Lesson 8 | Free To Rest

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] welcome to hope sabbath school an in-depth interactive study of the word of god we are in the middle of an amazing series on rest in christ and i don't know about you but but i experience the need for rest in christ every day free to rest is our topic of today's study we're glad you're with us and welcome to the team good to be together take a look at each other we look like the world that's awesome 200 countries represented in hope sabbath school we're also excited to welcome some of our team members remotely we've got marianella with us from california marionella great to see you we've got addison with us from british columbia addison good to see you and shaina from maine shane it's good to see you on our team again today great to be together we're excited that we can study the word of god and here's a few emails from friends around the world marlaney writes to us from peru living in ohio that's a trip isn't it my name is marleney from peru currently living in cincinnati ohio the hope sabbatical team is a blessing for me amen i discovered the class when in quarantine and since then i watch the program every week god bless everyone on the team amen with you i'm not only learning more about the bible but i'm improving my english as well i would like to teach my co-workers about jesus amen isn't that beautiful marlene thanks for writing to us from ohio and what a beautiful desire she says thank you and may god keep this class going until jesus returns amen thanks for writing to us marlene here's a note from a little island of saint eustatius does anyone know where that is it's in the caribbean and it's small saint eustacious on behalf of my mother and i louise writes we'd like to thank you and your team for the clear studies on hope sabbath school every week god has blessed you and you've been a blessing to us with your godly wisdom and we say praise god right only by the holy spirit thank you may god continue to bless you all well louise from the beautiful island of saint eustacious thanks for writing to us here's a note from a donor in california and the donor writes and says i would like to thank you all for the special programming you offer all around the world you've made studying the bible each week a beautiful event amen that's beautiful i've been watching your program for the past year and i wish i had started long ago the bible becomes alive and with your help we can make it an enjoyable study period thank you so much i wish i could thank every one of the team members in person please accept this gift and may god bless hope sabbath school and a gift of one hundred dollars to bless the ministry of hope sabbath school thank you donor from california you know who you are even though we don't read names of donors and thanks to each one of you who goes to hopetv.org donate clicks on the button and just thanks for being part of this global donor-supported ministry well pamela writes from the beautiful island of barbados we're on islands today billy i really love studying the bible with hope sabba school i live in barbados look forward to the study every week may god continue to bless your ministry as you share the love of jesus and the hope of salvation with the world that's our goal right it's not just information right jason it's what it's transformation isn't it it's salvation absolutely one last note from brenda in australia on the other side of the world for us i just wanted to say how much i love hope sabbath school everything about it the scripture songs the discussions by panel members the sharing times the study of the word of god thank you it's an important part of my christian family and honestly your testimonies are so refreshing and encouraging we'll hear some today with warmest regards and god's richest blessings a regular watcher from sydney australia well brenda thanks for writing to us isn't it wonderful to hear from people around the world being impacted by the word of god you can write to us at sshope hope tv dot org but right now we have a scripture song to sing it's our theme song for this series based on matthew 11 verses 28 to 30. come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden jesus says and i will give you rest let's sing together [Music] i will give you rest come to me are you who labor and are heavy laden i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me [Music] will foreign rest for your souls for my oak is easy my burden is [Music] for your souls for my oak is easy my burden [Music] and is from me for i am gentle and lonely [Music] oh [Music] come to me [Music] take my yoke upon you and learn from me foreign [Music] i am [Music] what a beautiful theme song and i want to invite you if you'd like a copy of that song plus 11 other beautiful scripture songs as a gift from our hope sabba school team all you have to do is go to our website hopetv.org hope ss click on get free gift button that's simple and you'll get a link to download those 12 songs including the beautiful theme song for this series right now let's pray together father in heaven we thank you for your word especially those beautiful words of jesus and as we study from the healing ministry of jesus today and other healing blessings in the bible may we realize that we are free to rest when we rest in you please guide our study in the name of jesus amen amen amen amen we're going to start our study in mark chapter 2 and it's an amazing story sabina if you'd be willing to begin it begins by talking about the need for physical healing mark chapter 2 verses 1 through 4. okay so i'll be reading from the new king james version and it says and again he entered capernaum after some days and it was heard that he was in the house immediately many gathered together so that there was no longer room to receive them not even near the door and he preached the word to them then they came to him bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men and when they could not come near him because of the crowd they uncovered the roof where he was so when they had broken through they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying so what impresses you the most about this story just hearing the opening verses anyone what what grabs your attention addison well the situation that's occurring is it's quite extraordinary here's a vast group of people um they can barely it's just a massive crowd they barely can get into the house i mean they're they're all around the house and these friends they have such a determination to um to meet jesus yeah to get their friend to jesus right and billy what what impresses you in the first opening verses of the story i think i i need friends like that would do anything say that one more time because that was important i need friends like that i need friends like to do anything to get me closer to jesus oh we could end our study let's pray together we need friends who'll get us closer to jesus amen that is beautiful that is beautiful what is the presenting need here what's what's the presenting what healing jason is is is pretty obvious from the story so far clearly physical healing because this guy's paralyzed he can't move and so he needs to be able to be able to walk he's a paralytic so it would appear that the friends are getting their friend to jesus because he's dealing with a physical challenge are you with me yes now we're going to see that jesus sees deeper needs as well but but that's certainly a very real need we don't know why he's on the stretcher but he needs help anybody have a testimony to share marianella well i i just wanted to say too that what impressed me too is that these friends didn't care what burden it was going to be for them to carry their the paralytic because you know for some people that that could be burdensome you know okay it's going to take it's going to take lifting him up and putting him on this kind of like it was kind of like of some kind yeah to carry him and they didn't care about the obstacles too it was a big crowd of people they can't get to to him through those people so yes they overcame obstacles and i think about how many times did these friends look at this paralytic man maybe he was on the street you know he couldn't walk he was there but how many times did they pass by and and how did they become his friend too and that's beautiful and that compassion that grew in their heart to eventually take him to the feet of jesus literally so that he could be healed but what i what impresses me most is yes when jesus sees their faith we're going to come to that marine ella i'm going to push paul right here we're going to come to that in just a minute okay because a good point marinella is making and that is they're not only sacrificing their time they're going to have to repair the roof yes so they made some commitment oh yeah now i was asking for a testimony here and i know christian we've been friends for quite a few years you had a time when you faced a major physical challenge and i'm sure it was great to have loved ones around you but also needing some healing blessing from the lord share with us what happened it's been several years ago now yes uh it was in 2015. so i can't believe it's been six years already it seems like it was just yesterday that i was working um in the yard i was actually riding a tractor that i had borrowed from from a friend and and i was loading up dirt with the front loader and to make the long story short um i i found myself riding the tractor towards a drop-off and in that very instant i had to make a choice either either hold on for dear life or jump off the jump out of the tractor and and as the tractor leaned over um about to fall in i chose to jump off but when i did my my clothing got caught on some gears right next to the seat and it flipped my body completely upside down and i landed on my head on the right on the top of my head it was the hardest hit i've ever experienced and and i actually broke my c2 so you broke your neck i broke my neck i broke my neck and uh the ambulance took me to the to the hospital soon after and uh and uh the the doctor came and he said i'll never forget his words he said you my friend are a lucky man he said um only four percent of those that sustained these types of injuries um walk away as you have um and you know and during that time um there was so many moments that i was just weeping as i thought i thought about the goodness of god and and my utter dependence on him for survival we might use a different word jason than lucky right um from a christian perspective he would say blessed yes but but who was there as a revelation of the love of god for you at that moment in physical need christian just like the four friends that marianella was just talking about willing to sacrifice to to help you in that time of need you know when i was flat on my back interestingly enough my next-door neighbor actually saw the tractor fall down into the pit from his bedroom window and he immediately called 9-1-1 he did not even wait probably something bad that was happening immediately so within within a few minutes the emts were actually right by my side and uh and i think that was a miracle of god too so next time you mow the lawn please be careful right but we're reminded we need to rest in christ every day whatever we're doing because we may face some challenges well shayna i'd like you to keep reading for us the next verse which actually marianella was about to paraphrase there the next verse reveals that there's a need for another healing besides the physical healing would you read mark 2 and verse 5 for us sure and i'll be reading from the king james version when jesus saw their faith he said unto the sick of the palsy son thy sins be forgiven thee now marionella mentioned about their faith who's the there is it the friends is it the man is it the man and his friends who's the there would you say anybody what do you think their faith is it i don't think they're funny i believe it's all of them pastor derek so so could it be like christian with your experience talking to the doctor and whatever that his confidence that they're going to help you gave you courage too the faith of those friends gave that man who laid out courage to also have faith to believe jason and the man probably still had to agree to allow his friends to take him he could have probably resisted in some way at least verbally and said no no i don't want to go. so there had to be an agreement among all he wasn't kidnapped okay christian and the sabine i couldn't help but to look at this story in light of james chapter five can i share a verse from that from absolutely in james james chapter five verse are you reading um and let's take a look at verse uh verse 16. all right james 5 and verse 16. translation your very last line uh i'll be reading from the new king james version all right and in james chapter 5 or 16 it says in the very last line it says the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much and what gets my attention is that that is made in the context of intercessory faith or intercessory prayer because verse 13 says is any among you suffering verse 14 says is is any among you sick let him call for the elders so it's about healing of difficult healing but the elders of the church are the ones who carry so to speak the sick to jesus through intercessory prayer beautiful and so i couldn't help but see that in the story of mark beautiful thanks for sharing james 5. sabina did you want to add to that yeah what i was thinking actually if i were this paralytic probably i was going to be ashamed of going to a place with a lot of people to try some sort of apparently you know unorthodox type of treatment so he had to have faith because he was going to be exposed at the eyes of the whole community and everybody knew he was a paralytic probably had been there i don't know for how long so it took him this courage also to overcome this type of shame i can think of and how did he respond to the gift of jesus for spiritual healing well verse 12 gives us a clue of how jason maybe you could read verse 12 for us of how he responded when jesus asked him to do something else let's hear what the bible says sure i have the new king james version here mark chapter 2 verse 12 immediately he arose took up the bed and went out in the presence of them all so that all were amazed and glorified god saying we never saw anything like this sabina you're right this is out of the ordinary but when jesus asks him to do something he does it shaina i'm thinking that the paralytic also demonstrated true faith because faith is one part believing and one part acting right so when jesus said take up your bed and walk he already believed in his heart that jesus could do it and then he acted by actually taking up his bed and walking so he he truly demonstrated the full extent of what it means to to have faith what we might call a living faith right a living faith and which would seem to infer that when the lord says your sins are forgiven he would have used my favorite hebrew word hallelujah right he would have accepted that gift of forgiveness now let's talk what was more important do you think as you look at his life gladys was it the physical healing or the spiritual healing well i think they are both connected when you your body is is aching and you have some type of ailment your spirit gets sometimes deprived as well and sometimes it makes you wonder and question god and that makes the pain even deeper so you said he he needed both types of healing uh billy yeah i think the way jesus you know answered the prayer he didn't say you know physically you know your whole he went directly at the source of the issue i think he recognized the issue that that was at hand and it's very important because even the friends maybe they could have uh uh wish that they could provide that spiritual healing but it was out of their control so they did the best that they could which was bring him to jesus and we need friends like that right i need friends now help help me out with this have you ever had a time when you have felt in need of spiritual healing if we were to follow the theme of the story we would say and maybe there were some friends that helped get you to jesus but jesus could also come directly to you right marianella you had your hand is raised i think it kind of goes together with even um physical healing i experienced um within the last two years i've experienced two miscarriages and so that was part of the physical um healing that i needed to go through which is something that just even talking about or thinking about it sometimes brings that kind of that pain a little bit back in the heart but um the more i shared it with people and and when i talked about that experience i realized that um god provided even support from others god brought once in my life that were very supportive of what had just happened and and i had to trust the lord that human best and he knew why why that loss happened why i couldn't that baby right here he had to take me through a spiritual journey to realize that um he cares for all of us very much and that was a growing journey for me even though now i can sympathize with people i have experienced something like that and i and to come to a realization that one day god is coming back jesus is coming again to take us home and we will not suffer anymore we will have no more pain we will have no more tears and our loved ones we will be able to see those that have accepted christ and so my urgency is that i share christ with others my urgency is now to share christ with my daughter and the only one i have yes and now she tells me mom i look forward to meeting my brother and my sister in heaven and i i don't know if i was gonna have a boy or a girl in the first one i do know i was a little girl the second loss um but i just tried to use what god the experience that that loss caused um to realize that i need to trust more in god i need to rest even through that situation i had to learn to even rest in the lord amen now i want to thank you for scaring your heart that's um most of us here we we have tears here in the studio um we didn't realize all of the things that that you've been through even recently and and you you emphasize that we need the spiritual healing we need the touch of god as well as the physical healing uh when we go through those times and thank you for sharing that it leads us into some other kind of emotional healing that we need and we don't typically think of great men and women of god needing that kind of healing but i think we all have times when we need the healing blessing of god right resting in christ whether it's a broken neck or the loss of a baby or depression well there's a bible character jason if you could take us to first kings chapter 19. if if we were to ask people who's one of your bible heroes they'd probably say well daniel of course jesus but what about david and elijah but elijah faced the challenging experience too didn't he let's look in first kings 19 verses 1 to 4. the new king james version says in first kings chapter 19 verses 1 through 4 and ahab told jezebel all that elijah had done also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword then jezebel sent a messenger to elijah saying so let the gods do to me and more also if i do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time and when he saw that he arose and ran for his life and went to beersheba which belongs to judah and left his servant there but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree and he prayed that he might die and said it is enough now lord take my life for i am no better than my father's now someone help me with the context here this great man of god what happened sabine right before this time where he seems to be would you say seriously depressed i mean to the point of not wanting to live anymore what's he just been through yes pastor derek elijah had been called to a group of people that were idolatrous we know that he was one of the first prophets to prophesize on the northern kingdom and ahab the bible says that was i think the the worst or one of the worst kings with the heart that was more depictable and they had allowed because of ahab and his wife jezebel for you know um idolatry to grow wild in that land and eventually god called elijah to speak against that and there was an opportunity in which elijah even brought together all the prophets of baha'u which was this one of the most you know known gods in that in the group of people and even though god proved himself to be the one true god and still after that occasion people were still turning to ba so i think that for him was really a reason to be depressive because you know um he had done everything he could fighting against that system and yet people would not hear god now that story that you gave us a great summary of that showdown happened christian where what was the name of the mountain on carmel mount carmel and then here's elijah and how many priests of baal or baal were there they were like 450 i think right yeah he's totally outnumbered they're cutting themselves crying to their god nothing happens he prays to the one true god christian and what happens when he prays oh wow i wish i would have been there to see the site uh a pillar of fire fire just comes down from heaven and consumes that a sacrifice and the water as well that had been poured around the altar i think the rocks too i don't even know how rocks burn up everything just was consumed by a fire that came from god so with such a great story addison i mean tell me how can he end up here where he's wishing that he could die well he received a threat from jezebel a message that comes to him through a messenger and he becomes paralyzed with fear so he becomes afraid for his life and perhaps you know there were some other factors as well perhaps he was tired i mean this would have been ours when he got the message this would have been hours just after you'd come down from where he had run in front of the the chariot of ahab and he's at the gates of jezreel and um he just becomes just the his body his mind it's uh it's overshadowed by fear all right so you're right by the way i think it's about a marathon run from carmel no he was uh strengthened the hand of the lord was upon him but he's been through this exhausting physical and emotional and spiritual ordeal he's in a dangerous situation gladys well usually when you have a huge spiritual victory somehow you know the devil always tries to to to get a hold of you sure and he just had you know mount carmel and then he prayed and the rain came after three years so i guess somehow humanly he could have felt a little bit like yeah god is with me but then god was with him exactly god is with me and this is the proof and then a threat for his life you know gladys you made a really important point i want to just apply it to today for all of us and chain i saw your hand raised too and that is when you say god i'm available whatever you want to do in me and through me not only that i can experience rest in you but other people can experience rest in you you become a target of the enemy and and and who does the enemy and the enemy is not a person but these principalities and powers led by this fallen angel called satan right and his his evil angels uh who does satan and the kingdom of darkness use to bring the attack other people people jezebel in the bible story right jezebel in in our lives could be anybody right that comes to to bring an attack on us but he's definitely in a dangerous situation very depressed shayna yeah addison really um highlighted what i was gonna say if physically as human beings experiencing what elijah went through for the past few days he was just tired um and there's a queen that's sending people to come and and take his life right so i'm he's physically tired um he had been there at the showdown on mount carmel he saw god work but still our physical state as human beings he he just went through a lot and so yeah the reaction would be like i'm exhausted right exhausted is a better word thank you shayna i could say i'm tired but he was to the point of dangerous exhaustion right uh sabina yeah and i'm thinking also that during all the time when the drug came over the land he had to flee also so he had already been fleeing away from danger you know he couldn't be with his friends or other prophets of our god also at the time he had to hide he had to be fed by animals and all that so i can think also that this also added to his suffering because he was so isolated already that's a great point sabine it comes back to what christians said about the support of friends and the stretchers i need friends billy i'm going to remember that one i need friends who'll get me to jesus to bring me back to god at that point he's all alone but someone help me we're not going to read the whole chapter of 19 but what does god do it's a beautiful picture for us today isn't it a person's like i'm done i'm done it's over just let me die god right yes um what does god do how does god meet him in that time of great need you know the story gladys yes god provides not only rest but food for him and now he's an angel i love that he said he wakes him up and says come and eat because you have a long journey ahead come and eat so he will rest eat and god will take care of you someone can read the story but i think it's eat rest he's some more wrestling more it's like you know it's what kind of picture does that show you about of god when we're in a time of need jason that god cares about us because even though it is exciting to have all these experiences you know what he had on mount carmel and getting to run in front of a chariot ultimately we as humans we still need rest both physical mental spiritual and so finally here he's getting this rest and he hasn't had it at this point so god's like look you need to rest take a break he'll tell him later that there are you're not all alone there are seven thousand who not bowed the knee right addison and then uh marianella yeah so just to add on to what jason talked about here elijah god it's just amazing we serve an awesome god he meets all of our needs according to his will in christ jesus but here elijah is exhausted to the point of death and here god gives him a physical restoration or meets his physical needs in part because he has a special message to give to his servant elijah to turn him back to the post that he has called him to amen amen and by the way if you think god's given up on elijah he'll take him up later in a chariot of fire so he loves elijah yeah and and that's an important lesson i i think that we need to learn uh marionella yes i i wanted to point out something when i read that the angel touched him i just thought wow you know so so many people are like angels how have you ever experienced that somebody when i was under that experience i remember some ladies that they just brought food i didn't even have to i i remember i had to like open up the garage door and let them in that way so they just brought food and i really felt like they were like god sent angels and i feel like pete some people can be godsend like angels that meant just you and and and bring food or whatever it is to kind of keep you going and god does this here for elijah he's like i'm sending someone my messenger an angel to touch you to that's a form of encouragement and then to help him in his physical need and then he lets him rest again you know what a picture of god what a picture of god that's just beautiful thank you for sharing that you know sometimes and we're going to go to one more story here in john chapter 5. sometimes christian people feel i shouldn't be feeling depressed you know i mean we just heard the the ordeal the trauma that marianella went through you could get depressed losing a pregnancy and and then a second miscarriage uh sometimes we feel well if i really love god i wouldn't feel this way but that's not the picture we see of how god cares for elijah in this situation maybe there's someone watching today and and she's depressed he's depressed what would you say to that person you know um i mentioned james uh not too long ago i i made a reference to james chapter five that same chapter actually mentions elijah as well that's right and uh and it speaks about elijah being a man of great faith but then it says but he had a like nature like ours and for me that's so encouraging beautiful because you know we find these stories of of superheroes you know and and we're tempted to think they they were they were not totally human they were they were beyond human they they had this faith that i could never have um but then i read i read um passages like the one in james that reminds me that no no no elijah was just like me and you know christian not only does he love and care for elijah but he wants to use elijah in a powerful way right gladys i want you to take us to the story in john chapter 5. i know you've been through some health challenges in your life and and you didn't break your neck but you you had brain surgery that's a major challenge that you faced sometimes sickness can also bring discouragement would you read the story for us in john chapter 5 start with verse 2 and then read verses five through seven we could look at the whole chapter there but focus on those verses for us i'm reading john chapter five verse two and then five to seven in the new living translation inside the city near the ship gate was the pool of bethesda with five covered porches one of the men lying there had been sick for 38 years when jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time he asked him would you like to get well i can't sir the sick man said for i have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up someone else always gets there ahead of me what do you learn from the response of this paralytic he's been there how long 38 years jesus says to him would you like to be made well billy what is the obvious answer you would think to that question yes yes of course yes of course i've been waiting for 38 years why do you think he answers the way he does there's nobody to help me i i need people that will get me to to a place of healing yeah i think because he was alone he he did not have people surrounding him just like we saw we read earlier that he basically he wants to get healed but he felt like he was by himself in that situation okay so you've given me the external reason why he he would respond that way i think there's an internal reason i've got four hands that are raised i'm gonna go to shayna first well he would seem sort of hopeless i mean he's been sitting here for 38 years and so i would be like it's a lost cause at this point i you know wanted to help me could that be ladies i want to come back to your experience when you were diagnosed with the brain tumor uh you're a woman of faith i mean we've been blessed you're part of our team here were there were there times when you struggled because of the physical condition that you were dealing with or did maybe god kept you strong the whole way through i don't know the answer to the question well basically it's like when you go you can have a lot of faith you know inside of you and you you just pray about it but when you go to the doctor and they show you the machine and they tell you this is what is happening you tend to to your faith then to to shake a little bit because you know you serve a power for god but when he's in the flesh sometimes he's just the circumstances or the reality like that's the comment i was going to make about the paralytic as well that he was not realizing who he was talking to right he was saying sir look at me and sometimes we tend to do the same thing we say lord look at me you know can you you know can anything good can happen with these situations because we look at our circumstances but um when god just sent angels like marinella was saying you know to to to really empower you and just remind you who you serve the circumstances and the depression goes away so let's look at one the word of jesus in response to him basically saying i don't have any external support and i'm i'm pretty depressed too to be honest with you i'm not even going to say yes how does jesus respond yes addison would you read that for us please in john chapter 5 and verse 8. and i'm reading from the king james version jesus saith unto him rise take up thy bed and walk what does that tell you jason about jesus do you want to be made well well i don't have anybody to help me stand up and walk he can see through the externals he can even see what's going on and he doesn't let that be a barrier oh that is because he's beautiful he could have jesus could have been like all right fine well you have issues you don't want it okay fine i won't give it to you but there's a lot of other people and and and he saw what the man really needed and he loved him and he was going to give it to him yeah so listen now in both of those stories where people were dealing clearly with some anxiety depression god does not condem in either situation yes give me some bible promises that reinforce that we can find encouragement in god we can rest in god and his promises even when we're feeling physically spiritually emotionally psychologically depleted give me some promises that would encourage us maybe someone's watching sabina this is a word from the lord not just your opinion where would you like to read from so i would like to read from psalms uh 34. psalm 34 and what verse verse 17 to 19. all right psalm give us a moment to find psalm 34 psalm 34 verses 17 to 19. we're talking here about people who are feeling like they need they need help okay some words of encouragement so i'll i'll be reading from the new king james version psalms 34 17-19 and that's what i'll say to them the righteous cry out and the lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles the lord is near to those who have a broken heart and have such as have a country spirit many are the afflictions of the righteous but the lord delivers him out of them all and that is the word of the lord praise god that's a scripture song by david uh psalm 34 17-19 addison do you have another promise that you would share with someone um maybe they're kind of going through what that man by the pool of bethesda or elijah or maybe some of the testimonies we've heard today what word of encouragement from from the bible would you bring to that person well i have another word of encouragement from the psalmist and it comes from psalms 27 verses 13 through 14 and i'll read from the king james version okay give us just a moment to find psalm 27 also a psalm of david uh psalm 27 verses 13 and 14. i'm smiling because my wife put that to music and i like to sing that in the new king james version but let's see how it reads in the king james version of the bible it says i had fainted unless i had believed to see the goodness of the lord in the land of the living wait on the lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait i say on the lord now addison's translation said i would have fainted anyone have another translation besides fainted my bible what does yours say jason new king james says lost heart i would have lost heart anybody else mine is the same given up you know i mean you know it's like serious isn't it yeah i would have given up unless i had found a good reason to rest in christ gladys yes i wanted to share one of my favorite passages as in lamentations chapter 3 verses 22 and 23. i like to sing that one too lamentations chapter 3. by the way anybody on the team who wrote lamentations under the inspiration of the holy spirit anybody know jeremiah it was the weeping prophet jeremiah that's why it's called lamentations so he had gone through significant losses too right yeah what word of encouragement do you find gladys in lamentations three and you're going to read verses 22 to 24 yes sir um i'm reading from the new leaving translation the faithful love of the lord never ends his mercies never cease great is his faithfulness his mercies begin after each morning i say to myself the lord is my inheritance therefore i will hope in him i i memorize that through the lord's mercies we're not condemned we're not consumed right wow totally lost his compassions fell not they knew every morning great is your faithfulness there's a great christian song about that isn't it great is your faithfulness oh god our father christian yes i'd like to share a passage from the new testament okay um this one is found in second corinthians chapter 12. now let me ask a question while we're looking at second corinthians 12 what verses by the way will you read i'll be reading verses eight eight to nine eight and nine okay what we're looking for second corinthians 12 8 and nine um someone might be saying how come you know all of these encouraging bible verses for people who are feeling in great need of healing in their lives what's the answer how do we find these verses by reading the bible right reading the bible for ourselves and here's the note maybe this was a note of encouragement uh for someone that asked for healing and and maybe didn't get all of the healing they were hoping for second corinthians 12 verses 8 and 9 8 and 9 and i'll be reading from the new king james version concerning this thing i pleaded with the lord three times that it might depart from me and he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness therefore most gladly i will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of christ may rest upon me beautiful beautiful you know i was thinking you had an amazing testimony today c2 right but then i think of other people like joni erickson tata who broke her neck when she was just a teenager and and she was paralyzed but she's had an incredible ministry for christ and god's grace was sufficient for her so you're saying whatever the outcome yes that assurance now we've studied together today about physical healing spiritual healing emotional healing um someone's watching and saying i need that i need that rest in christ and that healing that only he can give let's talk about some hindrances what what might hold people back jason can you think of any possible hindrances that might hold the person back why would they not want to receive the healing that god wants to give to them well for me i think maybe fear of other people other people might say oh no no you don't need to feel this way or there's no hope so other people can actually be a discouragement and keep someone from wanting healing or thinking that it's even possible to get healing so let's go back shayna if we can to the story you don't need to read it but you know the story in in mark chapter 2 where the friends are trying to get their friend to jesus billy i love that i need friends like that right get me to jesus what hindrances are they dealing with uh in that story shaina well so the environment where there's other people literally physically hindering them from reaching jesus so that their friend could be healed so he was surrounded by the right group of people his friends but then other people were hindering him physically from reaching jesus uh is it possible that we could even have friends that that hinders sabine you you became a christian as a teenager did were there any people that tried to i know that maybe even people who loved you yes who who were hindering you from getting to jesus yeah absolutely pastor derek i can think about some people um that because they loved me and they thought i was going through you know a wrong path they tried all they could to take me out of the church but by god's grace you know i'm heroes too so and and we don't want to speak ill of the or meanly about those people they you know they they love they may love us yeah but but uh they've not received the conviction that we've received yes and i also face that as ignorance as well you know pastor derek not in just like a pejorative sense but you know we all need to know at a certain point learn about jesus and maybe these people that were trying to save me from jesus they still need to have that experience for themselves so what do we do gladys if there are people who they desperately need healing but they just don't know that there's a god in heaven who not only is able but actually he loves them with an immeasurable and unfailing love how do we help those people bring them to jesus because the only way the healing is surrendering ourselves in our thoughts because i was going to say that sometimes one of the hindrances is that we think we deserve what we're going through i made the decision so i got there because i i you know it's my fault i deserve this but but the forgiveness of jesus accept the free gift that he gives you and and just surrender to him i want to come back mary and ella because we we talked before the program about your your little daughter abigail she's four now and uh we talk about letting people know that there's a god in heaven who loves us and he wants us to find to be free to rest in him uh whether we need physical spiritual emotional healing what are some things that you together do to help share the truth that there's a god who loves us and wants to make us whole so i'm a realtor here in california and something that we do together is she's not in school yet so she accompanies me to open houses and um and after our open houses we would go down the street and give little tracks little signs of the times um information that people can look um or you know health information or biostudies and we had a feedback from neighbors of those homes that we have done this at and they said we've looked up even the channel 368 and have found hope sabbath school and have kept watching it ever since praise god for the people that have come to know jesus through that little bit of information now my daughter likes to take those tracks to the park and we just ask people do you know jesus and if they say no then she gives them a track and then somebody says yes i love jesus she still gives them a track you know that's beautiful little abigail on the back of those little tracks is a qr code which can connect you to hope channel and people watching hob sabba school um let me ask a question shayna i know you went through a traumatic brain injury back in september uh an accident and you know you're praying i'm sure family members are praying uh the outcome's not always the same how can we stay open to god's will we're saying god i'm i'm open to whatever healing blessing you have for me how do we stay open to god's will in the midst of that journey i think a key component is submission to what his will is um because i could have wanted something completely different from what god or what the outcome has been he's worked tremendously in my life in the past six months um but if i wasn't submissive to what his will was it could have looked differently and so that included talking to god and and believing and and and trusting my full care in his hands um and in the hands of of the people who were also caring for me such as my therapist and my doctors and so submission to um to god and his ultimate will and and asking him to to make my will be his will as well um was was a key part of it and so being submissive thank you for sharing i want to come back christian to your testimony about breaking your neck you have a wonderful christian wife you've got two precious children how were they praying how are they praying through this challenging time for you yes um you know i i'll never forget the moments that um that i would be flat on my back uh resting in in on the couch you know during the recovery period and uh and elijah mariah my my two children would come to me and and they wanted to kiss me they would kiss my cheek they would hold my hand and and and in those moments i was overwhelmed with emotion because you know the thoughts would come to me that i could i should have you know been paralyzed and not been able to even sense you know the the sensation of of their of their of their touch or even even dead yeah or even that of course and and but but as they met they ministered to me and they didn't realize that isn't that the kiss of god yeah they weren't the love of god little did they realize that that that their expression of affection was actually giving me a tremendous sense of of god's grace and his love for me amen christian thank you for sharing and i just want to thank you for being with us what an amazing study thank you marianella and addison and shayna thank you to the team thank you to you for being part of our study today you say pastor derek i want to rest in christ i want to allow him to give me the healing that he knows i need and to trust surrender to him in the midst of that journey and when someone comes billy thank you friends who'll help us get to jesus or kisses us on the cheek may we see in that revelation the immeasurable unfailing love of god let's pray father in heaven thank you for an encouraging study today free to rest to rest in you knowing you love us and want to bless us in in many ways may we rest in you even today in the name of jesus we pray amen amen amen well don't forget to go to our website hopetv.org hope ss push that get free gift button get some scripture songs you can hide in your heart we heard some testimonies today and then rejoicing in the love of god go out and be a blessing to those around you [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] you

Channel: HopeSabbathSchool

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Id: XMgzKezBX18

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 26 2021