a place where he can control you he can control your thoughts and everything that you do which which we know is completely a lie right so now this is part of the study i really enjoy because i'm going to ask you led by the spirit to say okay we want to learn lessons for life from jesus he he says my mission is tell the truth about the character of god by the way is that not also our mission yes all right so i'd like you to just do a little computer search with your brain and say oh where do you find a great narrative in the teaching and life of jesus gary you're raising your hand i'm not finished but you've got one which really reveals this beautiful character of god um the woman caught in adultery in john 8. i mean tell us the story john chapter 8 like verses 2-11 yes 2-11 and essentially um a woman is tricked trapped if you will and in adultery and they bring her to jesus and they say it's our law that she should be stoned and like jesus what are you going to do about it because you're here to proclaim the law right you you say you stand for this what are you going to do about it and um as she's there and the group the crowd is there looking to see what jesus does he starts to stoop down and starts riding into the writing in the sand and as he does that you see that that group of angry people trying to trap jesus and ultimately wanting this shaming this woman they start to walk away there's one sentence yeah right yeah he says um you without sin or cast the first stone and i mean each one of them starts to dissipate and she looks up and it's only him and and she asks him a question i can't remember um well he says where are your accusers yeah he says yeah where are they yeah yeah none yeah they're gone yeah and then he tells her to go and sin no more um and it's just so amazing because he he was without sin he could have been the one who cast the first stone and he says i don't condemn you either right didn't his guidance to go and sin no more also reflect the love of god yeah yeah because sin hurts us yes and it hurts those around us i mean he showed acceptance of who she was yes um forgiveness of what she she had been through and and a future for her a hope yeah i mean it it's like and we remember that jesus is the creator with his words and when he says go sin no more that's power to not sin anymore it's not just a command but it's an enabling yeah a directive that's beautiful if we just took that story there's someone maybe you're watching hope sabbath school and that was just for you to say what a beautiful picture of of our loving heavenly father that was the mission of jesus and by the way if we're learning a lesson for life we would say that's also our mission our mission right it's our mission to tell people another story it's a beautiful one yes yeah crucifixion uh you know at the cross um jesus was you know on his last breath and basically his focus was still on saving souls and those who are killing him you know basically piercing him he was telling god praying for them saying god please have mercy on them father what was it he said father forgive them because they don't know what they are doing you might say they knew what they were doing but jesus he shows mercy yes he's like no you don't really know what you're doing and even before that uh before his crucifixion he claimed that hey you know i can call on my father to send angels in order to rescue me but he chose not to do that so you know he had that like gary was saying basically he had the power to change things but he chose not to and he sacrificed himself and while he was suffering he was still saving souls beautiful beautiful so that is an interesting thing the enemy would have thought that was his great victory yeah the cross because he killed jesus but it was actually his great defeat yeah yeah because the immeasurable unfailing love of god was revealed another story uh in the gospel record sabine i also can thank pastor derek i was going to say crucifixion okay then i was thinking about the gethsemane and i really think that when you look at what jesus went through at that moment right before his crucifixion you cannot doubt that that this man had the best interest of ourselves in his mind no he suffered the bible says that he was sweating even sweating uh blood and i can only imagine the suffering the pain the physical and emotional pain that he went through in that moment it says in luke 22 uh that he you know you want to read a text for us we can we can read it tell us where it's found so we have a moment to find it so it would be in the gospel of luke chapter 22 okay and this will be when he prays on the mount of olives all right the prayer in the garden that begins in verse 3 39 exactly and would you like to read maybe read verse 39 down through verse 42 yes and you're reading from which translation sabine i'm i'm reading from the new international version can i actually read until 44 i think that's simple all right i'm happy to the holy spirit yes verses 39 to 44 yes 22. it says the following jesus went out as usual to the mount of the olives and his disciples followed him on reaching the place he said to them pray that all you will not fall into temptation he withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them now thou and prayed father if you are willing take this cup from me yet not my will but yours be done an angel from heaven appear to him and strengthen him and being in anguish he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground so this prayer father if it's possible that shows the intensity of this struggle by the way why is this such a difficult challenge for him it's not just that he's dying right i mean martyrs have gone to the stake or to the execution of a sword singing scripture songs what's why is this such an intense challenge that he's sweating great drops of blood he is god himself jesus is god and at that moment he probably wondered that he even could if he wanted to come out of that situation using his own power but because he had a character that he couldn't go against right that we know that he will be true to his word he had to stay there and being obedient so i believe that the temptation was even greater because he he had the power if he wanted to live out of that but he didn't i think that you're right but i think he's bearing a weight isn't he stephanie the weight of the sin of the world that's right he has become sin for us who knew no sin right right and because of that he he would say you know prior to this i'm with my father continually right but as he's becoming sin for us you know sin hides god's faith so he's now having that separation an eternal separation that we should feel he is now starting to go through and that's why he cries out my god my god why have you forsaken me you know i may be wrong we may get a thousand emails but i don't think the father ever abandoned his son i think even in the darkness that covered uh calvary that the father was there because god so loved that he gave yeah but that sin is is is there's this sense of separation that jesus is experiencing and and he does that because he loves us yeah yeah but that is a reflection of the father's love yeah now stephanie if if the enemy has been so effective in distorting the character of god how can we possibly learning a lesson for life from jesus how can we join him in the mission of telling people the truth about the character of god how is that possible when there's such a confederation of lies and deception i think they say a picture is worth a thousand words and sometimes we're the only jesus that someone will see and that's that can be a little scary that that we're the representatives but jesus is was the truth and as we acquaint ourselves with the truth we will learn the truth and it will help us as we walk our path and then we become reflections so by beholding we become changed and those who see will see not us our our personal bents but jesus through us so while you're talking i'm remembering two words of jesus one where he says i am the light of the world yes that's in john 8 and verse 12. but then he also says in the sermon you're the light of the world that's right because if you are connected to me the light of the world my light will shine through you yeah but but i don't think we fully answered the question how is that possible so maybe we can go to acts chapter 1 and verse 8. jason i think you're already thinking uh where we need to be with that stephanie's exactly right we need the light of jesus to shine through us to reveal the beauty of god's character but it's going to take a miracle right how does it read in your bible in acts 1 8. i've got the new king james version here acts chapter 1 verse 8 says but you shall receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in jerusalem and in judea and samaria and to the end of the earth of this greek word translated power you know it's the word dunamis from which we get the english word dynamite or dynamic it's not just you'll get a little help stephanie to reveal you know the light of jesus no you will receive supernatural power yeah so i know we're not that strong but but we learn a lesson from jesus that the world desperately needs to know the truth about a god who loves them with an immeasurable and unfailing love share a time when god gave you an opportunity to do that anybody think of a time and i'm not asking you to say and i did it perfectly you know i got a hundred percent but but it gave you an opportunity you had a friend or a work associate just didn't have a true picture of the character of god gary yeah yeah and thinking about this question um i have a old friend from high school and we've been friends for years now but um he the way the devil works he uses misconceptions about you know doctrines in the the bible right doctrines about about for example in this case the state of the dead and he and my friend had several other friends of differing faiths come and say all right gary this is this is what we believe what do what what is the bible telling telling us right so i looked at it as an opportunity to sit down and we had a bible study and they were they were different denominations of christians who had different ideas or conceptions about what happens when you die and we just went from genesis through to the new testament even yeah to revelation because there are verses there talking about look this is what i i'm reading right and it was so great because i was able to pray with them at the start you know really invite god's holy spirit and we did this all via skype so it was it was quite it was quite encouraging and they were like you know i never knew this this makes so much more sense and it's so much more loving god loves us enough to not do those other ways or other things but wow i never knew this god is so good you know what's so important is not that gary isn't saying well you think but i think right right right you've been given these ideas but let me tell you what the bible says and let me tell you what jesus said yeah about the character of the father right yeah someone else has a great illustration gary thank you gary was kind of smiling while he was hearing that joyful thing to reveal the truth about god and ultimately it's not our job to convince people right yeah that's the holy spirit's job yeah sabine sabina so for some time uh back in brazil i was a teenager i think or okay 17 years old i used to do work in a hospital i was a chaplain they had the chaplaincy of the hospital but i was a volunteer and well as you may imagine i encountered multiple times people who were suffering and struggling and especially sometimes working with the kids that they would assign me to work with them and it was very hard to communicate with them that there was actually a god who cared for them you know a father who would care about their their pain and about their situation and i had the opportunity to share with a few children about god's love for them and it really changed my heart to see how they were very receptive despite of their pain and i think that that's also an opportunity that i will always be grateful for god for that so you can teach even small children right a revelation i i want to come back to what you said stephanie and that let you add to it but sometimes the best way to reveal the character of god is in our life yeah whether we're feeding the hungry or caring for the those in prison but i always thought that was jail but there are people in prison today in the health pandemic right they're locked up and we have to think about ways that we can communicate the love of god to them stephanie well along that same line when sabina was sharing i thought she probably just didn't read the story but she cared for the children and they knew that she loved them and that she truly did care for them put it give them a hug yes uh-huh yeah yeah well we could spend a lot of time talking about our mission to reveal the truth about god's character i think it is in our teaching and it's mainly in our life and our words but another lesson that we learn from jesus is about full surrender to the will of god just look at one verse with with me in matthew chapter nine and verse nine matthew chapter nine and verse nine and do you have that jason you can read it for us it's uh it's short but it's profound what does jesus say i'm reading here in the new king james version matthew chapter 9 verse 9. as jesus passed on from there he saw a man named matthew sitting at the talk's office and he said to him follow me so he arose and followed him all right that translated from the greek there follow me anyone have a different translation i don't think so it's pretty clear right follow me yes what did that mean follow me was jesus asking him to get up from his uh tax table and and walk down the road with him yes yes okay but more yeah a lot more gary i'm packed that what what did jesus mean when he said not only to matthew but to his other disciples follow me yeah i mean yeah we we we think of the the journey the physical i mean they left everything that means you know they gave up their jobs there i'm pretty sure there are other associations and he became the singular focus of their life yes but even then and it just it's mind-boggling at times even at the close of his ministry they didn't quite understand it yet still it wasn't until after and he explained every you know after he he died and he rose again and he explained everything i i guess again they understood but it was it was a transformational uh request you know follow me and their world become turns upside down yeah let's look at a description in inspired description that paul writes some have said this is one of the most beautiful passages in scripture and some think it's actually an early christian hymn that they would sing it's found in philippians chapter 2 and stephanie if you could read that for us verses 5 through 11 because when jesus said follow me you're right he might have said i'm heading down the road here but it was talking about a life of total surrender to the will of god let's see how paul describes that in his letter to the christians in philippi and i'll be reading from the king james version let this mind be in you which was also in christ jesus who being in the form of god thought it not robbery to be equal with god but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross wherefore god also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father you know that's just an incredible picture of total surrender yes to the will of the father is there anywhere in the gospels where jesus calls us to a similar i mean we're not jesus i understand that but to a wholehearted surrender to the will of god can you think of a teaching of jesus that that calls us to learn a lesson for life from him billy yeah i don't remember the exact passage but i think there was a time that a lot of people told jesus hey i want to follow you and he says well you know carry your own cross like uh basically you have to surrender you know your livelihood sometimes some some of them says hey you know i need to you know go say bye to my parents i need to do these things marry my father right before i before i follow you and jesus basically says that no it like it it will cause some things and you have to do a level of surrender and that it's not going to be easy but it will be worth it let's take a look at that passage uh it's sabine if you could find mark chapter eight uh you you you know your bible billy you're quoting it you know it's like the spirit's bringing it to your remembrance but i think it's a really important passage in mark chapter 8 maybe we could read verses 34 to 37. uh jesus we read total surrender even amen to the death even to death yes and not just kind of a glorious that from a human perspective but death on a cross mercy um what what what word does jesus give to his disciples about total surrender to the will of of god okay so i'll be reading from the new international version mark chapter 8 verses 34 to 37. then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said if anyone would come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whomever wants to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it what good is it for a man to gain the whole world yet for faith his soul or what can a man give in exchange for his soul gary i was thinking of what you said earlier whoever loses her life for my sake will find it that's not necessarily talking about physical death right right yeah what's it talk about loses their life your your current livelihood or the people in your in your life those relationships that are counter to jesus and the call i mean it it encompasses so much i think of a prayer someone taught me when i was younger where it said talked about consecrating yourself to god in the morning and let your very first work be take me o lord as holy yours i lay all my plans at your feet yes it's that idea of uh yes total surrender yeah yeah i was thinking that the first thing that he asks us to surrender is the self right ourselves immediately which includes also our livelihood eventually family and things that we possess or we think we possess right because they actually belong to god and uh but primarily that starts in our heart and surrendering what we think we are or we think about uh as being the best for us and give it to god unless we realize the character of god it would seem reckless to just totally surrender to god wouldn't it yeah unless we understand how much he loves us yeah and wants only the best for us you would say you're a reckless person to surrender certainly if he's an arbitrary tyrant like the enemy has taught but jesus models that total surrender gary if you'd read for us john chapter 6 and verse 38 a very concise testimony from jesus okay and i'll be reading it from the king james version john 6 verse 38 for i came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me billy how would that affect your day i know you work for a development and relief agency you do a lot of good right you feel passionate about your work how would it affect your day if every day you got up and said okay my plans today i lay at your feet lord and i've come to do your will and not my own yeah i'm actually going to give an example of when that happened um it gives a sense of peace that listen i'm not i'm not doing something selfish i'm not doing something that you know just i feel i felt like doing but you know god is behind me it's almost like god has his special protection i remember that was um i was in south sudan and i was on the front line there was a war a civil war going on and there was a camp and you know we were stationed there for for a while and overnight at the camp there was fighting gunshots that were going on and so you weren't i was not safe outside the camp and i was not safe inside the camp so there was nowhere else to turn but so we uh so the humanitarian aid workers we basically we had that part of the camps and we just had to bunk it down um unfortunately the place i i was bunkering down was not bulletproof so um and and i think that's when i finally will basically if anything happened i wanted to make sure that i was there at the right time for the right reasons and i remember that i prayed and i asked god you know is did you want me to be here and um and when i finally made peace that god actually wanted me to be here i was good that night i slept well and i think that's the blessing of knowing that you know if you surrender yourself to god that you're at peace you protected it's almost like a lot it's better than life insurance that if anything happens to you it's it's all god's fault in a sense um and he will make up for it um so i think there is a um there is a sense of peace that you know the moment that you surrender yourself to god that your life is his business yes amen amen part of what jesus came to do in addition to revealing the beautiful character of his father in totally surrendering to his father was to help people be reconciled to god i want to look at two key passages because i believe just like you shared billy wherever we are whether we're in a camp in south sudan or whether we're working in an office in washington if we'll totally surrender to god part of his plan is that we'll help people find out how to be reconciled to god yeah so let's look at a couple of key passages together colossians chapter 1 verses 15 to 22 and 2 corinthians 5 verses 16 to 21. and billy maybe i could ask you to read the first one from colossians 1 beginning with verse 15. this work of reconciliation um colossians 1 verse 15 to what 22 22 and i'll be reading from the king james version who is the image of the invisible god the firstborn of every creature for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist and he is the head of the body the church who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have a preeminence for it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him i say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven and you that were sometimes alienated in enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled and then verse 22 of verse 2 in the body of his flesh through death to pres to present your holy you holy and unblameable and un reprovable in his sight so how does jesus bring about the reconciliation between sinners and a holy god um the blood of his cross right through being willing to say the wages of sin is death but i am willing to take that penalty and offer you the gift of eternal life of eternal life from a god who loves you amen with an immeasurable and unfailing love and i appeal to you yeah just like he did to that thief on the cross or to the religious leaders who were mocking him i appeal to you to be reconciled to god amen now he's given us that mission too and i want to look at that verse in second corinthians chapter five and stephanie if you could read verses 16 to 21 because uh if we're going to learn lessons from jesus the master teacher it's not just all of the great parables and it it's total surrender to god and calling people to be reconciled to god how does your bible read in second corinthians 5 16-21 i'll be reading from the king james version wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more therefore if any man be in christ he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new and all things are of god who hath reconciled us to himself by jesus christ and had given to us the ministry of reconciliation to which that god was in christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation now then we are ambassadors for christ as though god did beseech you by us we pray you in christ's dead be ye reconciled to god for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of god in him i don't know if anyone was counting how many times did you hear reconciliation or reconciled it's okay you don't have to count them there were a lot weren't there yes first the reconciliation needs to be between myself you and god yeah but then he sends you out in a ministry of reconciliation appealing to other people yes to be reconciled to god yes have you had the opportunity to do that can you think of a time when someone they were just dislocated from god maybe because of their sin and and and you had the opportunity to appeal to them to be reconciled to god jason does a story come to your mind yeah so uh i had a friend um this was when i was in school and this friend had gone through quite a dif a diverse religious experience he kind of been raised a christian knew about god but then he kind of wanted to explore what uh else was going on in in the faith world and so we kind of went through a lot of different uh faith experiences and we happened to become friends and one day we were kind of talking about our different faith journeys and he was sharing with me that he was really struggling um with the christian faith and and with christ because one he felt that he had made so many bad mistakes in his life he was listing all the things he'd done he's like i've done all these bad things you know and christians are good people and you know i'm not a good person so how can i you know be one of you and how can christ accept me and then he also went on and is like but then also i look at uh the christians and their actions and a lot of those people in church aren't being real good either so why would i be one one of you as well and so this was really a huge challenge to me so i basically just had to share with him from my own personal experience look as as christians we don't share the love of god because we're perfect he's the one who's perfect and because he has reconciled us to him because he reached out to us now we can do that for other people and so i shared with him i said it doesn't matter you know what you've done all these bad things all of us as humans we've all made mistakes but christ loves us so much he wants us to be part of his family and so i basically shared that with him that it's not about what you do it's about the relationship with christ and that he's always uh wanting you to come back to him and the friend was really impacted by this and he's basically like okay you know i'll i'll think about what you say and i'll give it some more thought and then he also shared he's like you know and i do appreciate you because you are showing me an example of christianity that i that i do like not that i want to brag about myself but i'm glad that i had that opportunity and we all want to know the end of the story and the answer is that's god's responsibility yeah right the holy spirit trying to speak to that person's heart saying what jason just told you is true god wants you to be reconciled to him anyone else an experience that um that you remember of just encouraging a person to be reconciled to god sabina i don't have an experience this was a couple years ago i was participating in an evangelistic effort in south bend and uh in benton harbor sorry so that's in michigan michigan exactly and i met this couple this young lady and this gentleman he had been part of some gangs in a part of the u.s i would not mention but and he was trying to get out of this life so he moved away from the place where he used to live in into michigan and i was initially very shocked by by seeing the situation and you know my heart broke for them both because she was also sick a sick woman various issues she was facing and we spent some time presenting him bible studies but they actually had more felt needs than actually just reading or understanding bible passages and there was one day that for me was the most important i think in learning things out of this experience and leading him to reconcile with god it was one day i woke up in a sabbath i went for my walk with god and i remember i was listening to this song and i kept asking god and say lord i want to see your face can i see your face sometime lord i wish i could see or have you right now next to me and all those days you really just want god to to talk to you in person if you could you know hear his voice audibly and i went back home and in the afternoon i went to visit this couple and before i uh we left we had to drop him in a place where he was going to deal with a family member regarding the gang issues and i arrived home my heart was broken i was very sad and uh broken and said lord i don't know if i keep on doing this work you know we keep presenting the gospel and telling him about this reconciliation but that's such a heavy lifestyle that he's trying to come out from and i remember god directed me to read matthew 25 uh verses 31 oh i don't think we have time to read it but it's the passage when god tells us that if we want to see him or we are going to see him when we are feeding the hungry healthy poor the least of these exactly and this really impacted my life about the importance of reconciling people and myself even with god even those that we might think are lost and we'd like to know the end of the story yeah wouldn't we just like you know i've often wondered if like the parents of the thief who was dying on the cross if they were still alive were they standing in the crowd or had they died thinking our son has just made one bad choice after another i wouldn't it be wonderful if they were in the crowd when he turned to jesus and said lord remember me yeah yeah and you know it's interesting sabine when we call people to be reconciled to god if the holy spirit says just make it really simple god loves you and he wants you to spend eternity with him yes yeah and and and this dying thief says lord remember me and jesus says i tell you today yeah you will be with me in paradise and when that happens when we invite people to reckon be reconciled to god and we see that miracle happen what's our reaction going to be stephanie we're going to be rejoicing with them we are going to be rejoicing with them and we are going to know that it's not about us yes and yet we had a part yeah because jesus the master teacher taught us some lessons for life we're going to continue in in this series learn some more lessons from jesus but what are the big lessons we've learned today well god god is love yep revealing the truth about god's character and who he is total surrender to the will of god so that we can go out and invite other people to be reconciled to god amen those are powerful lessons my friends i feel moved by the powerful example of jesus he loves us with an immeasurable love and he's calling us to reflect the beauty of our father in heaven's character to a world that's been deceived and to call them to be reconciled to a god who loves us with an immeasurable and unfailing love you say pastor derek i need that reconciliation myself today well friend as we pray why don't you ask him to save you and draw you to himself let's pray father in heaven there's someone here today who's saying will you will you reconcile me to god can i be saved and the answer is yes surrender your heart to god today and god then use us to share the truth about you in jesus name amen amen if we take these lessons from jesus the master teacher and go out and say god show the beauty of who you are through me and and help me to call people so that you can be reconciled with them that's a challenge go out and be a blessing to those around you [Applause] you

Channel: HopeSabbathSchool

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Keywords: Hope Sabbath School, Seventh-Day Adventist, Derek Morris

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Length: 57min 46sec (3466 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 25 2020