I’m Not Afraid to Dream (09/25/2021)

[Music] [Music] do [Music] the earth is the lord's and everything in it he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters he holds the mountain in his hands and his love reaches to the depths of the earth the heavens declare his glory the skies proclaim his beauty and still you have redeemed me you have called me by name i am yours awake my soul for your faithfulness endures forever i will lift my eyes for you are my help i will lift my hands to praise you i will lift my heart for you are my salvation i will lift my voice to proclaim all you have done i will sing i will dance i will lift up a shout i come to worship you [Music] welcome to sligo church [Music] whether you're joining us live or you found us online we thank you for being a part of our worship today in the midst of uncertainty our faith can struggle our walk becomes labored our heart heavy there's something about the unknown which seems to weaken us it drains our patience and blurs our focus yet in the middle of everything stands a faithful god a god who's not swayed by the struggle who isn't moved by the winds of chaos a god who remains faithful even when our faith is fragile [Music] it seems more difficult than ever to not worry about tomorrow yet that's exactly what god has asked us to do for when we cast our burdens on him the troubles of the moment begin to fade when we trust the plans he has for us our fear begins to subside when we fix our eyes on jesus the author and perfecter of our faith our focus becomes consumed by clarity yes we are in the midst of uncertainty but we can be certain of one thing god is faithful and that is more than enough for tomorrow [Music] good morning sligo family and happy sabbath we're so glad that you are joining us today for our worship this morning isn't it amazing to come into his presence come and worship in his temple and we know that he is immortal invisible in all wise first timothy 117 says to the king of the ages immortal invisible the only god be honor and glory forever and ever our song of gathering is hymn number 21 immortal invisible god only wise pleasing wherever you may be here at our church or at home as well [Music] is [Music] the ancient of days almighty [Music] i'm resting on hastings [Music] mountains [Music] of goodness [Music] [Applause] [Music] like leaves on the trees [Music] oh [Music] [Laughter] [Music] from our house to your house and anywhere in between welcome to sligo church live online and mobile at sligochurch.com good morning and welcome to slido live my name is paul besanth jr and i'm the choral director here at slido church it has been my privilege to serve here for many years now and we have a fantastic enriching music and worship departments with many many talented and wonderful wonderfully dedicated people and musicians and one of the recent additions to our i would say community at large has been that of the montgomery symphony orchestra they are a local community orchestra here and we are fortunate today to be with blair skinner their conductor the music director so welcome blair hi paul thanks for having me absolutely thanks for having us here at selecto it's really our pleasure you have enriched our worship environment uh to this point and we look forward to more collaborations in the future so tell us a little bit about the montgomery symphony orchestra the montgomery symphony is this year celebrating its 75th anniversary as a community ensemble we were founded in 1946 as an extension of the adult education department at montgomery college and some years later the orchestra established themselves independently from the college and we have had a number of uh rehearsal and concert homes over the last 75 years but as you know a few years ago when i became a music director around that time we were looking for a new home for ourselves to rehearse and to perform more regularly and this opportunity arose we were introduced to one another through your teacher and the rest is history it's wonderful and it has been history and it has been wonderful and for me i know i'm really excited for a special event that's happening this weekend on sunday we will be performing the first concert of the season uh and for me this is a great opportunity uh because i've never played with orchestra and so we're going to be doing works for oregon and orchestra this sunday we'll be featuring three works uh by francis poulonk by frederick handel and by alexander guillema can you tell us a little bit about the the concert what we have planned i am loving this program that you've chosen that we've been putting together the um the two french pieces on the outer uh ends of the program i think complement each other in the same way that there there's such a nice contrast between the two we have that modernist edge of the pulank um against the the the more traditional more classical and even a little bit vulnerian i think at times uh uh aesthetic of the gimo and then right in the middle the the handle which in its own ways uh for its time i think i think we were talking was very forward thinking and even uh symphonic in nature this one was almost like this is a pre-classic symphony of sorts that he wrote for the uh the organ and the strings and double reeds which was you know not as common it wasn't uncommon in the baroque era but not as common to have that kind of uh accompanimental ensemble for a concerto um which i think is it is nice it has that nice flow from one piece it wasn't called a symphony but as we as we noted it has kind of a symphonic element to it with four different distinct movements uh very much like the classical symphony but then we have a a symphony for oregon and orchestra the guima at the at the end of the concert which really wonderful piece i i've really enjoyed getting to uh getting to know this piece and working on it with the orchestra uh especially that that first rehearsal that we had together with you when it all finally came together all those uh the gaps in the sound that we were preparing around just uh finally coming together and hearing the whole thing um it's real really a special thing to be able to play with uh such a beautiful instrument the pipework in here at sligo is wonderful it's uh it's a casabland right yeah it is a casa vans it's a it's a bit of a hybrid now uh ra daffer redid the organ about 20 years ago and so it's about 60 electronic and you know 40 pipes but the sound is is really fantastic especially with the orchestra it's it's really going to be something that you don't want to miss one thing i'll highlight about the gilma so i've actually played part of the sonata just it's an organ sonata by itself so he wrote it initially just for the organ and then he actually reorchestrated it and added on an orchestra on top of it so uh some of you may recognize it's from one of the post hoods i've played in the past and also for the handle you'll get a special treat in that we'll be using what's known as a continual organ and so it's uh it's a much smaller instrument a much lighter sound uh definitely more of the baroque uh regal lights feel i think that you'll hear from that instrument and uh it's really a beautiful instrument and it blends wonderfully with the orchestra and so we'll be featuring that instrument uh during uh that handle concerto as well and so it's yeah it's really going to be an excellent program we do hope that you can join us it's this sunday at 4 30 p.m doors open at 3 45 uh and tell us is there anything special that you guys are doing for this 75th anniversary what do you have planned this year the uh i think the most special thing about this year is really being able to get back together finally after our hiatus from from last year um just being able to plan a season i think it's kind of special in itself there were so many ideas that we tossed around um some of a much grander scale i think that you and i discussed but what we've settled on is really just trying to get things back to uh where where we were on track a couple of years ago we have a holiday concert or a holiday themed concert that we have planned for uh december 12th i almost keep the wrong day december 12th uh that one i think is a little earlier in the afternoon at 3 p.m and then we are going to have a 75th anniversary gala performance there was an artist that we were supposed to work with the mezzo soprano kate jackman who we had scheduled to sing berlioz's summer nights with us before we went on lockdown and everything and i've asked her to uh collaborate with us to put together a concert um with some a variety of collaborations with her as a mentor soprano and we'll have some orchestral music um additionally on that concert and then in uh june you still need to set a date for our june the the 75th anniversary gala by the way is sunday march 27th before i forget that and uh in june it will be either june 12th or june 19th but we'll uh feature a concert of our concerto competition winners we do an annual concerto competition um of you know school age uh students from all over the state of maryland i don't think that we have any or many from out of state but i think that they're all from maryland and the dc area and we've had a number of really wonderfully talented uh artists that have come to us locally that uh submit an audition take or i call i just dated myself i called it a tape uh an audition video uh that we review and have a panel of judges uh both from outside the orchestra and then a selection committee from uh within the orchestra that chooses the winners that perform with us in our final concerts so what an opportunity for our young students young performers one one of the things that we're most proud of being able to do along with um giving our concerts for free that's another thing that's uh been a tradition of ours since the beginning of the orchestra or at least that's what we understand has been the tradition for a very long time and uh in just about every conversation that we've had when we wanted to you know toss it around and reevaluate uh we've always said no but let's not try to you know impose anything in that way we really want these uh events to be completely open and uh not prohibitive for anybody in the community to be able to come enjoy music come enjoy classical orchestral music because we really think that it's uh something very important that an enriching for everybody's lives and also um i think just to to reassure people that we want people of all ages there as well to experience this i think that one of the things that we've also been told that people appreciate about sligo is that there's a cry room for parents with young children that might not be able to sit through the whole thing and i have a three-year-old child so i do understand that and she does love to come to the concerts but sometimes needs to be taken aside so we want families there and um so we're just looking forward to being able to be in front of a live audience and continue to grow our musical community through our audience base as well fantastic well thank you blair thank you to uh please thank our montgomery symphony orchestra members it has been really a pleasure for me uh working and practicing with you all and it's just a wonderful collegial spirit i think that everyone has and so we are thankful to have you as part of our sligo community we continue to be part of our slago family and we look forward to more fruitful relationships developing as we as we move forward and so as we continue our worship service today we welcome pastor victor bartley who has been preaching this week for wau's wise week and as he concludes today we pray god's blessings on him and we pray that you will join us next time on sligo live and we thank you and wish you a happy sabbath [Music] good morning it's my honor and privilege to welcome you here this morning whether you are online or here at the church we are just so delighted to have you here and i'm delighted to say not only happy sabbath but happy fall anybody else here a fan of fall yeah right it's a great season and as this season changes we're reminded that though god is unchanging though he is forever the same he is not boring and he is continuing to move through all time in space creating and we have a special guest with us here today and i'm going to invite pastor fielder up to take it from here for a moment good morning family we are deeply honored today here at sligo church to have the president of zambia worshipping with us president hakinda hechalema we are deeply deeply honored to have you with us we have members from our zambian church in zambia that are joining us online today we welcome you as you are choosing to worship with us today we also have members out of our congregation who are from zambia and so at this time i would like to invite our congregation our members who are from zambia so the president can see his fellow countrymen and country movement if you could please stand one of the beautiful things about our church is that we are a global community we are a global family so mr president you have from us our support and our prayers as you lead your country we are so delighted to have you we understand that you recently became a master guide so from our pathfinder club we have a very special gift that special pins that our club have made for you at this time i invite you to come to address our congregation [Applause] thank you very much good morning church thank you very much god is good and all the time thank you um we're very delighted to worship with you today at sligo sda church we are happy mainly because we are amongst family family members worshiping our god and we thought it's important that while we're in this area we spend time with yourselves in this church so we're very grateful to the leadership of this church for allowing us to worship with you we will not say much but we just want to share with you um little music [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] god bless you all thank you [Applause] thank you we are deeply honored and we want to tell you next time you come the rest of us are going to know this song right church family and you are always welcome to worship here and we again thank the entire delegation and the president for being here with us today there are some other exciting things happening here at sligo the sligo sizers are back that is a sunday morning exercise group and it's not going to be in person just yet it will be online it will have a variety of fun and invigorating exercises for all levels so whether you're like me and you haven't worked out ever or you're you know uh i don't i don't even know the words for exercise people because i'm not one so wherever you are in your exercise journey join it's gonna be great i should probably join myself on october 9 we are excited to have our new senior pastor amen that will be we will have a special installation service that day and then following the service from one to three we're going to do a a drive-by meet and greet with him so we will have um i believe actually this time it will be over in this parking lot there will be more details to come but the point is we are having a meet and greet so that we can meet him and greet him welcome him back to the area and welcome him into our church that'll be from one to three we're also doing welcome videos so there is a link that was sent out this past weekend and if you would like to share a thought share a prayer just welcome him in some way on video there's a link where you can record yourself and upload it it's very pretty user friendly so fairly simple but if you need help i or i'm sure someone would be happy to to help you with that so that we can send that and and give them a hearty welcome if you want to look deeper into the book of revelation then this coming october every sabbath afternoon in the month of october we will have a revelation seminar it will be from 3 30 to 4 30 on zoom and it will be led by the magnificent professor of new testament at andrews university renko stefanovic he has an amazing commentary on the book of revelation so i know that this series is really going to be a blessing and it will really open your eyes even further to the book of revelation and then lastly today the grief seminar that we've held for the last six weeks is ending and so just want to encourage you to look for the next series that the heartlifters and is going to be putting on for us we have a wonderful announcement of a new birth in our congregation little mila taminko was born to yuri and elizabeth on september 19th so we want to congratulate them and we also want to pray for comfort and healing for yvonne mark almeida carol jocelyne basile and we also want to pray for those who have lost loved ones victor phillips prakesh borge carol wright missile mistrapa and larry case at this time we have another exciting moment it's really what all of this is about and i want to invite pastor hazel and pastor barb up to to join us at this time thank you pastor gant good morning so you know what this means right at this time i'm going to call adam barb up to join me adam is the son of you know pastor barb who is one of our members and is serving at the general conference and has the privilege of baptizing his son today i introduced to you to adam we had a great time doing our bible studies adam is so passionate about learning more about jesus adam still hasn't made a decision as to how he would like to contribute to this world yet but he has time right so sligo family we want to invite and say hello and greet adam's family adam was born in madagascar so we have literally people all over the world watching adam's baptism today his aunt is uh in sydney correct is that right sydney and literally his most of his family in marisha island so welcome to every single one of you as uh today adam is making uh probably the most important decision of his life adam this is your church this is your family family are you willing to walk with adam alongside his journey and are you willing to vote him into our slide go church family please by a hearty amen adam you're home congratulations we have a gift for you and i'll give this to your mother and uh now stud you go this way and join your father la my dear son adam because of your profession of faith in christ as your savior because you have chosen to start a new life with jesus today i baptize you in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit amen miss you son god bless you always before i leave the baptistry this morning i will pray for the congregation but first i will make an appeal a double appeal to you while watching online or witnessing from this sanctuary the baptism of adam i'm sure your own baptism is flashing back in your memory probably this has happened years ago in between many things has happened but today we have a unique opportunity to recommit and rededicate our life to jesus if this is your choice if this is your desire this morning i invite you deep inside your heart to say this word lord lord i am choosing you once again as my savior and once again i'm choosing to take you as the lord the master of my life may this be your silent prayer this morning amen the second part of my appeal is for those in this room young people and not too young who has not yet made their way to this baptismal pool the lord has been talking to you you have heard his voice for quite some time now saying your time has come and this morning this is my simple appeal to you would you like to make a stand for jesus would you like to make a public stand for the one who loved you and died for you if this is your desire if this is your wish to make a stand and say lord very soon i want to walk into the baptistry if this is your wish i invite you to stand where you are at this time if you want to make a stand for jesus to follow him to dedicate your life to him and to be baptized to be prepared for baptism i invite you to stand where you are in the pew and if you are watching online you too you can make this public statement by writing it down in the chat and after the service after the service please write to the pastors right to sligo church to share about your desire and your decision i will pray is there anyone any young person any adult who would like to follow the example that adam has set for us this morning this is your time you are invited to stand as i pray amen i can see someone standing at the back praise god for that we can clap for that person is there someone else who would like to stand and say lord prepare me i know i have to start this new life with you please lord prepare me for that i invite you all to stand and we'll pray lord father creator of the heaven and the earth savior of humanity at this time we acknowledge your love we acknowledge the grace that we have from you and we are blessed to be part of the hope that ye have provided lord you have visited us in the past and many in this room today many in this sanctuary we have chosen to follow you and today following the prompting of the holy spirit we want to rededicate our life to accept you as our savior and to serve you as our lord please lord bless our recommitment lord father you know this person who made this public stand today who is saying i want to enter into a covenant with my lord may you bless this person in a very special way probably there are others may you please bless each one of them clear the way for them to be baptized in the near future father god if there is anyone who is still struggling who is still hesitating about making this most important decision may you please visit this person extend your grace so that soon everyone can make this decision to be part of your kingdom father we bless your name and we want you to come soon and we want to be together in eternity thank you for the example that adam has said help us lord to walk faithfully with you we pray in jesus name amen remain standing for our hymn of praise hymn number 545 savior like a shepherd [Music] much [Music] um [Music] um [Music] blessed jesus [Music] now me [Music] bless you jesus [Music] me [Music] please [Music] let us kneel as far as possible oh god of our ease and our distress our abundance and our privation our daybreak and our twilight our faith and our aimlessness before you our lives harbor no secret you rule every moment of our destiny but as much as we are petrified that your gaze we cannot evade we are comforted that someone knows our plight you are our faithful lord and the incessant spring of all goodness all gentleness and all purity lord our strength do not forsake us if you do not come to us we will forever remain dust of the earth and we will never become the living soul our god we pray for your forgiveness because we have loved temptations rather than thought them we have despised the truth to make ourselves look better we have failed to seek you in our daily lives thank you for the blood of jesus that washes away our sins for the wounds of jesus that heal our brokenness for the death of jesus that brings us life for the empty grave that secures our hope we pray for physical needs of every family represented here from your abundant treasure bless us with the finances and resources we need we pray for all of us who need healing almeida carol and joslyn bazil and many others we plead before you almighty and compassionate god make them well and restore them we pray for those who are bereaved among us the borge the right mastrappa and case families help them to put their trust in you embrace them in your loving arms and comfort them restore amend the abused and oppressed among us set free the addicted among us lead our wayward children away from the alluring gods of this age and dazzle them by your love and your kindness bring them home to yourself and we pray for president hakainde of the republic of zambia and our brother in christ we pray that the crucified and risen savior will shine his light on president hichalema may he treasure the gospel in his heart and draw strength and inspiration from it every day of his life may your wisdom walk with him may your word direct him so that he would lead the people of the beautiful country of zambia and the people of the world in justice peace unity and righteousness and we pray for all the people of zambia that you will send the tides of prosperity and godliness to sweep over that country like never before from lake tanganyika to lake kariba from the lua plains to the luang gua valley may your glory be the light of the nation of zambia touch now our hearts with the power and beauty of your word through pastor bartley may our souls sing your eternal glories lord our god may this worship service become a spark of a holy flame of our devotion our service to you and our true life in this holy hour we pray that our church and every one of us will experience new spiritual resurrection may our sins ebb and vanish and the life of christ manifests itself in us lord our strength we are waiting for you we long for you you are our hope in the name of jesus christ we pray amen [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] happy sabbath it's time for children's story good morning boys and girls happy sabbath i'm so glad it's sabbath and today i have a special story to tell you how many of you have heard about a little lady named gladys ellward i've heard of her she was a missionary to china she was she was one of my favorite missionary heroines well gladys heard that there weren't many people in china that knew about jesus and she had heard some mission programs saying that they needed missionaries to go there so she thought about that for a bit and it became this burden on her heart somebody has to go tell them so gladys started going and she started talking to everyone she knew her friends her family will you go to china no will you go to china no and everyone she asked said no and she kept asking people and this went on for a couple years and then one day she went to her brother will you go to china that's the funniest idea i've ever heard if you think it's and if it's if it's so important to you why don't you go to china me oh well you know what she thought about that and the more she thought about it the more she realized god was calling her to go to china well what do you want to do what do you have to do if you want to be a missionary you have to call some agencies and see if they'll take you yeah you often try to find a missionary agency maybe it's the general conference or it's adventist frontier missions or it's addra well back then there were a few different mission agencies and she went to them and she said i want to be a missionary and do you know what they said you're not equipped you're not qualified well it was true she didn't have any education and she didn't have a good job she didn't really have much to offer but she loved jesus well she started working or continued working as a maid and she worked really hard and she saved every little bit of money she had and i think it took about three years but she saved up that money and you know what she used it and bought train tickets third class not very nice comfortable trains and she would take the train all the way to china on the trans-siberian railway well she got on the train and got started but there was a war going on and the train stopped and she wasn't able to go very far in the train and through a lot of other problems and and challenges she finally made it to china but it took a long time and it was a hard trip she got to china and she worked with a little lady called mrs lawson mrs lawson was a widow her husband had died in china and she had chosen to stay on in china and keep working but she'd been praying for somebody to come well gladys was happy to be there and to help but guess what mrs lawson died very soon after gladys got to china and gladys was alone what would she do how would she take care of herself well she started praying about it and guess what one day while she was praying there was a knock on the door who was it it was the mandarin the who the mandarin the mandarin who's the mandarin the mandarin is the person who governs the problem that's right he was like the leader of the whole province the whole area where gladys was and do you know what he said to her he said you've got big feet what a funny thing to say to somebody well he says there's this law he says there's foot binding in china and he says a new law has come we can't allow that happen anymore he says you have big feet you will be my foot inspector gladys said me and he said you and she and i'm here to tell people about jesus he says i don't care what you tell people but you will be my foot inspector so guess what she was a food inspector and she went to villages and many villages and she got to see children and play with children she got to know families and she became friends to lots and lots of people well time went on and gladys remembered other dreams that she had had as a child she had dreamed that she would grow up and get married and have children lots of children well god had other plans but he still used her dreams she didn't get married but she did end up with a lot of children guess what there was a war that was happening in her country in china and as the war was going on children were losing their mommies and daddies that was a really sad time but gladys was able to open up her home and many children started coming to her and she became their new mommy within a little while there were more than 60 children in her home that's a lot of children and gladys realized the war is not going to stop she says i need to get these children to safety and so by herself she began walking with 60 plus children and they began walking up and through the mountains and guess what within a day or two 22 a hundred or more children came there were so many children she had over a hundred children with her all by herself walking through the mountains and do you know how long she had to walk and those children had to walk for 75 days for 37 days that's still a long time yeah that's a really long time all day long to be walking their shoes wore out their clothes were out they didn't have much food but you know what god took care of them and he used that little lady gladys elwood to help those children and eventually they did get to safety and hundreds of children were saved because of one little lady who had a dream that everyone thought was crazy but she used that dream to serve jesus and boys and girls you may have some dreams in your heart maybe you want to be an astronaut or a firefighter maybe a policeman maybe you want to take care of animals or maybe you have a compassionate heart for people or children i don't know what it is but whatever it is god can use that for mighty things if you let him thank you for the story i also like to contribute congratulations adam on getting baptized today adam i hope god will thought will lead you through big problems and small ones we're proud of you adam god bless you happy sabbath thank you boys and girls for the story happy sabbath everyone our scripture can be found in genesis chapter 37 verses 5 through 11 and it reads joseph had a dream and told it to his brothers which made them hate him even more he said to them listen to this dream i had we were binding stalks of grain in the field and my stock got in up and stood upright while your stocks gathered around it and bowed down to mine stock his brother said to him will you really be our king and rule over us so they hated him even more because of it because of his dreams he told them then joseph then had another and described it to his brothers i've just dreamed again and this time the sun and the moons and the 11 stars were bowing down to me when he described it to his father and his brothers his father scolded him and said to him what kind of dreams have you dreamed and him and am i your mother and your brother supposed to come and bow down to the ground in front of you his brothers were jealous of him but his father took careful note of the matter thank you and may the lord add a rich blessing to the hearers and doing of his word amen thank you so much regina pearson one of our students at washington adventist university good morning i am ralph johnson and i serve as the vice president of the center for student life here on the beautiful campus of washington adventist university and it is my distinct pleasure this morning to introduce our speaker for the benefit of those who are worshiping online let me just share with you very quickly what's in the bulletin relative to our weak and spiritual emphasis each semester washington adventist university sets aside an entire week where students faculty and staff will gather every day during the week from 11 a.m to 12 noon to focus on spiritual renewal uplift and growth we have to select a speaker in the fall to come to share this time with us and this year we selected pastor victor bartley our week in spiritual emphasis theme for this week is this is us or me the audacity of authenticity so we continue to pray for our students our faculty and staff as we discover god's call in our lives and how to live authentic lives for ourselves and for our creator as we conclude wise week with pastor bartley preaching i not afraid to dream pastor bartley is a one young man who i've known actually before he was born his parents vincent and virion bartley are very good friends of my families and so we watched uh victor raised in a wonderful family his sisters victoria and vanessa and yes they even had a dog volvo you can see the theme we have been very blessed to see victor grow and to develop into an outstanding young man he finished his high school education in columbia south carolina and decided to enroll at clemson university to major in engineering victor did that and pursued his first dream when he finished his degree in engineering he actually answered the call of god and decided to go into the ministry and therefore went straight to andrews university to uh get his master's in theology so that he could become a pastor he now serves as a senior pastor in the south atlantic conference of seventh-day adventists and he serves as the pastor of the historic baldwin's chapel in high point north carolina and new life in lexington north carolina his key accomplishments and achievements include establishing a small small groups at church for developing a christian community and he manages a food pantry and education resource center for neighboring communities in his given area i am happy to share with you that for this entire week he has really shared a positive message with all of our students here at washington at venice university and we're very happy that he's going to share his message with us today here at sligo church following the music selection the next voice you will hear will be that of pastor victor bartley [Music] uh [Music] yes [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh for a love that will not let me go can you say amen again to the musical renditions that have been provided for us in this worship experience today amen amen it is my privilege to be here with you today those that are joining us in various spaces as well as present here in the sanctuary i want to first extend a grateful thank you to the sligo leadership team as well as the congregation here uh for welcoming me and my family during this week here in the dmv uh specifically in tacoma park i want to thank the wau administration and leadership particularly dr ralph johnson and the team there and the student life that has been instrumental in bringing me here dr johnson as you know uncle ralph and not jackie as i know them i want to thank you all for your hospitality during this week as well and welcoming myself as well as my wife and our three under three i i thank you for your your generosity in in welcoming us i want to also extend the greeting to our family and zambia uh the president as well as the team and leadership that have also traveled with him i want to as well thank my my wife who has endured much with our little ones as we have made it a family trip to be here with you this week and concluding our time spent today in god's word and just before i begin i do want to breathe a word of prayer that we may hear what god will say to us out of what he has already said oh lord we thank you that you have given us life and we ask that you will give us courage to live in jesus name we pray amen amen our scripture reading was taken from the book of genesis in chapter 37 and verses 5 through 11. i want to highlight just before we begin as a planting point versus 10 and 11 of the passage there it says there in verse 10 of genesis chapter 37 when he described it to his father and brothers his father scolded him and said to him what kind of dreams have you dreamed am i in your mother and your brother supposed to bow down to the ground in front of you his brothers were jealous of him but his father took careful note of the matter as it is printed in your bulletin i just want to tag a title to this text i'm not afraid to dream i'm not afraid to dream dr howard thurman once said don't ask what the world needs ask what makes you come alive and go do it because what the world needs is people who have come alive dr howard thurman shared these thoughts many years ago that prophetically speak even today on the surface some may interpret this as selfish goal setting but i believe that the message has much more in mind the power of this proclamation is an invitation to think with our heads and hear our hearts to engage your future intellectually and inspirationally to set goals ambition and according not just to your ability but to untapped aptitude also simply dr thurman was saying that life is not about you but the real you must rise to the occasion because living happens imperfectly and courageously living living happens vulnerably and in community living happens in consciousness and truth life is a gift but living is a choice to put it another way a heartbeat is necessary to exist but vision is necessary for living living living is the right of hope this is so majestically displayed at the mlk memorial in washington dc i was drawn as our family was there to the poetic architecture as you walked into walk to the memorial and there were there was a mountain that in the middle was cut out so to speak a stone and on that stone is inscribed out of a mountain of despair a stone of hope hope is what faith is made of hope can't always be explained it it provides surprising strength hope has imagination it prompts first steps and is light when it's dark this week we have explored we have explored the audacity of authenticity because the truth of the matter is that many of us have lived with mass mandates long before covet we have simply to say it simply we have not shown who we really are and we've become comfortable switching out the mass that we've become accustomed to living with and but this transformation of being authentic calls for us to take our mask off this transformation happens from the inside out it occurs in community and in relationships of connection but there is one more aspect that i must share with you sligo and wau before we leave today it's that authenticity dares you to dream a dream that chooses purpose over paper dream that seeks significance over simply being successful a dream that is fueled by meaning over popularity a dream that fuels the vehicle of your hope and this relationship between hope and dreams converges on our character of choice joseph today joseph's story is a notable one that many of us are very familiar with it picks up in chapter 37 of genesis he's 17 according to the beginning of chapter 37 but he has been dealing with challenging conditions prior to the text his birth mother suddenly dies when he was younger family dysfunction placed him in a difficult place he's benefited from favoritism but is burdened with not fitting in and it's this joseph the sacred text tells us that we find with dreams and i want to ask early in this message today have you found time in your trouble to dream i i know that these days these months these years have been many times us just trying to get by just keep up with the constant changes and the updates and the new norms that we've had to adjust to but the question that i posed today is in your trouble have you found time to dream these dreams in the text according to genesis spoke purpose to his existence they gave focus for his future and were tattooed on his memory these same dreams were also according to the text annoying to his brothers they were rebuked by his father and offered no immediate path to fulfillment his dreams here it is today were the source of hope and deep hurt the question is when your dreams pose challenges like this what do you do when what you have in mind you can't find a supporter for what do you do well the text suggests to us from our title that joseph said i'm not afraid to dream uh that that i'm not afraid to dream and i believe that joseph is teaching us that he was able to hold on to this mentality because what he dreamed was not his design that's right that what joseph saw was divinely downloaded documents see the ancients believe the ancients believed that repeated dreams repeated dreams were divine deposits heavenly downloads if you will implanted inspiration in other words in other words what joseph saw wasn't something that he thought of but was what god thought through uh this wasn't his thoughts it wasn't his thoughts because it surprised him too it wasn't family approved it it suggested his family was suggesting that he stay in its place his place it wasn't socially possible because he had no clout he had no prestige he had no access but his dreams weren't his design but were downloaded to his mind and i know that some of you present today i know that some of you are on the fence about the dreams that you've had and maybe you've put some on hold maybe you cast some aside but you left them empty because you've had no help and i know some of the plans in our minds we simply just don't want to talk about anymore because it's just too painful to remember but joseph's testimony reminds us that dreams are divine design that are downloaded to our minds that the creator sketches images on the canvas of our cortex gives us preview access to the plans for your life that even when present reality doesn't seem to connect with the future possibility dreams give outlook above your obstacles perspective beyond your present and imagination despite the immediate i know right now it's too big for you to comprehend and you're not sure if it's just too much but what you've been dreaming about has been divinely deposited what you saw god supplied and what you want god is at work and i just want to encourage somebody today that before you write it off before you think that your head is too far in the clouds before you say that you're reaching too high i want to encourage you to embrace the fact with joseph that what god has placed in us we must not be afraid till we receive this download went deep into joseph's soul so much so that he exercises hope that has risen out of the depths of despair i'm still in the bible text with you today it's in genesis chapter 37 and verse 5 joseph knew that his brothers thought ill of him but his dreams drive him to tell them anyway now i know traditionally we have uh interpreted joseph's behavior of telling his brothers whom he know hate him to be naive to be foolish why would you talk to people that you know can't stand you about what's in your heart i i i agree i agree there's truth to it that this is naive but i believe also that this may be evidence of a life unchained by the limits of assigned roles yeah yeah i i believe i believe that that that he is disclosing this not simply because he's possibly foolish but because he's free you see far too often in this life people exist but aren't living because their dreams have died in the hands of their oppressors their dreams have died on the lips of disapproval from those they admire dreams have died on the negative self-talk in their own minds but therefore for those moments for those moments that we must face the fear of being misunderstood marginalized and declared that our soul is not afraid to dream from joseph's narrative we deduce that there are three disciplines that joseph teaches us about living unafraid to dream the first thing that i believe that joseph teaches us from this text is that uh that we must understand that dreams are for this life when somebody say this life the nuance of this passage is powerful because this semitic sect that joseph is a part of is anticipating the arrival of the savior messiah you are good bible scholars and so you know that with 34 chapters removed from genesis chapter 3 where the first gospel is recorded uh that that you will bruise his head yes it is and he will strike your heel this was spoken to adam and eve after they had fallen or mankind after they had fallen in the garden and so they were promised that one would come that would redeem them so as tradition holds it it it continues to follow in the expectations of the people and immediately in chapter 4 of genesis the bible declares that that that eve named her first son cain which means i have received a man from the lord this this also could mean suggesting that eve was anticipating that her firstborn would be the messiah uh this this expectation of the children of the male child being the the messiah was one that lived on hints the great emphasis on women being barren in the old testament because if you were barren then you couldn't have children and if you couldn't have children then there would be no messiah and if no messiah then the people would not be set free and so there's this expectation for messiah to come this announcement was something that every generation talked about but never saw when we pick up in joseph's story we are also met with the anticipation of what abraham and uh isaac and jacob talked about that that there was a dream that was placed on abraham's life that they would be an anointed nation on appointed land they were reminded of this but they never saw it and so when we arrived to joseph experiencing these dreams it would be very easy for joseph to expect that what he saw was for some other lifetime it would have been easy for him to assume that what he was experiencing was for some other generations to see oh no but joseph didn't do that uh joseph saw things differently joseph saw this as being for his lifetime that's what it says in verse seven it says when we were binding stalks of grain in the field my stock got up and stood upright while your stocks gathered around and bowed down to my stock again he tells his second dream in verse nine he says then joseph had another dream and described it to his brothers i've just dreamed again and this time the sun moon and stars and the 11 stars rather were bowing down to me what audacity of joseph did you see it in the text joseph says these are not about messiah but me these dreams are a declaration for my life it's people that righteously await jesus return we contend to push many dreams on jesus second return uh see if there's a challenge in our community a crisis in our world a problem in our society we contend to say within our souls jesus will fix that when he comes back but there are some needs that god wants to address through us that he's placed in our imagination now some of us are disregarding dreaming because we say like the disciples of the disappointment of 1844 that jesus is coming and there is no need for my dream to be focused on because his second coming will solve everything may i confront you provocatively today with the word of god your dreams are god's assignment for this life we as a people of advent expectation ought to know this well uh because because there was an assignment on the the the prophetess ellen white even in a time when there was expectation for jesus to come any day she set people's minds to to focus again on living righteously now a part of our righteous living is to receive without rejection what god has put on our imagination to do in these times i'm moving i'm moving it not only it not only dreams are not only for this life but dreams are also a confirmation of your calling in this life what what what our imagination contains uh given by god is the direction of our calling we've talked about this this week and literally from scripture calling is an invitation to be what we were made for if you can imagine calling like a seed it's the one thing that you uh discover and you continue to water that seed until it blooms to maturity calling is critical to living because it gives perspective on what really matters our calling simply today is the clue for how we are to focus for serving others around us make no mistake today we all have callings there is no hierarchy of callings i know traditionally some of us have thought that it's just pastors and those that serve in ministry that have callings but there is a calling over each one of our lives and joseph in this case his dreams gave clarity about his calling in leadership yes it was it was leadership that joseph was called to this this calling is clear and is contemptible to his brothers and it's considered as simply crazy in the eyes of his father uh we we see it we see it in verse 8 we see it in verse 8 of of chapter 37 his brother said to him will you be our king and rule over us verse 10 it continues his father says am i your mother and your brothers supposed to come and bow to the ground before you joseph's calling is in leadership the question today is what is yours joseph may not have been aware of his gift at the tender age of 17. but this points to the fact that the dream clarified his calling and it's so ironic in the text because the people that clarify his calling for him are the people that can't stand him [Laughter] uh some of us some of us i'm worried i'm concerned because some of us have ignored our calling because of who the person is that's told us what it is uh we we've dismissed it because it came from the lips of somebody that we can't stand uh we we we've looked lightly upon it because that person could not be telling the truth in this case in joseph's case it's his brothers that a few verses later set him up to be killed it's his brothers that are responsible for clarifying his call some of you are saying i don't know what mine is but it's personal to you because god has uniquely designed you that that like joseph like joseph god's calling on you may not be for leadership it it it could be it could be in in in other areas of service of organizing of teaching of helping of leadership a thought leader a mentor however god calls and leads the invitation is to believe but i must warn you i must warn you that that many times the call of god stretches us further than we prefer going and here's the last thing today that it also ruins traditional roles joseph's joseph's dream is challenging because according to the text uh it's it's not just for this life it's not simply confirmation for his calling but it's ruining roles the dream the dream that joseph the dreams rather that joseph have are unique but they would have been welcomed by the family if the firstborn reuben had them the family would have celebrated if reuben happened but the dream was so offensive because it came to the 11th born and and this is the real contention in joseph's story that his assigned role in the family did not suit him to be a ruler over the family and here it is today here is where courage grabs a hold of you here is where you have to face your fears because many of us get stuck failing to fulfill dreams because it's not what people expect from us yeah there's language around our scripted roles in society uh we use words like you're supposed to do this uh you're supposed to be this way uh young men of your race can't do this uh people of your gender aren't supposed to do this see we've heard words that suggest that we're to stay in our place but the call of god on your life is moving you to go beyond what people have expected every role that we find in joseph's story after chapter 37 is far beneath the dream but finally at the end of joseph's life we find the dream and his reality coming to a place of agreement and this is critical this is critical for each of our lives because part of some of the confusion some of the feelings of being stuck for some of us is tied to our refusal to move on faith now i know it's easier to chase a secure job i know it's easier to avoid the burden i know it's easier to to to hold on to the comforts that you have but where god has called god will provide where god has given you ideas god has already thought it through that no matter what limited possibilities seem god didn't make a mistake that no matter what you must face god knows what god intends and it's this maturity that we gain from joseph's experience that we must also treasure in our own and i know joseph wasn't the first to be called into dreams but he also is among the first in a line of many that we are also called to join the opportunities may look different there may be mountains that we have to climb there may be hills that we must face there may be valleys but in this it is clear that god's will is here there's an old hymn that says it may be on a mountaintop or it may be in the valley where countless dangers hide but the song goes on to say if jesus goes with me then i'll go anywhere joseph in chapter 41 becomes the prime minister of egypt the then the center point the epicenter of the then known world in chapter 42 we know about the deja vu experience where his brothers are just as the dream said bowing before him he tells them that he was sent ahead of them in order to save the world and my prayer simply for you today is that god gives you clarity of the dream and the call so that you can focus the inspirations of your dreams so that you can live with hope that you can move with meaning so that you can live courageously for our christ and his kingdom because we know that jesus was also a dreamer uh we're we're told in luke chapter 4 that when he arrived that he went up into the synagogue and to church and worship and he turned the scriptures in isaiah and and and said now the scriptures are being fulfilled in your hearing the spirit of the lord has anointed me we told that before the end of that sabbath they were ready to throw him off of a cliff ah but jesus said i'm not afraid to dream he continued to heal the sick he continued to raise the dead things that had never been done before but jesus said i'm not afraid to dream we know that after three and a half years in ministry he comes to the point of depression and he comes to a breaking point of deep anxiety and he says father i would prefer a different way nevertheless you've placed a dream in my hearts not as i will but thy will be done he continued after that prayer of dropping great drops of blood almost like blood luke tells us he stood up stout and firm and said i'm not afraid to dream uh he pressed on through the crowds of the via de la rosa and he he traveled up the path to scole's hill he said father forgive them he opened with that but close with into your hands i commend my spirit i've completed the dream that you've placed on me but we know that that wasn't the end of the story uh for within three days the bible declares that he rose up with all power in his hands and holding the keys of hell hades death and the grave and for you and for me he's done all of that so that we might live this life for him unafraid to dream lord you've placed things on our hearts you've tattooed things in our imagination that even when we sit still it comes to mind the fear of the challenges the fear of being misunderstood the fear of so many different things can cloud us from moving forward in faith but i pray that you would supply grace to trust you more to do your bidding and to manifest what you have thought through and have placed in our hearts in jesus name we pray amen thank you for that wonderful message we of course know that god has a dream for each one of us we know that god has a dream for this church and it is our desire here at sligo to to make disciples and to go out into the community and and to be a a help to one another in this symbiotic relationship and in order to do that god calls us to provide for one another and so in this moment of worship as you have been blessed we ask now that we bless one another through our giving of of tithes and offerings and as the deacons come forward we're gonna listen to some wonderful music from the choir as we continue in our worship father thank you for everything that you do for us thank you for providing for us and god as you bless us we pray to to bless others and that we would be a help to those who are in need and if there is anyone in need hear god make it known to us so that we can reach out and be a help thank you for everything you do we ask this in jesus name amen [Music] so [Music] foreign [Music] me [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] as we depart from this place but not from god's presence we will be singing hymn number 524 tis so sweet to trust in jesus the fourth stanza says i'm so glad i learned to trust thee precious jesus savior friend and i know that thou art with me wilt be with me till the end please stand as we sing our hymn of reflection hymn number 524 tis so sweet to trust in jesus in jesus jesus [Music] jesus [Music] r [Music] jesus [Music] in [Music] jesus christ [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] yes [Music] oh [Music] be the light of god fill you up on this journey of your life and may the road rise up to meet you as you open your heart and your mind to god's calling upon your life and may every breath you breathe be a conscious sacrifice of thanksgiving a blessing of intentionality that ripples into eternity where it unites with its source where it unites us all in service as we make our way back to god through the faithfulness of jesus messiah peace be upon you amen [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Length: 122min 11sec (7331 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 25 2021