OUC Worship Experience - 8/21/2021

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] yes [Music] the lord the lord so um you're uh oh oh oh [Music] uh [Music] good morning and welcome to another edition of sap school here at the oakwood university church my name is dr toussaint williams and again we have the privilege of studying the word of god together today our focus this morning is resting learning to rest free to rest in christ but before we get started let's bow our heads and let's pray dear god we are so thankful for another opportunity to come together we pray that you will bless our hearts and our minds as we study the word of god in jesus name we pray amen now it's early in the morning but i'm going to ask the question how many of you could have used a couple more minutes of sleep or just enjoy a good time of rest anybody here just can enjoy a good nap well we are focusing today on understanding what it means to rest in christ and really to rest truly understanding what god is doing in our lives before we go any further i just want to remind you that every monday at 6 00 p.m we have a bible study called bible 101 and this quarter we're looking at the book of acts monday this monday we're focusing on acts chapter one extreme acts chapter two so if you would like to jump in a bible study we have a phenomenal time acts chapter looking at acts chapter two please send us an email at info oucsda.org and we'll be sure to make sure that you have the link all right so this week we're talking about rest i'm looking around no one brought a pillow so that means you are awake today and don't want to necessarily have that type of rest but we're going to see what it means to truly rest in christ and truly have freedom in christ our text our anchor text comes from psalms chapter 27 verse number 1. psalms 27 verse number 1 where the word of god says the lord is my light and my salvation you know it whom shall i fear the lord is the strength of my life of whom shall i be afraid so brother lavender we're looking at here and identifying that god is our strength that god gives us life and he's the one that sustains our life and that's important when we truly understand what it means to rest well this morning we're going to look at two different types of healing one where the sufferer was ill it had physical calamities in his body challenges in his body and could not even come to jesus on his own his symptoms the first individual his symptoms were clearly visible to everyone but in the other case there were no obvious visible symptoms but in both cases god's healing came in god the healing came in god's time and in god's way so the first question our lesson brings out a challenging one for many christians is what happens brother walker when we pray for healing and god does not answer or god does not answer in the speed in which we think he should has there ever been a time in your christian experience were you trying to say god what are you doing god what are you where are you and the question comes and the prayer comes back as silence now how many of us have ever been sick momma you just were sick ill not feeling well and the first thing we realized we need to have rest one of the things we learned basic anatomy and physiology basic biology we need to have physical rest so that our bodies can rejuvenate where our bodies can rally our immune systems physical rest is extremely important but i also want to let you know one thing the lesson brings out is that we often need mental rest as well sometimes the sickness that we deal with or sicknesses that we face are not life-threatening such as a cold or a migraine but even in those moments we still need to slow down pause and identify what's happening in our lives well in this story the first individual that we're going to focus on comes from the book of mark new testament second book in the new testament mark chapter two and verse number one and two mark chapter two verses one and two here we're picking up on an amazing story of an individual that was physically sick here the bible says and again he entered into capernaum after some days and it was noise that he meaning jesus was in the house so get the picture now jesus enters capernaum people are excited hey jesus is here hey jesus is here and everybody packs into this particular house of course this is pre-coveted so they're packed in jam-packed until the bible says and straight away many were gathered together in so much that there was no room to receive them no not so much as about the door and he preached the word unto them what type of service must that have been everybody jam packed person to person next to each other only just so that they can hear what jesus was going to say and i can imagine maybe he talked about kingdom principles maybe he talked about forgiving one another maybe he talked about what it mean what it means to truly give your life to christ whatever he talked about the people were so excited so enraptured that they did not realize the visitor that was coming to see him the next verse says verse 3 and when they had come unto him bringing one sick of the palsy which was born of four and when they could not come nigh for him for the press they uncovered the roof where he was and they went ahead broken it up they let down the bed wearing the sick of the palsy lair now we've heard the story many times but but notice with me if you're with your imagination can you imagine being so enraptured so caught up with what jesus is saying that you don't realize there's drops of debris and drops of asphalt and drops of sheetrock that are falling beside you that you're not coughing because you don't nobody recognized or realized literally the roof is coming off and now ever so slow slowly you see four individuals carefully letting their friend down to the point where he comes down right in front of jesus now the desire of ages brings out the point that this paralytic had done some things he was not very proud of his sinful life is what caused his illness and the spiritual experts drew a very straight line from cause to effect he brought this disease upon himself by his sins and there was no cure and they were absolutely right there was no human cure but i want to make sure that you understand what the lesson brings out that by assigning blame does not bring wholeness or healing to the one who's sick many times we see issues or challenges just because you i can identify where the sickness came from does not make a difference for the person who needs help and this is the same thing sometimes for people in church when people come and we're trying to figure out what happened or what was going on at the end of the day the same thing the paralytic needed was the same thing people that come to oakwood university church or come to your church wherever you're viewing from they need jesus and these four friends who had enough faith and had enough insight to bring their friend to jesus did just that but notice what the bible says jesus does jesus said in verse number 6 when he saw their faith he said unto the sick of the palsy thy sins be forgiven thee now notice this particular text and this is a a phenomenal text where jesus identifies where he's not focused so much on the physical healing but he wants to identify what the real issue is and the bible lets us know it's our sins that keep us from god and so what jesus did in the in front of all of them because of his their friends his friends faith he proclaimed healing not physically at first but spiritually and that's the most important point that we have to identify as we're looking and trying to identify rest that we need to make sure everything is right between our between our soul and our savior and jesus very first said your sins be forgiven but not that's not where the story ends the bible says jesus the the the parent those who are watching were looking and confused or trying to figure out what is going on what do you mean the sins are forgiven who can forgive sins but god alone jesus i can imagine smiling now ask the question whether it is easier to say to the sick of the palsy thy sins be forgiven thee or to say arise take up thy bed and walk but that you may know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins he said to the man sick of the palsy i say unto you arise take up your bed go thy way into your house can you imagine being on the front row that day excited about listening to jesus overwhelmed with all the things that he shared and watching how this man is laid down brought down from by his friends bro after the roof has been broken off and you see jesus say that your sins are forgiven and then seconds later tell the man who was carried in rise up take up your bed go thy way back to your own home can you imagine the joy the excitement and the bible says in verse number 12 that he immediately arose took up his bed and went forth before them in so much that they were all amazed and glorified god saying we never saw it on this fashion family what we're trying to identify what we're looking at from this particular text is that god is in the miracle working business but we have to understand that god does not always heal us physically but he always heals us spiritually so we identify based on this story that god gives us rest whether we are healthy whether we are sick or we are healthy whether our sickness is of our own doing or is the result of someone else's neglect our genes or just a byproduct of living in this sinful world god knows how to give us rest and so we identified from this particular text in mark chapter 2 that jesus has the ability to heal us physically and mentally and the true rest comes in trusting in god story lesson brings out this point i want to make sure we identified that the paralytic felt the weight of his guilt and separation from god more severely than he felt his disease have you ever been there where you've done something you know you probably shouldn't have done and you feel like i can't go to god there's something that i just that's keeping us apart and what jesus is showing us from this particular text is that nothing can keep us from his love that if we present ourselves to god if we cast our cares on him he cares for us enough to take care of them first john 1 verse 9 says he if we cast our cares on him he will forgive us and forgive us of all unrighteousness and so that's the important point of we're looking at in this particular text a person resting in god is able to endure whatever physical suffering may befall him in this sin-sick world and so jesus goes to the root and offers forgiveness first before we identify that we need specific aspects of our life to be transformed this lesson reminds us that the very thing we need to do is identify the sin issue first john 1 9 says if we confess our sins god is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness god wants to cure us on the inside first and then sometimes he chooses to bring us immediate physical healing as with the paralytic or sometimes we'll have to wait for the resurrection morning to experience physical healing sometimes god heals us immediately sometimes god heals us when we pray other times god allows us to wait until the second coming where we find true complete physical healing there's another individual that we look at today that did not have a physical ailment in fact if you were to look at him you would have seen though it didn't seem like there was anything wrong but there's something that we identify here that is literally the most common illness not just in huntsville not just in america in the entire world the most common illness in the entire world more than 300 million suffer from the idea from the concept from the symptoms of depression it is depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide and is a major contributor to the global burden of disease now some people may say well i'm i'm a christian and shouldn't all christians be happy shouldn't everything be good shouldn't we smile all the time the unfortunate reality is because of sin sickness comes in a multiplicity of ways some people say depression isn't spoken about in christianity because it can be seen as a sign of a lack of faith after all aren't all christians supposed to be filled with joy and happiness and should be bubbly all the time some people may feel as if depression is a sign that something's wrong with our relationship with god i want you to notice some things about some some background about what it looks like for somebody to be depressed sometimes it's prolonged sadness or unexplained crying spells for others there's significant changes in appetite or deep sleep patterns other people may see depression as irritability anger worry and agitation or anxiety other people may see pessimism or the loss of energy persistent lethargy or just being tired all the time feelings of guilt or unworthlessness happen to other people or the inability to concentrate or being indecisive other individuals i view or depression shows up as in the inability to take pleasure from former interests or social withdrawal unfortunately the reality is depression impacts christians and non-christians alike and the same way if we're sick that we need to go to a doctor sometimes we have to go to counseling or or go to get therapy and that is okay for the christian as well including in dealing with prayer we find this in first kings chapter 18 where we hear the story of elijah and elijah just came off one of the grandest miracles in all the old testament where he calls down fire from heaven and god answers his prayer in the midst of a drought and he now begins to pray and rain comes after three years elisha has seen the power of god and it's important christian friends of mine that just because you are connected to god does not mean that you are no longer you are your superb or you are not uh able to be hit or impacted by the challenges and ravages of sin right after that miracle jezebel jezebel hears about it and says i'm going to kill him jezebel sends a messenger in first kings chapter 2 and verse 19 chapter 1 verse first kings chapter 19 verse one verse two and four excuse me so jezebel sent out a messenger to elijah to say may the gods deal with me and be ever so severely by if by this time tomorrow i do not make your life like that of one of them talking about the individuals that elijah had killed elijah was afraid and ran for his life he came to a broombush and sat under it and he prayed that he might die in the midst of seeing some of the greatest miracles of god elijah prayed that he would die he wanted to commit suicide the bible notice what he says if i had it i have had enough lord he said take my life i am no better than my ancestors after a grueling 24 hours this experience of now facing the fact that elijah was coming face to face with death and he said i would rather die than to face miss jezebel sometimes we have traumatic events that spur or push us into depressive moments the loss of a loved one missing missing areas and challenges in our lives where we think that we should be at a certain place and we feel depressed and i want to let the christian know that just because you've experienced depression does not mean that god has left you and we see this in the story of elijah that god can still find rest because the unfortunate reality is for many of us we all have just like elijah try elijah tried to run we all have a place or an idea or a situation where we try to run as well sometimes we run to the refrigerator go to the bluebell haagen-dazs or the store bay other times we run to the oreos or the we find some place to run we try to eat ourselves happy or sometimes we'll try and get us go to sleep and try to sleep ourselves happy or try to get a new job or move to another location the idea is we want to run away from the pain or others will take medications but at the end of the day the goal is the same to try to dull the pain and the only real way that we can deal with the pain heartache and issues and challenges of life is to truly spend time and connect with god came to the point where elijah was running so much that he had to pause and finally say god i need you to fix it elijah came to a place where he was too tired and so he prayed again and this prayer was different than the first time this faith-filled prayer that god answered on mark calamar he said god i want to die here's a painful reality that sometimes life gets so bad where we don't know what to do and to make matters worse depression has a way of sucking us into a dark whirlpool of self-loathing and we sometimes begin to think that death is the only way out but notice how god responds to a depressed prophet god does not say how could you forget about me god does not say do you remember what i did god does not hit him on the back of the head or or store or earthquake to jolton back to it back to reality no god deals with elijah same way he deals with you and i notice what steps of christ page 97 says we may have no remarkable evidence at the time that the face of our redeemer is bending over us in compassion and love but this is even so there may be times at your darkest moments where you may not even be able to feel or sense that god is with us but here we see that even in the midst of a dark moment in a time when we feel like we're all alone we find that god knew exactly where the prophet elijah was we may not feel his visible touch but his hand is upon us in love and pity and tenderness god was still with elijah even though he could not feel it even though he could not sense it god promised to be with us every step of the way god knew and understood that the journey was too much sometimes god allows us to run till we get tired and then he steps up and intervenes notice psalms chapter 34 verse 17 and 18 says the righteous cry out and the lord hears them he delivers them from all of their troubles the lord is close to them that are broken-hearted and saves those who are of a crushed spirit that when we are depressed and when we are down god promises to be close to us god promises to be with us and ladies and gentlemen that is good news even in depressive moments when i don't feel like i'm good enough when i don't feel like i'm not worthy enough god promises never to leave us nor forsake us you know i used to be a lifeguard when i was working through my master's degree and one of the things they taught us in lifeguard training is that when people are drowning sometimes they will get so confused that they will fight the lifeguard the very person that's trying to help them we're trained to back off and allow the person to tire themselves out and then you can perform the rescue when the victim stops fighting one thing your lesson brings out is that god does not rush healing we would expect that god would come in and just allow elijah to to be encouraged and strengthened and just go away but god allows this process to occur he allows elijah to go through the entire span of not feeling that he's good enough and then god provides the bible says in first kings chapter 19 verse 7 and 8 the angel of the lord came back a second time and touched him and said get up and eat for the journey is too much for you so he got up and drank and strengthened by that food and traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached horeb the mount of god sometimes god allows those depressive moments to go through to us to experience them and again family it does not mean that god is not left that god has left us it does not mean that we're out here all by ourselves in fact those are the moments where god is closest to us those are the moments where while we can't feel him his presence is still there i like the way isaiah chapter 53 and verse 4 through 6 says surely he has borne our griefs and carried every one of our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken and smitten by god and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed now whether god heals us right now immediately or sometimes god allows time to occur it does not mean that god is not working when we cry out when the children of god cry out god always hears one of my favorite texts is matthew chapter 7 it says if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more is heavenly father which is in heaven give good gifts to them that ask him so when your child asks for something when your a loved one asks you to do something and you step in as a loving parent how much more god want to do the same thing for his children family the lesson brings out there are going to be moments in our lives we're going to feel like life has gotten the best of us they're going to be moments in our lives where it seems like we where we're down on ourselves whether it be something we did or something somebody did to us but we can still find rest in the arms of jesus we can come to god we can bring him our concerns we can bring him our challenges and no matter what it is whether it be a class whether it be a roommate whether it be issues and challenges on our job no matter what it is god promises that we can come to him the bible says all you labor and heavy laden and he will find we will find rest god promised not to leave us nor forsake us as we go through the rest of this week i want to challenge you to continue studying the word of god continually staying in the pro keeping the promise of god before you and we will see that we can truly find rest in the arms of jesus [Music] hello oakland university church family and friends welcome to this week at the ouc i'm aaron roper and i'm kaylee byrne we're happy and blessed to have you join us today for our virtual worship experience please tell us where you are joining us from in the chat feature we're also excited the church is open for in-person worship if you would like to join us in person next week please register through the church website and click the link on the main page call or you can 256-837-1255 by the church office this week during office hours we look forward to worshiping together in person we hope that you will be richly blessed by today's service through our preaching teaching music and children's ministry join us at 5 pm today for our zoom sabbath afterglow program that will take place as we review the sabbath school lesson with elder ronald lang if you would like to join us please use the meeting id 24800-433-16 and the password is 4321. prayer opens special treasures and we believe in the power of prayer so if you would like to request special prayer please feel free to fill out our virtual connect card by visiting oucsda.org connect also please feel free to join our daily prayer call at 6 pm please call 605-475-4120 and enter the access code number 848-3381 [Music] our church office is open monday through thursday from 9 a.m to 5pm and on friday from 9am to 12am however we ask that you continue to wear a mask and maintain social distancing when visiting the church office join us this monday august 23rd at 6pm for another bible 101 with dr tucson for the zoom information please email info ouc sda.org calling all young adults we invite all young adults to join us for our weekly young adult zoom bible study which will also take place this friday august 27th at 8pm for more information please email yam oucsda.org also for all of our youth don't forget to subscribe to our ouc attic youtube channel for youth savage school discussion starters the oakwood university church market is open monday through thursday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m and on friday from 9 a.m to 2 p.m we invite you to stop by and pick up your vegetarian food products at a very reasonable price you can also buy your oaktown merchandise speaking of oaktown merchandise not only can you stop by the oakland university church market to get your oaktown merchandise but you can also get your oaktown gear by ordering online at oucsda.org shop we are currently running a back-to-school sale where you can get 25 off all hoodies and beanies hurry while supplies last we're excited that my alma mater oakwood adventist academy has begun its school year it's not too late to enroll your child for more information visit oakwood adventistacademy.org or call 256-801-0534 then choose option one we also want to remember those who are sick and shut-in in our church family due to the coven 19 pandemic we request that you not visit any of these individuals but instead keep them in your prayers send them an encouraging card or give them a telephone call to check on them that's all for this week at the ouc if there are any church events that you would like to have mentioned in this announcement segment please feel free to email us at info ouc sda.org also please remember to stay connected with us by visiting our website at oucsda.org or by following our social media platforms to know what is happening at our church may god continue to bless you and have a blessed sabbath [Music] so [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching welcome to the oakwood university church in huntsville alabama on the campus of oakwood university welcome to the oakwood worship experience so those of you gathered in the sanctuary want to say happy sabbath and welcome to those of you online who wish you the same and wherever you are this morning could you join us as we sing a welcome song welcome into [Music] a place where you can lead come on [Music] all right let's sing that second part welcome into the house [Music] if you need shelter this morning [Music] look around [Music] breeze [Music] [Applause] [Music] that sounds good and it feels good let's see it one more time enter [Music] and it is [Music] [Applause] [Music] with thanksgiving because the lord is good [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] thanks in your heart sopranos [Music] [Applause] one more turn [Music] so wherever you are all over the world [Music] from the mighty mississippi to chicago's windy streets from the sunny clime of cali where the sand and water meet to the bite of the big apple where the you'll really feel the heat we are gathered here to worship christ the lord whether students who are here today as on their own they roam or professors who have pledged to make dear oakwood feel like home or church members who no longer want to worship all alone we all gather so we'll be on one accord there are freshmen who have come today to check our service out there are sophomore twos there are sophomores too and juniors who know what we're all about there are seniors who can't wait to graduate so world look out yet we gather here because we're all on board there are some who've had a super week where they've been truly blessed there are others who can hardly speak for they are feeling stressed then there are some who are feeling tired and weak and they just want to rest but as we gather our strength will be restored and if you do not know jesus you have come to the right place for the lord will show up mightily and shower us with grace and the smiles behind the mask we wear that's plastered to on our face so we're gathered to receive a rich reward so no matter who you are today or even why you're here there is one thing that we all should know and it is very clear jesus has a word to speak to us that we should all hold dear for we're gathered here to lift our vocal cords so let's worship christ and magnify the lord [Music] let us bow our heads and close our eyes as we invite the lord into the service today dear father lord we thank you for waking us up this morning we thank you for bringing us through another week father god we invite you into this service today let us open our hearts as we open to receive you and we thank you and praise you in advance and lord amen [Music] good morning good morning ladies and gentlemen oh now it's raining outside but it doesn't have to rain inside good morning ladies and gentlemen it is good to be in the house of the lord um you still may be tired we had a marathon last week we promised won't keep you until four o'clock today so we want to say praise god we had a phenomenal time and it was a blessing those who had opportunity to witness and be with us in service or those who watched online want to say welcome welcome welcome we praise god for everything that we have done and want to continue to keep dr byrd pastor north and their families in prayer as they serve god in their respective areas in texas but we have something special to be excited about and today we are excited because we have a number of birthdays and we're going to start with our little ones today uh mr calvin belgrave turned three years old happy birthday mr calvin excuse me we also have and and denise turner we want to say happy birthday that is dr and mrs hicks granddaughter happy birthday we want to say happy birthday to this bundle of joy miss jamie max leslie ferdinand dr ferdinand's daughter who want to say happy birthday miss jamie happy birthday dr paula barnes one of our assistant head clerks here we want to praise god for another year of life for you dr ruth swann we want to say happy birthday today is your birthday your son said hey we got to make sure that we acknowledge my mother a special lady want to say happy birthday another special lady we want to acknowledge one of the young ladies that make a difference at oakwood at venice academy miss terry mitchell happy birthday miss mitchell praise god for another year of life i want to say happy birthday to rashad wall one of the young men that served we praise god for you brother rashad mr yolanda alexander happy birthday miss alexander latisha wall we want to say happy birthday we have another individual one of our deacons want to serve on the security team probably outside making sure we are all safe today mr tim cartwright we want to say happy birthday mr cartwright this lady comes all the way from birmingham alabama one of our virtual members she was actually my community service director when i was pastoring in birmingham sister gloria traylor happy birthday little birdie told me it was your birthday so we want to acknowledge you today then we have three individuals that are special because they are connected to miss dead esther childs norman mormon connie childs david and ruth childs we want to say happy birthday now the last individual we want to acknowledge for birthdays um is special to me and especially to oakwood and i'm going to ask him to stand at this time pastor lloyd wilson we acknowledge our word is your stand up elder wilson pastor wilson is one of the [Applause] everything we need he asks us to we ask him to do you do elder wilson we want to say thank you for your service and we appreciate everything that you've done not just for us but all the years that you've been here at oakland oakland community we want to say happy birthday to you [Music] we have just a couple of announcements first of all we want to apologize because of the weather we weren't able to have our sabbath school trained but pastor rafael said hey we got to make sure that we take care of our young ones so september 4th the 1st sabbath in september we will have our sabbath school train that is also the day for oakwood and venice academy alumni sabbath that's the labor day weekend so that will be the time we'll have our sabbath school training so bright and early at 9 30 pending whether we want to make sure that you are here so that we can enjoy our sabbath school training one other announcement i want to let you know that this week we will not have our food giveaway we will resume the following wednesday so please make note of that this coming wednesday now there's some people that have said how can we identify or know what's happening at the oakwood university church well there's two major ways you can do that number one is our app or app you can identify um in your app store you can look at ouc connect we also have a newsletter and what you want to do if you have not signed up for the newsletter yet you can we have a qr qrc code or qr code so that you can identify or sign up for the newsletter so what you can right now whether you're watching at home or even here today i want to see if you try it if you've not if you're not getting the newsletter just open your camera up on your smartphone again if you have a flip phone just write it down if you have a smartphone you can open up your camera and you can just put your camera on the qr code here and it will take you to a place where you can sign up and you can get all the information for our the things that are happening at the oakwood university church so please take a moment sign up there and we can make sure you can make sure you have everything you need in regards to the information happening at the oakwood university church give you one more minute please take the opportunity to do so hold it up there just want to make sure everybody has it make sure you can upload it and you can sign in right now so by the end of service today you can do so i also want to let you know for those who are registering if you want to register immediately at schmidt 6 p.m this evening we have registration open for next sabbath worship experience so if you have not had opportunity to do so you can go ahead and make sure that you are part of that worship experience for next sabbath family i am excited to be in the house of god not just i'm excited to be here with you i'm excited because i know god can do some special things and so when we think about the goodness of god and when you bring your challenges to him i'm reminded that god is able so no matter what's going on no matter what's happening we believe that god is going to do some great things so i'm going to ask you to do something for me if you can put a smile on your face behind your mask if you can put a smile on your face put it in your eyes i'm going to ask you to stand to your feet we're going to continue our worship with our praise and worship at this time as we think and sing about the goodness of god and all god has done for us from being reminded that god is truly able that god can do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask think or imagine david come on now and lead us into our worship experience today hallelujah hallelujah come on we serve an able god it's a god that we know can continuously do exceedingly abundantly and i know that a lot of us we just need to believe that this morning so whatever your situation we just want you to know that we serve an able god this morning i don't know where you i don't know what you're going through but i need you to know this morning that he is able hallelujah the song goes like this it's simple it says [Music] [Music] according to the power that [Music] [Applause] god is able to do just what he said he's gonna fulfill every promise to you it says don't give up on god cause he won't give up on you he's able come on we worship him this morning if you believe it together say it with me say he's able we worship you jesus because we know that you're able to do it whatever you say everybody say [Music] i know god gonna face [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and i [Applause] so don't you give up on jesus [Music] come on worship him in this place if you know that that's your testimony just seen him do it jesus worship jesus worship our savior because he's it oh come on it says [Music] he's able open [Applause] [Music] [Applause] one more time [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] come on say [Music] [Applause] [Music] whatever you need [Music] and abundantly [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so don't give [Music] i know it seems rough right now so don't you don't give up on god cause he won't give up on you because he [Music] on worship them is this place this morning if you believe it if you know that god is able the things that you've been waiting for the things that you've been speaking over your life they're coming through hallelujah all these songs that we sing their spirituals gospel music hymns part of the job of those genres are to boy our spirits and make us feel less despondent i got up this morning and go word of the death of one of my dear mentors african-american maestro mr michael morgan who died on yesterday great mentor to so many conductors throughout the world but we look forward to the day when we'll all get to heaven there'll be no more crying there'll be no more dying and every day will be a huge blessing and a huge celebration so if you feel impressed stand to your feet this morning if you're in tv line you can stand and join us as we sing when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be if you know it sing real strong when we all sings [Music] [Applause] oh no i know you know you can sing the stronger [Music] [Applause] [Music] me is [Music] [Music] jesus foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] enjoy [Music] we all feel the music rises let's raise our voices as we sing this last verse onwards to the prize before us giving everything you have um [Music] [Music] when we [Music] [Applause] [Music] we are [Music] please [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] for foreign [Music] [Music] think about that family we are onward to a specific product that god has planned for us something that we can't imagine that we're not here just to come week after week and high five and say hallelujah we are on a journey that god is taking us a play to a place prepared just for you and just for me that god is going planting us taking trying to get us to the kingdom of god while we're there we want to celebrate the rest of the things that god has done we say happy birthday to ms brenda lewis and also to brother brian dublin but we also are can't wait till we get to heaven because we won't have to have any more prayer requests asking god to help somebody heal through some difficult calamities today we pray chuck and margaret hines are asking the church family to continue to keep them in prayer we continue to pray and lift up the thompson family dr elvis thompson the pastors in the southwest region passed this week we want to continue to keep his family in prayer and if you've ever opened up your phone or pulled up cnn or msnbc or whatever news station you look at you realize something crazy is going on in the world when you realize the hurricane that happened in haiti followed by a tropical storm the challenges that are going on in afghanistan something has to give and i just want to let you know and remind you that jesus is using these things to let us know that this thing is wrapping up that he is literally about to come and and the question is do we really realize that heaven is our goal i don't know what god has to do to get your attention students maybe god brought you here from home so that you can be in this type of environment others god may have to do something to shake you up but family this world is not our own god wants us to prepare our minds in our hearts or places we don't have to worry about nursing homes and hospital beds we don't have to worry about contact contacts or cataracts so god is going to transform our hearts and our minds and he's doing it one day at a time so while we pray i want to remind you the words of this song that in the time of trouble god is with us when we pray god will answer and deliver our job is to trust in him to dwell in the shadow of his wings because when we call god will answer and do great things in our lives brother david lead us at this now let's time him right here as we enter into this prayer season one more time we can count on him so we have no reason to fear so if that's your testimony this morning just open up your mouth right here say you are my refuge [Music] the song says in you i'll trust [Music] it says in you [Music] i won't dread [Music] the terror by nights angels [Music] we're gonna sing that one more time open your mouth say you are my refuge [Music] [Applause] [Music] if you believe it this morning say here's your fortress [Music] [Applause] [Music] no matter what comes my way i won't dread i won't dread the terrors [Music] for i know that your angels [Applause] [Music] so i will not fear i trusted jesus come on we can sing this because we know it to be true if you believe it say when i call [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] jesus [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] let us bow our heads in prayer loving lord it is once more again we've come just to say thank you lord we thank you for breath in our body lord we thank you for another chance that you have given us lord we're so reminded that last night someone went to sleep the same time we did and they did not wake up but lord you saw fit to touch us this morning and breathe the breath of life so god for that we are grateful lord we thank you because although the devil may have us under our scope that we are protected by angels lord we're so grateful to know that whatever the enemy meant in this very moment for our evil lord you are able to turn it around for our good lord right now in the name of jesus lord we need your blood lord we need your healing power lord we need your saving power lord touch us right now heal us where we hurt oh god deliver us oh god where we are broken lord right now in the name of jesus i lift up everyone who's under the sound of my voice lord we all need you this week we've heard about haitian we've heard about afghanistan but lord right now in this very moment our country our world needs jesus lord show us what shall be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world lord we read in your word that we will hear wars and rumors of wars but yet that is only the beginning lord right now in this very moment teach us to number our days but lord most of all help us to be ready for your soon return lord i lift up the pastoral staff of this church right now lord we live up past the bird and pastor north as they have started their new journey oh god right now oh god we know that you have great plans for this church lord i live up to university in a very special way in his leadership oh god i lift up every student including myself oh god that whatever we stand in need of oh lord we know that you're able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever ask or think so god we are going to continue to trust you we are going to continue to stand on your word because lord youth told us that you would never leave us nor will you forsake us lord we know that if you can paint the sunset and call the stars into place and lord we know that if you can move mountains and if you can conquer death lord we know that you are able to find a way lord you have kept us through this pandemic and for that god we are grateful so lord continue to bless us i lift up the man who's going to bring the word of god i live up elder like it in a very special way that oh god at the end of his sermon someone will come asking what must i do to be saved and oh god we know that all of heaven will rejoice when that one comes to you and so god we are longing for that day when you will come and save us o god forgive us for all of our sins and lord we know that you are welcome in this place this is our prayer in christ's name we do pray amen and thank god amen amen amen and we just want to worship them like this together because we know that our prayers are already answered so if you just believe this this morning open up your mouth from the deepest place sing it up with your full force say when i call i know that you'll answer [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] i know [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] i know foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] even though it's hard [Music] i'll trust you lord some say i'll trust your trustwonder [Music] [Applause] [Music] your shadows [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] nice my savior i will i will not fear [Music] [Applause] good morning and happy sabbath that was somebody good morning and happy sabbath my name is kalyn griffin and i am a freshman here at oakwood university and as a new college student i am learning so much about being independent you know now if i decide i want a new netflix subscription maybe a hulu subscription mom and dad will say well you can take care of that now or if i decide that i want to go out to eat maybe pay a visit to the mall that my mom might ask what i bought but she's definitely not going to ask how much i paid for it and i'm learning the cost of things like stamps and school supplies and personal supplies but more importantly i'm understanding money management and as i begin to separate my money and i pay my tithes and offering and i pay my bills small bills but bills nonetheless and maybe even invest in my tuition i'm understanding that some of the things that i want are not always practical in the midst of all of that i am still reminded that great is thy faithfulness oh god my father there is no shadow of turning with thee change is not thy compassion they fail not great is thy faithfulness great is thy faithfulness great is thy face [Music] dr williams challenged the oakwood university church to increase our ties and offering by one percent and because of god's unwavering faithfulness everything we need and desire according to his plan is fulfilled let's pray dear heavenly father we are grateful for your faithfulness that is continually shown to us and as we lovingly willingly serve you as your children we pray that your faithfulness will be a reminder of what you have asked of us that we will continue to serve you that we will continue to worship you and that your faithfulness will continue to be on us we thank you for all the things that you have blessed us with in jesus name amen in a world that's constantly changing it's a blessing and a comfort to know that god is still in control and that he is still touching the lives of people everywhere here at the oakwood university church we are committed to reaching all people with the good news of the gospel of jesus christ and responding to the needs in our community and beyond we work diligently to ensure that you are blessed through our preaching teaching music children's youth and community ministries we praise god that we have been able to provide weekly food giveaways covet 19 testing and vaccinations help during disasters health services through the oakwood university church health services center healthy food alternatives through our oakwood university church market our online support through griefshare and divorce care ministries and daily prayer through our prayer ministry just to name a few but there is so much more that god is calling us to do and we need your help as people return to worship in person with your prayers and support we can continue to create additional online content to reach people with the good news and cover the production costs associated with providing a quality meaningful virtual worship experience please know that you can faithfully return your tithe and combine budget offerings in several ways you can give in person by visiting our church office on mondays through thursdays from 9 00 am to 5 pm and on fridays from 9 00 am to 12 noon or you can mail your gifts to the church at 5500 adventist boulevard northwest huntsville alabama 35896 you can share your gifts online through our church website at www [Music] forward slash donate or you can cash app us by utilizing our cash app handle dollar sign ouc sda you can also use the adventist giving app and donate under oakwood university church may god continue to bless you as we engage in meaningful relevant [Music] hi kids i'm even and i live in michigan welcome to oaktown live next up our news hi team i'm brother kay and i'm go town news team uh breaking news uh there's this new invention uh by a really famous scientist guess who me well i guess you didn't know that huh oh well anyway it's a voice activated train uh so so you speak and the train follows your voice uh and parents uh if this technology works and of course all my inventions work pretty much more or less oh well anyway uh uh then you all you have to do is tell your kids what to do and they'll do it uh so watch watch stop uh well that it worked like like i thought i was gonna do uh so uh i guess parents uh you better uh keep training your kids uh like you've been training them with the lord uh well anyway um uh next up one of our neighbors singing the whole town song and remember oakland is indeed the place to be uh especially if your children are being trained by buddy [Music] oaktown is a place for me cause you just died and set me free is where i grow in christ indeed all town come and go [Music] oaktown is a place for me cause jesus died and set me free it's where i grow in christ indeed all down come and go all down come and go come to jesus all down come and go go for jesus oh town come and go come to up jesus come and go come to jesus i'll tell come and go go for jesus hold down come and go come to jesus all down come and go [Music] good morning boys and girls i'm past raphael and welcome to old town live where we come to know jesus and go to whoa that's right live jesus well let's see we had amanda to give us our welcome in s-van y'all we had maven to give our welcome as well in english we had brother ida kid to do the news and we had jania our new music kid or returning music kid welcome back to nya to do our oaktown song didn't everyone do an awesome job let's put our hands together for them well we're going to have a quiz where you'll be able to get a prize all right so pay attention and then we're going to have some kids do some videos that you're going to see and then i will be back for the children's story but right now i have to run and get ready and pray i'll get ready on time and i'll see you hi kids i'm adam and today i'm going to be your first kid quiz master that means that i'm going to be the person that's going to give you a quiz and it's going to be fun because it's based on the stuff that's in account and if you get them right or at least if you did the quiz you will be eligible for a prize next week if you want to be eligible for a prize you have to go to uptown live gmail.com now question number one what do kids have to do to get a birthday greeting during oaktown live a no password fail b be an ouc member or c register online at oucsda.org oaktown at least two weeks before your birthday and the answer is c register online at oucsda.org oaktown at least two weeks before your birthday question number two children's time is taking a break and won't be on for a while a true or be false the answer is a true now for our final question brother i decay name means a i don't know b i do know or c it doesn't mean anything the answer is a brother i became name means i don't know did you get any right did you get all of them right congratulations if you want to be eligible for a prize email us at uptownlive gmail.com well kids see you next time bye awesome job adam an awesome job kids on the quiz well right now let's see which kids registered in oaktown had a birthday last week and who has a birthday today or who was her birthday by friday autumn calvin marvin cameron zaria angel ayanna lauren samuel amy aiden blaze jodell chelsea christian willa asher jeron luke god has blessed you with one more happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday happy happy birthday to you happy birthday [Music] and we would also like to give a special birthday greeting to judea north happy 18th birthday congratulations on your first year at oakland university and thank you for how you have helped in move down especially to the first getting started and happy birthday to each of you praise god god has blessed you with another one speaking of blessings listen to these kids share the blessing of giving their lives to jesus and then our children's story i got baptized because i love jesus and i wanted to follow jesus and i wanted to know more about him went on pastor rafael baptismal class and i started learning more about jesus and learned what to do when the devils tried to tempt me i after some weeks i got baptized and i started to learn more about jesus on becoming more like him at my local church and i got baptized on august 22nd 2020 and someday i would like to be a member of the oakwood seventh-day adventist church actually going after like what jesus did remember he when he was baptized by john the baptist and it showed the world it was an example that's what i'm doing now i am telling the world that i have given my heart to jesus and that when you give your heart to jesus everything is going to be good amen even if it doesn't stink even if it doesn't really appreciate you if anything's gonna get right it will get right mom knows the best that's right oh hi everyone i was just checking my watch to what well listen well first i should say weren't those some wonderful testimonies weren't those awesome let's put our hands together for those kids thank you kids for those testimonies well i hope some other kids will be inspired today to give their life to jesus after they hear the sermon and after the service today well what kind of uniform do i have on today that's right i have a train conductor uniform do you know what the train conductor does the train conductor makes sure the train gets to its destination safely and makes sure it gets there on time and make sure its passengers get there and it comes as comfortable as possible well today i have the train conductor uniform on but guess who's the train conductor in your life it's yes of course our heavenly father and jesus and the holy spirit but on earth guess who it is it's your parents that's right they are the train conductors proverbs 22 6 says train up a child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it your parents are training you so let's do a little game or activity to see how your parents are training you let me put my watch away all right we ready so let's act like it's late saturday night or maybe not so late and your parents have told you to go to bed so what's the first thing you're gonna do just before you get in bed that's right you're gonna get on your knees so let's get on our knees yes and let's pray yes we're praying thanking god for our day we're thanking god for jesus and then of course we go to sleep so close your eyes and go to sleep and then what do you do you wake up the next morning and then what do you do when you first get up in the morning your parents are training you so what are you gonna do you're gonna get on your knees and do what pray yes dear god thank you for waking me up help me to have a a better relationship with jesus today than i had yesterday and then of course you get up and then what are you gonna do so those of you who are here stand up and if you're at home stand up because you weren't really sitting were you okay kids stand up all right are you ready so you got up now you've had prayer and now it's time for you to brush your teeth so let's brush our teeth okay but don't hit your mic brush your teeth okay and then we're not gonna do the thing after we kind of brush it in the sink when i can do that thing but but let's say what's next we're gonna wash our face so wash your face wash your face okay good good and then next we're gonna shower so shower yes we know you do this every day because your parents are training you okay now it's time to eat so let's eat our breakfast ooh some you have oatmeal some of you have waffles your parents are training you to have good health so i'm not sure which one they're giving you but i'm sure they're giving you the right thing okay now it is a wonderful day and it's monday and what happens on monday you go back to school for some of you in school so let's act like we're reading we're reading we're skipping all the way to in school we're reading our books okay school's over who wouldn't it be nice if it was like that okay and then afterwards school's done and what are you doing or what did you do you already did your homework because your parents are training you to do your homework right away right so now the next thing is to eat we're eating again so let's eat come on oh yes come on get your veggie links veggies sausages and those other things okay all right so get your parents to train you giving you good health all right wonderful now it's time for family worship now what happens in family worship family worship is when we spend time with god and when we spend time with our family to learn more about jesus right through the bible so now it's family worship your parents have asked you what song would you like to sing and what song do you give them you give them the song that every youth leader every children's leader every parent every grandparent dread that you will say you say father abraham oh okay so let's stand up you gotta do father abraham okay right arm left arm right foot left foot chin up chin down turn around sit down oh don't we wish it was that short okay all right so so you've had your family worship and now it's time for you to go to bed so what are you gonna do just before you go to bed you're gonna get on your knees and do what pray are you on your knees are you praying we're thanking god for a wonderful day amen guys you did a wonderful job and aren't your parents doing an awesome job of training you they're trained conductors let's put our hands together for our parents thank you so much parents you're doing an amazing job well now it's time for us to sing our train of a child song and we're going to watch the train at first and then we're going to sing along with the song so mark raphael the second we'll sing it and you'll see the train that we had two years ago and that we're going to have in two weeks [Music] teach us to read our bibles pray every day pray every day pray every day to just to read our bibles pray every day go for jesus christ [Music] so you know the song so now we're gonna sing it and i'm gonna lead you in singing it but i want you guys to sing it as you see the words come up on the screen i'm not as good as dr ferdinand but come on hang with me i don't hear the side [Music] oh yes beautiful this side balcony oh beautiful yes [Music] awesome job let's put our hands together what your parents are doing to help you go for jesus well it's time for you to download the kids sermon notes at oucsda.org oakdown some of you already have your sermons who has the sermons already wonderful you turn those in right after church at the oaktown welcome booth you'll get a prize you'll get a snack but everyone get a snack even if you don't do the sermon notes and you'll also get your tickets for the train so i want to see you after church now the rest of you guys will take a picture of it put it online oaktownlive gmail.com right and we know that we're going to be eligible for a prize but also participate in the sermon through the sermon notes but the greatest prize is the sermon and message god has for us through elder luckett today all right we will have our music here we will have our post kid and i will see you guys faith is our post kid today and i will see you guys after church and the rest of you guys on next week bye the tragedy god's love [Music] oh hi kids i'm faith the post kid let's pray dear god please help us to obey our parents as they train us to follow jesus in jesus name i pray amen bye kids access to health care is often difficult for many particularly in our urban areas and communities to combat this challenge the oakwood university church health services center is available to you with licensed and board-certified physicians and nurse practitioners to service you in family medicine telehealth services home visits physical examinations and weight loss management the oakland university church health services center is able to meet the medical needs of the entire family all major health insurance including aetna blue cross blue shield cigna health spring humana tricare united healthcare and adventist risk management are accepted along with medicare and medicare avoid major wait times and choose the state licensed oakwood university church health services center where you will get individualized and personal medical care in a nurturing environment center hours are 9 a.m to 5 p.m tuesdays wednesdays and thursdays to learn more about our licensed medical team and to set your appointment please call 256-837-1255 extension 201 or visit us at ouc sda.org backslash health services and please know that walk-ins are also welcome i wanted to take a couple moments and affirm pastor rafael and all he does for oaktown did you all enjoy old town today [Applause] he and his family are doing a phenomenal job i'm pushing it i don't know if you guys remember cedarmont kids i believe oaktown can be the next seat of my kids and so we're going to pray to that end that god continues to bless pastor raphael in oaktown so our young people can experience jesus christ speaking of kids i want to acknowledge all of the students that have participated in our worship service today here at the oakwood university church we said this couple weeks ago when the students first came that we want oakwood to be a part be your home away from home church away from home and so all of the students that are here those in the balcony and those that are on the main floor we want to let you know that oakwood is your church and we want you to participate in various aspects of the church and so if you would like to do so just send me an email at t williamswoodoucsda.orgwilliams [Music] oucsda.org we want to affirm brother aaron that's on the keys praise god aaron is one of my students a little force tim encouraged tim strongly to be a part of here thank you aaron for all that you do we affirm him thank you so much for doing a great job [Applause] and then earlier miss brenda johnson did the invocation keelan crum the religious vice president this year is a junior and one of our interns did a phenomenal job funny thing is keelan was a part of my wife's very first kindergarten class and now we're crazy to see kelan is a junior here at oak wood we praise god for you and miss kalyn griffin she did offering she did a phenomenal job and we praise god for each of our students that are part of the oakwood university church and we're going to continue to allow students to participate in our worship services oakwood it's not just a church but it becomes their church today i have the privilege of introducing a phenomenal man of god his name is pastor kennedy luckett today he did not come alone he brought with him his lovely wife miss veronica bass luckett her sister ms ronnelle moore and mom miss ruby bass just wave your hands we praise god for you guys they have been in south central for such a long time we praise god for each and every one of you um for hanging out with him and making his life special pastor luckett's title is ministerial secretary but what that really means is that pastor luckett is the pastor's pastor that he is the one that we have concerns or questions or anything that needs to happen for our pastors he is the first one to come and be a part of our journey as we walk along through this journey called ministry but not only does he hold the title pastor luckett lives the life many moons ago i pastored a few miles south of him in a place called radcliffe kentucky and every now and again in louisville he would allow me to come up and preach for him he would come down and hang out with me and encourage me along the journey and i find it so funny and i find it fitting that today um not just a ministerial secretary but one of my mentors has the opportunity to share the word of god with us today pastor luckett thank you so much for all that you do and what you're going to continue to do for our church we know god is going to richly bless after the ministry of in song my brother saxophonist brother aaron spencer we're going to praise god through the ministry of the word of god by our pastor kennedy lucky aaron thank you [Music] hello [Music] hey [Music] hey okay [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] hey [Music] hey [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Applause] let's say amen again let's bless that gifted young man with his saxophone amen is the song true can you say i love the lord because he heard my cry pitted every groan all the grace of god is amazing i thank god for it what about you today amen i want to thank my dear friend pastor tucson for his kind words of introduction for his invitation to come and share with you today i want you to know that i appreciate deeply respect greatly the pastoral staff here at the oakwood university church matthew williams and pastor goodrich pastor rafael pastor wilson uh our first elder well known for some years as well uh elder malcolm taylor you have a you have a wonderful team here and they are doing a tremendous job in carrying on the work in the ministry of of this institutional church and i i pray that you will continue to work with them and support them with your presence with your energy and with and with your prayers i am just thrilled that you have come to join us for worship today happy to share this worship experience with my great niece kalin and others i can tell that i'm getting older because now my friends children are here matriculating through the university but through it all god is good and i am just thrilled to mark their progress i want to thank my wife my mother-in-law and sister-in-law for being here today as well and i want to ask you to give attention now to the word of god so we look for a few moments at the scripture and hear what god has to say i'd like for you to look in your bibles with me at john chapter 2. second chapter of john's recording of the events of our savior as he walked the earth they're just glimpses you know just snapshots john said i couldn't i couldn't put it all down but he gave us 21 21 chapters worth of uh of memories and reports this is john chapter two and i want to read in your hearing beginning at verse number 12 john 2 beginning at verse number 12. if you take your bibles and join me in standing we're going to pray at the conclusion of our scripture reading if you would take your bibles follow along with me as a reading you're hearing you'll hear me reading from the new king james version the scripture reads after this he jesus went down to capernaum he his mother his brothers and his disciples they did not stay there many days now the passover of the jews was at hand and jesus went up to jerusalem and he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves the money changers doing business when he had made a whip of cords he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen poured out the changes money and overturned the tables and he said to those who sold doves take these things away do not make my father's house a house of merchandise this is the word of god for the people of god let's pray i hear lord of showers of blessings that you are scattering full and free showers the thirsty soul refreshing lord let some drops fall now on me even me lord yes even me let some drops fall now on me it's my prayer in jesus name amen amen you may be seated our subject today is really an abbreviated portion of an old ryan subject today beggar man thief beggar man thief say pastor such an odd such an odd heading you know many years ago in a culture a little less southern than the one in which i grew up in mississippi even across the waters where pastor goodrich is from children used to play this little nursery rhyme game it was a a a counting a designation game and the idea was you know this was before this was before children's go-to snack was candy but children would take cherries generally cherries sometimes plums uh a piece of fruit that had in it a pit you know that hard core seed and whether the cherry was eaten first or sometimes they would eat the fruit from the pit and place the pits down but the game went went like this they would they would line up a certain number of pits and choose one of them to go first and they would count off each each cherry and each cherry had a designation so you went rich man poor man beggar man thief you pointing at cherries as you go uh uh doctor lawyer indian chief the the the the idea was the question would be asked what am i going to be when i grow up yeah and and and then you start counting cherries rich man poor man beggar man thief doctor lawyer indian chief and whichever one you ended up on uh you you'd have a laugh with your friends there's what i'm going to be when i grow up the fragility of destiny yeah so so so would to god you would think that life could be so simple yeah that that with just the choice of of of of a nursery rhyme we could determine what our course our path in in life would be and and even the children would would laugh and remark and think to themselves you know if if if they counted if they counted just right or the cherries got rearranged or some more got added to the table and they counted and they ended up as a rich man oh they'd be happy but they they also realized you know what i was just a cherry away from poor man i i want us to look today at a simple story that that says something profound to us because it reminds us that that that the things we use to divide us and designate ourselves don't really matter anything at all to god and that the things that matter most the best things in life that god has for us don't come because of our advantages or disadvantages they don't come from our stations and designations in life but they come from a god who gives to all freely to rich man poor man to beg a man to thief passover was one of the greatest of all the jewish feasts the law obligated every adult male within 15 miles of jerusalem to attend passover but it was not only these nearby believers who came to this great feast the israelites were scattered all over the known world and they never forgot their homeland in fact it was the dream of every jewish believer to at least once in their lives get home get to jerusalem for passover jesus decides that he will join this caravan of jerusalem-bound travelers he makes his way to the city the bible says in john 2 and verse 14 and he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers doing business it's helpful it is helpful if we understand where where this is happening it's not inside the the the the sacred space itself the the gathering point of worship of the temple such as we are sitting in today it was not there but it was on the temple's premises the temple at that time had three courts how many courts everybody talked to me how many courts everybody the temple at that time had three courts because you see the culture segregated where segregated people according to status and gender never a good good idea the culture segregated people according to status and gender so there was there was this there was the court of the priests where the actual services took place where the actual articles of of furniture were and where teaching uh could happen to the east of that court of the priest was the court of the men you hear the you hear the categorization don't you the court of the men reserved for males who were jewish by by blood by birth and then next to it was the court of the women only for women who were born hebrews and then and then around these three segregated courts is this is this vast open space of of about 14 acres called the court of the gentiles the court of the whom everybody court of the gentiles what is this what what what this myth was what what this meant was this was who could come here well well uh first gentiles could come there to the court of the gentiles a gentile meaning any person male or female who was not jewish by birth if they converted to judaism this was as close as they could get to their house of faith court of the gentiles add to that the lame could come there the sick the discouraged the damaged the physically imperfect could come this far but no farther and it was in this huge courtyard of the gentle gentiles where this market was set up and so and so who was at this court there were sheep farmers and cattlemen there were money changers and loan officers there were priests and rulers and and would you believe they were all thieves yeah i wish i could break it to you another way but they were they were all thieves this was a racket this was not just enterprise this was organized organized crime if you will this was this was racketeering see see many many who had come from great distances had to travel light and so they brought no animals along with them for sacrifice it's a lot of trouble to keep the animal fed and watered on the road from day to day to make sure that the animal is safe at night to keep an eye on the animal as as as you go to keep it from getting injured or stolen or killed or damaged in some way so most people were just not up for all of that energy and time to to make their way from their home to jerusalem bringing an animal for the sacrifice so for convenience for convenience uh some enterprising merchants came up with the idea of making animals available for sale in the outer court of the temple because they have been taught that a true jew should never visit jerusalem and not at least step foot into the temple and offer a thank offering there was usually a line of people waiting to buy an animal for sacrifice this was what you call a captive market this is what we would call a a a a monopoly and it was it was really it was theft on a very on a very high level for instance the law said that all animals to be sacrificed must be in pristine condition free from blemish so if you brought your own animal with you there would be priests at the temple gate to inspect your animal and and somehow always seem to spot some defect in the animal that you brought uh to to render it unusable uh and and they would charge you for the inspection at that point you had to buy a temple market animal where the price could be four times as much as regular market value thieves in the temple say your income was poverty level well the lord had allowed that the very poor uh didn't have to bring a lamb they could offer turtle doves instead isn't that right but but guess what doves that cost only four pennies on the street might cost 75 pennies at the temple thieves in the house doing business along with these peddlers with what the bible calls money changes it calls them what everybody money changes you remember ever taking your child taking your grandchild to chuck e cheese you remember you ever ever been yeah yeah you know at one time i haven't been in a little while now but but at one time they had this this simple non-alarming uh device uh uh it was part of uh part of their master plan uh to separate you from your money as soon as you came in uh you you know what it is you you have you thought about it uh they the chuck e cheese would tell us that hey you see all this fun stuff in here that you want to play uh all this fun stuff in here that attracts your child or your grandchild it's yours for the asking but but listen uh you need to pay for it not with money but with what with tokens with chuck e cheese token so so so here's what you do take your cash put it in our machine yeah and we'll give you what tokens in return will change your money you listening to me will change your money the idea was separate you from your cash so you don't think about how much you're spending once you got to the temple the pharisees had had had had leveraged the priests to agree that no coins with the likeness of any emperor or any idol god could be accepted in the temple why because they said the temple we know is too holy uh to have caesar's image uh on its money in this house no only simple tokens can be used here temple shekels uh must be spent in the temple so before you could buy an animal you need to go to the money changers table and exchange your worldly money for temple shekels uh but but but but of course of course for this convenience there is a charge uh for this convenience there is an exchange fee uh so and the exchange rate well it depends on the market at the time uh if they're not very many people in need then we won't give you dollar uh for token but you know it might be a dollar and a quarter for each token but but if the demand is high then then you know three dollars might get you one temple dollar thieves in god's house and pass the money changers were the predatory lenders say you didn't have 75 pennies for some turtle doves well what do you have uh we can take it on pawn uh we can offer you a short-term high interest loan lord have mercy uh if if if if if you don't have anything guess what we got you covered uh your credit is good with us just sign right here thieves in the house of the most high they did a brisk business pretty much year round but but but brother sister at passover time at passover time sales went through the roof everybody needed something listen to me the resulting confusion sounded like like trading at a cattle market uh bulls and and and heifers mooing and sheep buying and dubs cooing and coins clinking and and remember this about animals they are not potty trained no no the court was not only the temple court was not only a bedlam of noise and commerce but it smelled awful and it was not sanitary desperate travelers haggling with greedy merchants and lenders stepping in who knows what curses and threats and insults fill the air there was there was this was a mad house nothing spiritual going on here the poor was shamefully cheated the worship of god was hindered and impoverished instead of being enriched the outside worshiper who came to the temple seeking quiet and fellowship with the lord had to push his way through sales pitches of of animal keepers and the the barking of inspectors and have his or her devotional time uh disrupted by wrangling and shouting of this stockyard atmosphere the two major applications i want to make today here's the first one here's the first one the jews had always been dangerously proud of their pious ways and their holy upbringing that's that's why temple shekels were invented in the first place they they they thought themselves too holy to handle worldly money in their house but somehow at the same time they could peddle animals and cheat people in the same house first application they had rejoiced over their temple and if someone dared speak against this house the jews would stone them for blasphemy but as much as they loved their temple listen to me somehow they just were not sensitive to how far they had drifted from the respect god was due you see that don't you what is it that i'm saying what is it that i'm saying i'm saying that sometimes sometimes we wake up way later than we need to sometimes we wake up way later than we need to those animals those money changers those those predatory lenders they did not show up in the temple overnight one turned into a few few turned into a group group eventually turned into a mock drifted you see these jews let the temple drift into chaos a little at a time and when they looked up things had drifted completely out of control come on let me walk down your street a second sometimes christian we wake up way later than we need to sometimes we wake up way later than we need to you mean for it to be innocent and simple it starts out that way and then it gets away oh you know what i mean you start out being friends you end up being lovers it drifted you start out just having a little fun you get you end up with a gunshot wound you start out with just some social drinking you end up a drunk an alcoholic you start out borrowing a few dollars from the boss's cash drawer you end up stealing payroll checks you start out using ten dollars tithe on one bill and 20 tithe on another bill and you end up with even more bills and no tithe at all start out missing one sabbath from church you end up having been to church in months now and you start out i don't see it that way you end up not knowing what you believe like you can figure it out on your own and when we finally wake up to what's going on we've gotten so far from god we don't know where we are we don't know how in the world we let it get that far gone sometimes you wake up too late and that is when jesus steps in turn in the corner now that's when jesus steps in that's when jesus sets the disarray back in order uh when it's when it's too far gone sometimes we need to just ask jesus to clean the house so we can start over yeah i'm i'm i'm reading i'm quoting this is desire of ages you got the book find it i'm reading it says slowly descending the steps raising the scourge of cords gathered upon entering the enclosure he bids the bargaining company depart from the precincts of the temple with the zeal and severity he has never before manifested he overthrows the tables of the money changers still quoting the coins fall ringing sharply upon the marble pavement none presumed to question his authority none dare stop to gather up the ill gotten gained she's writing now jesus does not smite them with the whip of cords but in his hand that simple scourge seems terrible as a flaming sword officers of the temple speculating priests brokers and cattle traders with their sheep and oxen rush from the place with the one thought of escaping from the condemnation of his presence it's page 158 desire of ages most scholars believe jesus did this twice he did it how often twice twice this time in john at the beginning of his ministry and then in matthew 21 matthew 21 flip over there with me matthew 21 towards the end of his time here on earth i keep asking the question this morning keep asking the question who was in the courtyard who was there who was who was there i told you the the merchants and the money changers they were there the lenders and the uh uh uh the priests the inspectors they were there the the the the the cheats and the scallywags the opportunists and the pickpockets they were there who was there in the temple uh yard that day in matthew 21 and verse 13 matthew 21 and verse 13. listen to what jesus said he said it is written my house shall be called a house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves thieves what were they stealing preaching what were they stealing well people were not only stealing money they were not only stealing uh uh uh uh uh goods and and and and hard-earned cash and people's dreams they were stealing glory from god they were stealing peace from god's people they were stealing security from the incapable and jesus said enough i'm driving you out but look what happened oh don't miss this look what happened when jesus made space look what happened when he got them out verse 14 i love it verse 14 john matthew 21 verse 14 and then do you hear do you see the word then then it says then when they're all gone when the animals are gone when the cheaters are gone when the lenders are gone then the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them you see who else was there you see who else was there not just the lenders and not just the merchants not just the money changers and the priests not just the thieves no no who else was there the poor who had no money for sacrifice uh the poor who felt like they were left out of salvation now because they were broke the forgotten and the unimportant they were there ah are the overlooked and the put down oh god they were there the tossed aside and the never noticed the never chosen the soul burdened and the soul oppressed how they were there at first glance listen to me at first glance it might seem that jesus cleansed the temple to get the thieves out ah but what he was primarily doing was cleansing the temple so the disadvantaged and the broken could come in oh what a savior he was restoring hope to his people he was restoring purpose to the temple you remember that old song remember that old song if heaven were a thing then money could buy then the rich would live and the poor would die ah but jesus said it is not so he said it is not so the savior said i will not let it stand jesus said i will show you the kingdom of heaven get this stuff out of my father's house what is a marketplace what is a marketplace marketplace is where you buy and sell that right a marketplace is where you get things that you have listened to me listen to me a marketplace is where you get things that you have what worked for a marketplace is where you get what you earn and you've earned what you get that may be good capitalist capitalist economics but it's bad religion hmm listen to the preacher today huh you get what you earn you earn what you get uh you pay for what you want and take it home uh that may be good capitalism but it's bad theology yeah it's bad religion a marketplace is the wrong place for a church for a church is always to be a shop of gifts wants his house to be a shop of gifts not a store uh not a store no not where you buy gifts but a house where you receive gifts he does not have a marketplace in mind that's good religion yeah that's that's good theology those poor people have been bamboozled all they had heard was how you work your way to heaven all they had heard was that you buy your sheep and you buy your doves when the lamb was standing right there and the only dove that mattered was not for sale for these souls jesus was restoring hope hope that's listen to me hope that salvation is not about my resources but it is about my faith in the savior you have it now don't you christian you got it now don't you i can go to my seat yeah yeah jesus was restoring purpose to the temple jesus was making a declaration that this is not a place where you give what you have to get something else no jesus was making the declaration that this is the place to come get for free what you could not buy at any price eternal life you see it he turned it on his ear he said we can't work this out we can't talk this out we can't negotiate our way through this no no no no bad religion has to go so good religion can prevail get this stuff out of my father's house huh eternal life is not for sale you don't have to be rich enough to go to heaven oh help me somebody you don't have to be smart enough wise enough good enough born in the right place to get in my father's house get this stuff out of here because heaven is not about your resources heaven is about faith in a savior is anybody listening to me today huh huh anybody listening to me and those who had money those who had money yes it was true for them too he ran them out because he was forcefully declaring the gospel to each one of us whether we're rich or poor whether we're beggar man or thief jesus was saying hey why are you trying to spend money for what you cannot buy huh huh why are you trying to spend money for what is never for sale why are you cheating for what you can have for free if it's life that you want get all this stuff out of my daddy's house and just believe just believe you see how free that is you see how free that sounds you see you feel that burden lifting up off your shoulders and off your back don't let the devil fool you like you ain't good enough i know that's not good english but i'm i'm a country boy i don't let the devil fool you like you ain't good enough like you ain't got enough like you don't come from the right place god says come like you are and get for free what you've been trying to steal look at verses 15 through 17 as i go 15 through 17. watch it but when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did when when when the broken down finally got in the house and jesus was ministering and healing them the chief priests and the scrap scribes saw these wonderful things and they heard the children who ever heard of in that time children in the temple in the house of god but there they were but the children crying out in the temple and saying hosanna to the son of david oh but watch it the scribes and the pharisees were indignant the word the text says and they said to jesus do you hear what these are saying and jesus said to them you might be right no he said yes have you never read out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise when the rulers and mighty changes who had fled the temple finally slowed down from running they turned back around headed back towards the temple they gathered the courage they drifted back towards the house of god and they heard the sound not of a marketplace but they heard the sound of praise and they were disturbed they were more comfortable with the sound of an enterprise in the temple than with the sound of praises to god in the temple but look look look the heart of jesus did not hate these men no the heart of jesus was not out for the kill no he loved the merchants he loved the money changes he loved these religious leaders he was trying to bring them around just like he's trying to bring us around see see this all comes down you can play for me this all comes down to trusting in god sometimes some sometimes right you might it might be called surrender uh that means depending on someone else instead of depending on yourself but how many know surrender is not always easy [Music] sometimes sometimes we're buying instead of believing listen to me sometimes we're grabbing instead of letting go sometimes we're reaching instead of resting because the truth is the truth is the nature within us does not want us to give up on ourselves no no we like being in charge we like our independence but only the jesus in us only the holy ghost in us can bring us to the place where we can move ourselves out of the way and let the lord have his way sometimes christian sometimes balcony the thing to do is to let jesus clean his house [Music] his house not not not this house his house sometimes the thing to do is take your hand off yourself [Music] let jesus clean his house huh huh we said a marketplace is where you get things that you have worked for that that's that's fine and good but the kingdom of god is a shop of gifts not where you buy gifts but where you just receive gifts because salvation is not about our resources salvation is about our faith in a savior so as i take my seed it's not it's not our lambs or our money it's not our grasping or our pride no christ in us he is the hope of glory and guess what that's a gift not for sale you got to change no money for it he's a gift yeah i'm calling i'm preaching but i'm calling receive if you know you need to come on and receive what god has for you you start moving right now i'm just calling as i finish come come right now love is a gift receive it white raiment is a gift receive it repentance is a gift just receive it obedience is a gift receive it victory is a gift receive it the holy spirit is a gift who brings all other gifts along with him receiving the lamb of god is a gift receiving surrender is a gift receiving it's a gift for the money changes he's a gift for the poor he's a gift for the everyday man or woman for the college student and the high schooler he's a gift you know why because god bless you you know why because you can't ever buy what is not for sale and you can never gain by cheating what you can have for free rich man poor man beggar man thief for all of them jesus says no charge it's a gift who says amen who says amen i'm calling just a few moments longer just a few moments longer i'm calling it's a gift don't you get tired of trying to make it work [Music] don't you think it's better to just let jesus do the work it's a gift lay your money down lay your your your your animals to the side lay your efforts in the dust and let jesus clean his house [Music] would you come would you come it's a gift it's a gift it's a gift here's about eyes are closed there's a move you need to make god in heaven knows he asks you to make it now slip out of your seat come forward receive just receive it's not a marketplace nothing's on sale price is the same for everybody jesus paid it all but for you it's free are you here are you here closing moments closing closing [Music] i thank you father for giving us this time in your word i pray lord that i've not been in your way but i i pray lord that you've been in ours i pray that you've you've come face to face and up close and personal with with each one of us in this place today thank you for what you said to us thank you for what your word means to us and what it has done for us thank you lord thank you that above all things above all things lord you you set things back in order because above all things when it's all said and done you want us home with you thank you for what you've done thank you for those who've answered this appeal today thank you for others lord who who who treasure this word in their hearts we'll say lord by your grace by your grace help me to walk [Music] in your free gift each day in these closing moments friend of mine if that's your prayer would you lift your hand to god as i as i close us together with an amen if that's your if that's your desire i see your hands around this sanctuary i see it more importantly god season lord this is our hearts desire save us we pray and we thank you in jesus name let every heart say amen [Applause] like to say thank you pastor luckett for those timely words to reminding us that this is a gift from god that he wants to give each and every one of you i want to praise god in fact aren't you glad that you're in the house of god praise god for that [Music] [Applause] again want to remind you if you would like to register for next week that opening will open up this evening at six o'clock we have to stand to your feet as we have our benediction at this time dear god we are thankful that you're still cleaning temples in our prayer today that you have created us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us we're thankful for your man servant that came down today to share the word of god and remind us that there's nothing no one too far gone that can still be saved and experience the power of salvation we're thankful that it's a gift and lord today we accept your son jesus in our hearts lead us guide us to this end in jesus name we pray amen amen you may consider yourselves dismissed [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Oakwood University Church

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Keywords: ouc, worship, prayer, faith, love, hope

Id: 2NWbqZS4gGA

Length: 165min 0sec (9900 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 21 2021