OUC Worship Experience - 9/18/21

checking one two testing one two one two checking one two checking okay so it works i think pastor williams testing one two admin testing one two it's good all right thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it's on good morning and welcome to another edition of sabbath school my name is dr tucson williams and we have another opportunity to spend time in the word of god today before we begin let's bow our heads and let's pray god we are thank you thankful for the ability to smile even in the midst of tragedy disappointment and challenges we're also thankful that you give us an opportunity to spend time in your word away from the distractions of the world so we can focus on what's truly important we ask that you got our hearts in our minds as we study your word in jesus name we pray amen all right so good morning ladies and gentlemen we are here in sabbath school we'd like to welcome you those who are watching virtually it is always a privilege and a pleasure to spend time in the word of god now you know this quarter we've been focusing on the theme resting in christ resting in christ and no and because i know that you have all studied your lesson and you are well aware of the events that are going to take place you are already in the book of jonah the old testament book of jonah so while you're there turning to the book of jonah trying to find out that find that minor prophet in your book or on your phone i just want to remind you that every monday night at 6 00 p.m we have a bible what is called bible 101 and we have an intentional bible study we have individuals all literally all across the world that join in phone in on our zoom call so that we can spend time in the word of god together these next few weeks we're looking at the book of acts and if you were part of our study last week you saw the power of god move as we talked about pentecost and this week we're looking at acts chapter three we're going to focus on the miracles and blessings that the holy spirit has poured down and wants to pour down on his people so please join us if you would like to have the link send us an email at info ouc sda.org and we will be sure to send it to you so that you can do your lesson so we can be ready to go when it comes time for our time for our class together all right so we are in the book of jonah what book did i say jonah there we go we're in the book of jonah our anchor text from from jonah chapter four now jonah's a very short book but there's a lot of things that are packed here in the book of jonah so if you are ready we're going to read our anchor text for the day jonah chapter 4 and verse 11. jonah chapter 4 and verse 11. and here the word of god reads i should not pity nineveh and should i not pity nineveh that great city in which are more than 120 000 persons who cannot discern between their right and their left right hand and their left and much livestock here we find jonah recalling or talking to god about this journey that god is calling jonah on but in the story of jonah we recognize that the story of jonah is not just about god trying to save nineveh it's about god trying to save jonah as well think about it jonah is a prophet and a prophet is someone who says god when you call i will go a prophet is an individual who says god i have a special connection and a special relationship with god and so what we find it very interesting in this particular story is that when god calls jonah this time jonah runs when god asks jonah to do something that he doesn't necessarily think should be done he says god i don't know why you're asking me to do this and so we're going to see as we walk through the story of jonah we're going to see how jonah responds in spite or in in direct contradiction to what god calls him to do one of the first questions your lesson brings out is can we find rest outside the will of god the obvious answer is absolutely not but what we find interesting in the story is why would jonah run the prophet of god why would jonah run if and if if it's true that we can't find rest outside of the will of god have you in your christian experience come to the place where god told you to go right and you said ah it's more comfortable going left where god goes you told you to go up and you said ah god it's easier to go down and i want to let you know the same way we look at the story of jonah as we're looking and talking about god trying to save nineveh we're also seeing how god extends grace even to his prophets they're people of god you and i we still need grace and this is the reason why the book second kings chapter 14 verse 25. it's actually if you read the story i had opportunity to look at your lesson the call of jonah in the book of jonah was not the first time that god spoke to his prophet let me say one more time if you read the lesson you had an opportunity to see that when god called jonah in the book of jonah it was not the first time that god and jonah had a relationship this call was not the first time in fact second kings chapter 14 and verse 25 we put on your screen in just a second says jeroboam won back the israelites student run back israel's border from lebo hamath to the dead sea this happened as the lord of israel had said and he said it through his servant jonah son of amitai he was the prophet from ha gath heifer heifer excuse me what we're seeing in this particular text is that god has used jonah before and in times past jonah was obedient what god calls jonah to do this time challenges his faith now i want to let you know christian friend of mine that there will be times that god will stretch you there will be times that god will call you there will be times that god will put you in places where you don't necessarily feel like you should be or want to be and that does not stop the call of god on your life so the question today is why when god said go to nineveh jonah jonah takes off running what would happen why did jonah decide say god i don't want to go there well well it gives us a little bit of background we need a little bit of background when we're talking about the story of jonah and who these folks the ninevites were historical and archaeological records indicate that the neo-assyrian army or overlords when they were on charge of the near eight inch near east during the eighth century bc this was a time that jonah ministered in israel sennacherib the king at the time would have taken over 200 000 prisoners prisoners 200 000 prisoners from 46 fortified cities that he had claimed to destroy but what's even deeper than that not just this king sennacherib coming to destroy people it was how he would destroy them drink there will be times that he would take people that he had conquered and he would literally impale them that means he would take a pole and take it from one end from the back all the way up to the front there will be other times where he would take people's sister sharon and literally cut them in half just like he would do a fish before a fridge frog those he allowed to live and those he did not impale for those he did not fully he decide he called them to be cheap slave labor and it was this type of individual that jonah said there's no way in the world god that they deserve to be saved are there people in your life that maybe you haven't said it out loud but but in your actions or in your witness you're saying that there's no way in the world god would save that guy could it be sometimes god in the story and the way that he's calling and wooing jonah to this this experience is not just to show jonah who jonah is but for jonah to see who god is because the bible still says in john 3 16 that god so loved god for god's will of the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and god let us know that he is willing to save any and everyone and it's not our ability or a decision to choose who's going to be saved and who's going to be lost but notice what jonah's response is when it came to this journey of how god was going to save these individuals the bible says in jonah chapter four and verse number three therefore o lord please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live here we go dr iwani we're seeing that this jonah the god that he served the one who he is now trying to to to show and deliver jonah's saying it would be better for me to die to lose my life than to see these individuals say so the bible says jonah you guys know the story jonah ran away but notice what the bible says in jonah chapter 1 and verse 5. grab your bible i want to make sure you see it jonah chapter 1 jonah chapter 1 and verse number 5. there's something very interesting that we see in the story of jonah that i want to make sure that we um can can can extrapolate from the text jonah chapter one and excuse me one and verse number three jonah chapter one and verse number three the word of god says but jonah did what jonah did not walk away john didn't turn his back jonah put on his track shoes and he started booking it down to the harbor and the bible says he ran away from the lord and headed for tarsus and the bible plays on words notice how the bible plays on words the bible says jonah tries to run away from the lord headed for tarsus but also notice this when he's running the bible says and he went where can you see it he went down don't miss that every time that jonah tried to run away from god the bible says he went down when we choose to leave calling that god has on our lives we will never truly find rest we're talking about rest this quarter we're talking about truly resting in christ and you can never find rest when you're not in a state or a situation of obedience you can never find rest when you're disobeying there's always going to be something that's not going to give you peace in your spirit because you are always going down but the bible says he went down to joplin where he found a ship bound for that port and after paying the fare he went aboard and sailed for tarsus to flee from the lord think about this jonah tried to run away from god he ran away and he paid affair to run away from the lord that means it cost him money to disobey you know what's funny jeremy i mean not jeremiah david told this about fleeing from the lord david said where can i go from your spirit psalms 139 so where can i go from your spirit where can i flee from your presence if i ascend to heaven you are there if i make my bed in hell you are there as well if i take my wings if i take wings in the morning and dwell on the uttermost parts of the sea even there thy hand shall lead me thy right hand shall hold me if i say surely darkness will cover me even in the night shall be even the night the light isn't round about me yea in darkness height is not for me but at night but the light shineth as the day and the darkness of the night both are alike unto thee what david is saying is that no matter where i go in heaven or on earth god you know exactly where i am so jonah on the ship peaceful so peacefully goes down to the bottom of the ship and begins to take his rest but as he's resting the bible says that there's a major tempest that comes and rocks and and shakes the boat so much so that they begin to the sailors begin to throw things off the boat and trying to figure out even after that didn't work they're trying to figure something has to go wrong and they begin to draw straws and say whose call who's the cause of this calamity and they finally get to joan and realize jonah is the cause of the mess and what jonah says shows that we really can't have peace when it comes when we're running from god because jonah says throw me overboard and then the storm will cease now we know that there was going to be a whale that's going to come and save jonah but jonah at the time literally was saying i'm rather give my life up i would literally rather die at the hands of this this this major storm than truly be obedient he could have said take me back i got to go to nineveh but no he said throw me overboard and as he's overboard this is the beauty about what i love about god that even while god allowed jonah to attempt this suicide make the suicide attempt it's while he's falling and when he's in the midst of this crazy storm that jonah literally begins to pray have you ever been in a situation where you found yourself in a place where you should not be in a situation where you knew that man that i should not be here and you begin to pray lord like peter lord save me here we see jonah's prayer in jonah chapter 2 verses 2 and 3. it says in my distress i call to the lord and family that's good news that even when we're disobedient we can pray and we have a god that loves us enough to hear our prayer it says i called to the lord and he answered me from the deep in the realm of the dead i called for help he said even when i'm about to die i called and god still helped me and you listen to my cry that lets us know the type of god that we serve that even when we get ourselves in the mess that we should not be in god still literally hears our prayer and answers and saves us it says you hurled me into the depths and into the very heart of the seas and the current swirled about me and your waves breakers all around me i have said i have been banished from your sight yet i will look again to your holy temple think about this jonah is literally almost at the in the depths of the sea and he says man if i just close my eyes i know that god is still on the throne i know he still dwells in the temple and he says salvation comes from the lord no matter what situation we find ourselves in no matter what happens in life we can still call on the name of the lord and god gives us the power to deliver god gives the ability to be god has the power to deliver us and one thing your lesson brought out i thought is really interesting is that sometimes we need to get away to get a fresh perspective sometimes our world has to be shaken sometimes we have to be moved to get displaced so that we can truly see that not only god is in control but he's in control of our lives and if we let him he'll reveal his will to us and so god jonah wanted to get rest remember he was sleeping on the boat so god gives him three days of time to just just be to himself three days of time out three days not just wandering lost in the the sea but god sends us fish creates a fish we don't know how big it was but god creates it big enough for him to think big enough for him to sit i can imagine some days he would cough and some days he would be cold some days he would have different types of fish swimming beside him the things that the the whale has swallowed to eat but here we identify that in this moment god literally takes jonah back to the place where he should have been in the first place and in this experience god shows jonah this place called nineveh and nineveh was really a really really big city so much so the bible identifies it take three took three days for him to walk past and the one thing god called jonah to do was to let them know that god was displeased with them and god was going to destroy them and so the bible says jonah chapter three jonah chapter three and verse three says so jonah arose and went to nineveh according to the word of the lord verse three chapter three he finally gets he finally says hey lord i'm gonna do what you called me to do thank you so much for saving me i will go to nineveh and i will do what you asked me to do and it says he went to the word of the lord now nineveh was an extreme exceeding great city of three days journey and verse number four says and jonah begat began to enter the city a day's journey and he cried and said yet forty days and nineveh shall be overthrown that's it you went in y'all got 40 days to get yourself right god's going to come and destroy each and every one of y'all you got 40 days to make sure that you are right with god that's the end of the sermon there was no appeal there was no a song there was no uh special story no jonah simply said hey you got 40 days to get yourself right or god's gonna destroy everybody i mean the idea here is jonah really didn't put his full heart into the message he simply said god's going to come here and destroy everything and everybody but what this also lets us know is that there's something about the power of the holy spirit that in spite of the messenger god has a way of the bible says his word will not return back return to him void and just with that one sentence the bible says a revival broke out and literally a worship session in session ignited in nineveh where people all across the city began to say hey we need to ensure the bible says that not just men and women put themselves in sackcloth and asking but they said we're gonna make sure even the animals repent because they recognize man that god has given us one more chance god has given us one more opportunity to get our lives right with god and so the entire city falls on their knees they begin to say god please please forgive us of our sin they choose to repent notice what the bible says verse seven and nine seven through nine neither let man this is the king of nineveh speaking neither let man nor beast heard nor flock taste anything nor feed them do not give them water but let man beasts be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto god this is true repentance they're not saying god man listen we we we just help us know they literally turn their back on the things that they knew they were doing was wrong and hear the word of god as they cry and say let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands they recognize that they did wrong and we are acknowledging it and they're saying god forgive us of our sins verse 9 it says who can tell if god will return and repent and turn away in his fierce anger and we perish not even these individuals who lived in nineveh these individuals who literally did wrong every element and aspect of their lives was evil continually but when they had an opportunity to repent they said maybe god will have grace maybe god will extend his love it's possible that god will do whatever just like jonah said it and will save our lives and so everyone decides to make we want to make sure we are right with god and god extends their life and gives them one more chance you know while the holy spirit was at work jonah started throwing a tantrum while god saves these individuals while jonas i can imagine in the corner waiting man listen god's going to destroy the city in three two one no fire three two one god's gonna rain down hell sure at this point somebody's going to make a mistake and i'm going to watch god get them god get each and every one of them and god extends grace and watch how jonah responds in chapter 4 verses 2 and 3. like a petulant child the bible says to jonah this seemed to be very wrong and he became angry and prayed to the lord isn't this what i said lord while i was at home it is what i tried to forestall by seeing fleeing tarshish in other words jonah was saying god i knew you would be gracious god i knew you would give them another chance and that's why i didn't want to come because they should have died jonah says i knew you were gracious and compassionate god slow to anger and abounding in love a god who relents from sending calamity now lord take my life away for it is better for me to die than to live you know the crazy thing about jonah not the fact that he ran from god not the fact that he did not necessarily want these individuals to save but jonah part prophets and king says jonah was more concerned about his reputation of being a false prophet than he was about the salvation of other individuals the reason why god has allowed you to be where you are here in huntsville alabama whether you're watching virtually because there's somebody that needs to experience the power of god in your life and you can't be so concerned we can't be so concerned about the things that are happening in our lives that we miss out on what god is trying to do for others prophets and kings says this when jonah learned of god's purpose to spare the city that notwithstanding its wickedness had been led to repent in sackcloth and ashes he should have been the first to rejoice because of god's amazing grace that when we see somebody experience the power of god when we experience somebody saying man the holy spirit has transformed their life and they want to change we should be excited and rejoice but that was not jonah's testimony he instead allowed his mind to dwell upon the possibility of his being regarded as a false prophet jealous of his reputation he lost sight of the infinitely greater value of the souls in that grech wretched city god's patience with his prophet is outstanding it's astounding astonishing that god saved jonah's life number of times and miraculously sent a whale to a big fish to to save jonah and for three days allowed him to flock to to to swim in the ocean so that he could get to the place where he needed to be god over and over again if you finish reading the story god literally provides a a place for jonah to be covered by the sun and the next day he allows to that a worm to eat it over and over and over again god extends grace to jonah but jonah was not content in extending that grace to others when jesus was here share with his disciples that the son of man luke chapter 9 verse 56 the son of man is come not to destroy men's lives but to save them jonah's true calling was to be an example of jesus jonah's true calling was to be a type of a savior willing to save any and everyone remember john 3 16 4 god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life god does not care what you've done where you've been your background your challenges your issues at the end of the day god simply wants to extend grace and as we talk about truly resting in christ we have to understand that true rest only comes when we're doing what god has called us to do and that's being a part of saving souls god gives us an opportunity every day to share with somebody what god has done in our lives and we have an opportunity to run from the call we have an opera we have a chance to turn our back on god or we can accept the call and say god because you've extended grace to me god because you've touched me because you transformed my life whatever it is you call me to do whatever you need me to do god that i will do because i recognize that you're coming back again not just to save me but to save everyone you've created so that we can be with you in paradise our challenge our joy our true goal comes when we share the love of christ what god has done with us to everyone that we meet [Music] hello oakwood university church family and friends welcome to this week at the ouc i'm simone vaughn and i'm isaiah goodridge we're excited that you've joined us today for our worship experience please tell us where you are joining from in the chat especially if you're joining from overseas we're also excited that the church is open for in-person worship if you'd like to be here in person next week you can do that through three ways you can register through the church website oucsda.org and click on the church registration link on the main page you can call 256-837-1255 or you can stop by the church office this week during office hours we look forward to seeing you together in person next week we hope that you will be richly blessed by today's service through our preaching teaching music and children's ministry today we conclude oakwood university's power packed weekend since wednesday pastor jonathan henderson has been speaking on the theme rooted and we expect this morning's worship service to be a blessing to all 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 248-004-3316 and the password is 4321 the international youth federation that was scheduled to be held today in nashville has been postponed due to the rain it has been rescheduled for october 16th the event is free and church members are eligible to receive travel assistance if you are interested in going or want to find out more details call the church office at 256-8360 or email info at oucsda.org prayer open 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 forward slash connect also please feel free to join our daily prayer call at 6 pm you can call the number 605 605-475-4120 and enter the access code number 848-3381 next month on wednesdays at noon we will be starting a new series entitled the early and latter rain how to prepare for it stay tuned for more details our church office is open monday through thursday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m and on friday from 9am to 12 noon however we ask that you continue to wear a mask and maintain social distancing when visiting the church office the oakwood university church market located in the oakland university church family life center is open monday through thursday from nine to five and on friday from nine to two we invite you to stop by and pick up both your vegetarian food products and oaktown merchandise at a very reasonable price speaking of oaktown merchandise not only can you stop by the oakwood university church market to get your oaktown gear but you can also order online at oucsda.org forward slash shop so if you appreciate pastor rafael brother idk and the oaktown kids and you want to support the ministry and let others know about oaktown consider buying oaktown gear for your children grandchildren nieces nephews and even yourself we have adult sizes and big and tall sizes our ouc adventures club season begins tomorrow september 19th because of covet 19 it will be virtual to register go to oucsda.org slash club dash ministries or you can scan the qr code on the screen you can stop by the church tomorrow between 10 and 12 30 pm to pick up your adventure books and supplies for those families who register by midnight tonight you will receive a special gift there will also be an opportunity for families to register on site our ouc pathfinder club season also begins tomorrow september 19th it will be virtual due to covet 19. to register go to oucsda.org forward slash club dash ministries or scan the qr code on the screen join us this monday september 20th for our bible 101 study with dr tucson williams for the zoom information please email info oucsda.org if you're a young adult then this announcement is for you we invite all young adults to join us for our weekly young adult zoom bible study which will also take place this friday september 24th at 8pm for more information please email yam oucsda.org [Music] the conscience and justice council made up of public affairs and religious liberty directors from around the north american division is sponsoring a virtual convention september 24th through the 25th entitled hate and liberty statements conversations or actions to register for this free event and to find out more details please go to cjc cjcouncil.org next sabbath september 25th we conclude our sermon series kingdom principles the topic will be characteristics of the kingdom and our speaker will be pastor paul goodridge hey isaiah don't you know the speaker you know he does actually kind of sound familiar in fact i'll let you in on a little secret based on his sermon title i think it's going to be a pretty good service special music will be brought to us by dynamic praise you won't want to miss next week you can register to attend this service in person by going to oucsda.org and clicking on the church registration link starting at 6 pm this evening we are saddened to announce the passing of elder charles e bradford a giant in the adventist church a private family viewing is planned for friday september 24th the burial will also occur on that same day at 12 30 pm at the oakwood university memorial garden cemetery and is open to the public a memorial service is planned for october 3rd at 12 noon at the oakwood university church both services will be streamed online through ouc's website and youtube page cards can be sent to mrs ethel bradford 110 westin place madison alabama 35756 in lieu of flowers the family is requesting that donations be made to oakwood adventist academy 7000 adventist boulevard northwest huntsville alabama 35896 the number 256-489 online donation can be made using the link below oakwood adventistacademy.org forward slash donate your charitable donation in honor of elder bradford will afford young people the opportunity to receive a quality christian education one of the core values of elder bradford's ministry 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 you would like to have mentioned in this announcement segment please feel free to email us at info oucsda.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 exactly what is happening at our church and if you want to subscribe to our weekly newsletter you can scan the qr code on your screen or go to www.tinyurl.com forward slash ouc newsletter may god continue to bless you and have a happy service [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 all right good morning everybody good morning good morning and happy sabbath welcome into the house of the lord as we worship him together let us just stand up into our feet and just welcome the presence of the lord in this place come on real quick say welcome welcome [Music] it says [Music] one if you know it to be a place where you sheltered [Music] come on let's take it out say inside his [Music] and we can answer his course [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] thanksgiving with thanksgiving with thanksgiving with thanksgiving come on the ladies in the house [Music] oh [Music] everybody [Music] good morning saints of god the psalmist reminds us to make a joyful noise unto the lord all ye lands serve the lord with gladness come before his presence with singing know ye that the lord he is god it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves we are his people in the sheep of his pastures so we should enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his course with praise being thankful unto him and blessing his name for the lord is good the lord is good and his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth for all generations knowing this we are now called to worship let's enter his court with praise and thanksgiving let's bow our heads with boldness as we approach the throne of grace um dear jesus you promised that when two or three are gathered there you will be also so i want to thank you first and foremost for promising to to just come and impact our little lives um god we love you we're craving an experience with you i don't know what everybody's week has been like but i know that we are all craving the same thing and that's a touch from you so god i'm asking that you move i'm asking that you manifest yourself in this place today pull your spirit out just like on the day of pentecost we need you god we're pleading for you thank you for all that you're going to do because we know it's going to be bigger and better than anything we could imagine we love you thanks for loving us more than we can think in jesus name we pray amen amen you may be seated in the house of god good morning ladies and gentlemen oh come on that was one of you guys good morning ladies and gentlemen that's now everybody who's been blessed this week everybody had an opportunity to experience the power of god this week good morning to you good morning we are excited and ecstatic to be here in the house of god you may have seen some new participants in our worship service today and we are ecstatic because today is power pack weekend and every day from wednesday thursday friday and today our students have had an opportunity to experience god in a special way and we're going to explain a little bit more about that a little bit later but this is a special time in our service because we can acknowledge that one more year god has blessed our in our church family and i want to acknowledge all of those individuals that have had birthdays this week or a week coming up and so i want to acknowledge each and every one of you and this is the joy of technology here we go we got it we're ready to go so i want to say happy birthday to miss inez carter almond ron navas said want to say happy birthday i see you happy birthday sister carter turn 35 happy birthday to you happy birthday want to say happy birthday to miss marcia ogborn all the way from bowie maryland we have virtual members we want to say happy birthday we acknowledge a little birdie told us it was your birthday want to say happy birthday to dr croisha starks let us know today is your this week is your birthday just want to acknowledge you on today we want to say happy birthday to another special individuals doc individual dr robert andrews we praise god for you god has blessed you with one more year of life and we want to say happy birthday to you now miss carolyn battle who just slid away on our shoes on our praise team want to say happy birthday this wednesday she is having another year of life and so we want to acknowledge god and his blessings and allowing her to be a part of our church family miss marilyn monroe she is with her husband they're serving at one of our sister churches today and we want to say happy birthday sister monroe the birthday did not catch us off guard we want to acknowledge you and let you know how special you are to each and every one of us another young lady we want to say happy birthday to i don't see her here she's usually held here working or working with the university miss merriam battle she may even be in the back a part of our greeter and usher team we want to say happy birthday sister battles a special happy birthday to you now this next birthday i want to say happy birthday to actually say um first is their very first sabbath pastor rafael he and his lovely wife is rhonda rafael are they're actually leaving after church to go hang out because your daughter had a birthday i had a baby had a baby so we are saying happy birthday to her happy first year a couple days of life we praise god for them just want to continue to keep the rappels and prayers they go to spend time with their loved ones and cali and they come back and love us love on us in a few days but they're excited so if you see sister rafael beaming it's because she has a new baby girl a part of her family just a few things i want a couple announcements we want to make let's make sure that you are aware of when people are asking about kobe testing those who live in the huntsville area if you need to get a covid test this sunday from 1 to 4 p.m and we want to let you know that we will have um covid testing at our ouc health clinic from one to four please make sure if you do have an insurance card bring it with you if you don't we still want to service you so please if you had an opportunity or need to get a covid test for school or work purposes this sunday from one to four will be available right over here in our family life center one other thing want to let you know in regards to our young people attending oakwood at venice academy we do have a scholarship the dormer scholarship is available for those individuals who are currently attending oakwood at venice academy the applications are in the church office so you can come by during the week and just fill it out if there's something that we can do to help we want to make sure that we do so last thing we want to let you know about elder bradford we'll give you a little bit more information as we have our prayer time but they will have their graves graveside service the public is invited this is from this friday at 12 o'clock so we want to let you know that it is available to the public right here at oakwood memorial gardens please continue to brat continue to keep the bradford family in prayer as we um they transition during this difficult time we like to bring pastor rafael out at this time every time we have a baby dedication it is a special experience and today we have another baby this is going to come and from the isiago family they're going to come at this time as we have our baby dedication pastor rafael is coming the family is coming at this time as we begin to think about what god has done and the beauty about this is that in the midst of all the things that are happening whether it be coveted or different experiences are happening god is still giving us opportunities to populate the kingdom of god and so right now we have a moment to reflect on the fact that god has given us the chance to influence one more life for the kingdom of god pastor phil is going to come at this time and lead us in this most special service good morning church isn't it awesome to have a new baby in the family of christ let's put our hands together for sanova let's put our hands together for the nova and you can't see her from here i don't know if the camera can get her she's asleep but she is beautiful yes beautiful so we're so glad to have dr ziago and miss montero with us and the family along uh with you here today to celebrate and those who are watching online uh well uh oftentimes when we have our baby dedications she's like no no no paparazzi today oh there she goes all right beautiful yes get that smile on all right um many times when we have our baby dedications we say train up the lord i mean train of a child in the way that they should go and when they're old they will not depart from it uh that's found in proverbs 22 and verse 6. and the word train in the original language which is hebrew is actually shannok and it means to dedicate and that word is used very few times in the old testament one time it's used is when solomon dedicated the temple to god now the interesting thing about that is solomon had gathered all these fine materials from near and far he'd gotten all these craftsmen from near and far and they had built this beautiful edifice that was built and created for worship nevertheless he still he and the children of israel still dedicated what was already created for god it was created for god but they still dedicated it to god the nova has been created for god and yet we are here to dedicate her to god let me illustrate something before i give you a charge so what do we have in front of us we have a cup right this cup this item that i have in my hand was created for beverage now i don't know about some of our students here but when i was in college this could be something for soda it could be something for some cereal if you didn't have a bowl you'd put some cereal in there and put some milk and it could be your grits in here and you just kind of put it in here but even though i can put grits in here even though i can put milk and cereal in here that's not what it was created for it was created for beverage so nova was created for salvation and so we uh begin this journey this training journey with that in mind she is created for salvation she's going to do some awesome things in life but she is created for salvation so my charge to you is to make sure that the ears that god has given to her that they don't hear things that they ought not hear and that they don't listen to people who don't know any more than her but that her ears are created to listen to you and that you dedicate her ears to listen to you and ultimately to listen to god that you make sure her eyes are are not uh used for lusting after beautiful things but for appreciating beautiful things and blessings that her mouth is not does not take in substances that it that will harm her and that her tongue doesn't say things that will harm other people but that sort of but so that her mouth takes in things that will nourish her and so her tongue says things that will bless others that our hands will be used not for fighting except in self-defense but that they be used for helping and that our feet not be used to run to do evil but that they be used to run to do good that her mind her beaut her beautiful mind her her intellect as she starts preschool at some point in and then elementary and high school and then university maybe oakwood university that whatever institution she goes to she will enter to learn and depart to serve and finally that our heart will not fear god but it will trust god and our heart will love god so dr isiago miss montero as you train and dedicate zanova to god will you do these things amen you heard them they said they will can the church say amen at this time we're going to bow our heads in prayer and a prayer of dedication our heavenly father we're so very grateful for zanova beautiful on the outside but now we're asking and charging the parents and they have accepted to make sure she's beautiful on the inside making sure lord that her life which was created for salvation would experience the salvation of jesus christ in her talk in her listening in her scene in her acting in her doing in her living and most of all in her heart that she would be dedicated that heart that was created for you will be dedicated to you and she her heart will be filled with jesus christ and your holy spirit now in order for that to happen in order for them to keep that charge heavenly father they can't do it though they have a bible they can't do it though they heard my words they can't do it none of us can raise children for you except through and by your holy spirit so fill them o god with your holy spirit to overflowing so that the holy spirit in their lives overflows into xanova's life and so that she is a powerful child young lady adult for you that she will bring others to christ and dedicate her children to you as well we pray these things and thank you for the family that is here and the church family that will be supporting her as well we pray it all in jesus name amen god bless you we have a gift for you her first bible and her dedicatory certificate god bless you family can we put our hands together again for the isiago family amen god bless you amen and amen it is always a privilege to be a part of what god is doing in the lives of our church family so one more birthday i want to acknowledge miss mariah monet we want to say happy birthday to you we're excited about god giving you another day of life and as you're as god has done so i know that you're going to bless god and all the different things that he allows you to do now family again we're going to try something i don't know if it's been done um since the pandemic but i want to see if we can do this i want to see if you can smile so bright i can see your teeth through your mask can you try it for me i see i see neck movements i see smile don't take your mask down just try through the mask with a smile on your heart if you can't demonstrate it with your through the mask at least in your heart with the eyes going up i know you're excited about what god has done and the reason why we are excited because god is good and greatly to be praised we're going to begin our worship tour continue our worship service as we sing our praise and worship song let's think about what god has done for us this week as we worship god in spirit and in truth hallelujah hallelujah we know that the lord we serve is a great god he's a mighty god he is an awesome god and so this morning we're going to sing about his goodness we're going to sing about his greatness this morning and so if you believe it i just need you to sing from a deep place come on let's sing it right here it says the splendor of a king who is [Music] let all the earth rejoice let all the earth rejoice he wraps himself in light [Music] then trembles at his voice how great is our god sing with me how great is our god and all we'll see how great how great is our god come on and sing with me say how great [Music] is come on we're gonna put some harmony in it this morning say how great [Music] [Music] all together say age to age he stands [Music] come on we know that time is in his hands [Music] [Music] and the sons [Music] [Applause] open up your mouth say how great [Music] is is [Music] come on if you're feeling this morning open up come on say the lord our god is a great god our god is the great god the lord our god is a great god the lord our god is a great god [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] my soul my savior god to thee everybody in the room say how great how great [Music] if you know he's great this morning [Music] [Music] [Music] one more time [Music] [Music] i know that it's great this morning take it from a deep place [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] say [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] hallelujah hallelujah how many know we serve a great god hallelujah hallelujah let's stand together as we sing our mourning hymn it says jesus is coming again how many believe jesus is coming again he's coming soon says jesus is coming again we sing together says lift up the trumpet together jesus is coming jesus is coming again cheer up yep [Applause] [Music] again coming again [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] jesus is coming jesus [Music] it says coming in glory the lamb that was the lord [Music] again coming [Music] [Music] [Music] says jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] these processed nations are angry by this we do know nations are angry [Music] it says knowledge increases [Music] since jesus is coming [Music] it says copy again [Music] is [Music] [Music] coming again [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] again [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] is [Music] as you remain standing and think about the words of that song because the question is how do you talk to individuals that have lost a loved one that song gives a great answer jesus is coming again for those who have to deal with difficult weeks i just want to remind you that jesus is coming again in spite of what cnn says in spite of what fox news says ladies and gentlemen i'm here to let you know jesus is coming again that's the reason why we're here that's the reason why we can say god bless you that's the reason why we can say we can continue pushing because this world is not our home and jesus is coming i again to say happy birthday to sister cookie long we praise god for allowing you to have one more year of life but on the flip side for those who are excited about life the other people that are dealing with challenges whether it be health challenge or otherwise we want to continue to lift up sister lillian green who's continually making progress but we want to continue to keep her in our prayers we want to pray for irma lake and her family this journey through things god is calling them to we want to also lift up those who lost loved ones this week talk about bradford's family we want to continue to keep radford and lewis family in our prayers the bradfords weren't the only ones that lost someone this week we want to lift up brother david macrahanny just a few weeks ago he was and his lovely wife were baptized only to find out two weeks later that their son-in-law passed funeralized yesterday please keep their family in prayer but not only the immaculate family the rockers are usually right over here every sabbath got a call that niece passed tragically and suddenly and so we're asking that god to move for that family that the rockers will provide comfort for their families are going to georgia this weekend and also mr bernita saunders i saw you earlier today and i praise god for you mr anita we're going to continue to keep you in prayer and what can we say to all these individuals family the unfortunate reality is that while we do we cry and mourn and deal with those who cry with those who have lost loved ones we recognize that we don't weep like those don't have hope we believe that jesus is coming again and one day soon dead in christ are going to rise first and we who alive and remain will be caught up together to meet him in the air i want to be there how about you [Music] but until he comes he's giving us a promise that he'll be with us every step of the way he also said we can cast our cares on him because he cares for us and so today if you have an unspoken prayer request i'm going to ask you to raise your hands heaven we believe that god can do it that we believe that when we call he will answer and while we're yet speaking he will even move on our behalf and so we're praying the praising comes and leads us in our prayer it's some prayer song we're gonna believe that god's gonna move and then we're gonna pray and watch god do what he said he's going to do brother david come at this time and lead us in our prayer song [Music] so this is our prayer song this morning as we just sing that together come on open up your mouth right here say you are my refuge [Music] that you are my fortress [Music] [Music] says that i won't dread for i know that the angels they're all around [Music] this morning cause everybody knows that when i call you i know oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Applause] foreign [Music] let us bow our heads in prayer [Music] father we stretch our hands to thee no other help we know if thou will withdraw thyself from us whether shall we go lord we're so reminded of the hemologists who once wrote that we must tell jesus all of our troubles and trials for we cannot bear these burdens alone in our distress you kindly will help us jesus will help us in jesus alone we're reminded by the other hymn that says what a friend we have in jesus all of our sins and griefs to bear what a privilege it is to carry everything to god in prayer lord we just stopped by just to say thank you thank you o god for the sun that shines on a cloudy day lord we thank you for the trials and tribulations that we've had even in this week but god most of all we thank you because you brought us to this house of worship lord right now we need you more than ever our families need you our country needs you lord we're reminded that your word says that one day at the name of jesus every knee is going to bow every tongue is going to confess that you is lord lord right now on this earth we ask that you will help us to be ready for your soon return every day oh god we've heard of someone who has passed away we've heard of funeral arrangements that are being made but right now oh god we ready a word that we think may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning lord in this very moment we need joy we need your peace we need your strength i lift up oh god every family that is represented under the sound of my voice lord we thank you because you have protected us all from this covet 19. we thank you o god because 18 months ago as our world began to shut down we read in your word that you would never leave us nor will you forsake us and oh god we're so grateful and thankful that you have kept your promises and here we are 18 months later we're in church oh god and we're giving you praise because lord we know that the devil meant it for our evil [Music] but lord you were able to turn it around for our good lord we thank you today for these baptismal candidates who have come to give their heart to you lord we are so reminded that when one soul comes all of heaven rejoices oh god i acts that you will touch your manservant pastor henderson today as he prepares to bring a word of life god i ask that you will give us clear a clear mind to your word lord strengthen him right now where he's weak cover him o god with your shield of protection that at the end of his sermon someone will come asking what must i do to be saved lord we lift up our university in a very special way we lift up its leadership under dr pollard oh god lord we ask that you will give him guidance as he leads this school we thank you oh god for all of those who have shown their generous support and oh god we will indeed be careful to give you all the praise honor and glory that is due to your name we act so god that you will hear our prayer help us to walk in your word help us oh god to talk in your word guide our feet oh god lest we fall and oh lord we'll thank you and we praise you in christ's name we do pray everyone says amen [Music] and now we will hallelujah it this morning and we can sing once more from an even deeper triumphant place come on let's open up our mouths come on say when i trust you say i know your answer is [Music] [Applause] you will deliver [Applause] open up [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] don't matter what's going on in my [Music] i can life on your goodness [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] foreign [Music] i will stay in the [Music] [Applause] [Music] trash bless his name [Music] good morning and happy sabbath church family it is my absolute privilege to be able to testify on the goodness and faithfulness of god i know personally as a college student there's not a single moment a day or even a second that i am not abundantly blessed by the provisions of god and so when i was called upon to do ties and offering today my heart was led to one of my favorite verses which is found in philippians 4 19 and it says and my god shall supply all of your needs according to his riches and glory by christ jesus and so notice how the verse isn't saved by our jobs by a scholarship by our friends by our families it's nothing except for christ jesus and so um it's it's simply when we turn our attention to the fact that all of our needs are supplied by christ and we have no need to worry or fear because it's because our word is his faithfulness and so my prayer for us is that when we return what god has so freely given to us that we are able to celebrate that we have the privilege of giving back so little in regards to how much he gave us which is in his entire life and so with that i would just like to pray over tithes and offerings dear heavenly and gracious father i thank you so much for supplying all of our needs according to your abundance lord i pray that you would just please be with our hearts and mind as we decide how much we are wanting to give today i pray that you would just be with those who do not have as much to give but i just pray that you would just abundantly bless us not just with financial blessings but with your peace and your love that is present regardless of our situations and so i pray that you would just be with a speaker today and just be with all of our hearts and i ask all these things in your 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 a.m to 5 00 pm and on fridays from 9 a.m 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.ou [Music] forward slash donate or you can cash at 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 and life-changing ministry hi my name is ayanna i recently moved in from nashville welcome to oaktown live next up our news team [Music] hi i'm pastor rebelle and i'm relative and we're your town news team well i'm excited to remind you that our online oaktown baptismal classes will restart september 29th and so will i discover your classes yes so if you're interested please ask your parents to email us at oaktown my gmail.com and don't forget cause it's really gonna be great finally i want to announce that even though things have happened to keep us from having our sabbath school train we still want you to sign up for sabbath school yes so so please sign up uh so that you can be a part of savage school at ouc sca dot org slash oaktown well that's all for now next up one of our neighbors singing the old town song and remember old town is indeed the place to be especially if you have the butt [Music] is [Music] come to jesus [Music] good morning boys and girls i'm faith and welcome to oaktown live where you come to know jesus and go to whoa that's right live jesus let's see so we had ayanna to do the welcome password felon brother idk to do the news and reign to do the oaktown song did they do an awesome job let's give them a round of applause next up we'll have some announcements student videos and our children's story by pastor phil and i'll see you after the story hi kids i hope you made special note of the announcements given in the news today there are of course very important news items and speaking of important news let's see which of our kids registered in oaktown have a birthday today or who will have a birthday by friday caroline miles francesca juliana to you happy birthday to you god and i would like to give a very special birthday greeting to my newest granddaughter born this past monday september 13th happy birthday joy marielle and congratulations to your proud parents my daughter maya and my son-in-law schmidt martin joy you are beautiful and i look forward to meeting you soon and i love you and happy birthday to each of you praise god god bless you with another one when i was a kid i was taught that prayer helps us communicate with god with any issues we have or to thank him for what he's done for us when i was a kid i was taught that prayers you wouldn't connect to god and talk to him about anything when i was a child i was taught to pray as if i was talking to my best friend because that's what god wants to be in our lives he wants to be our best friend when i was a kid i was taught that prayer changes things no matter how big or how small the situation i face in my life i always remember what my mom taught me that prayer changes things let's put our hands together for our oakland university students thank you so much david zion bryce and christian for helping our children in oaktown learn a little bit more about prayer well our series is on prayer and it's simply called prayer and that's why i'm next to our post box and we're in our post office today because the post office in oaktown reminds us that when we send prayers to god god sends back answers to our prayers and you know what post stands for right prayer opens special treasure post office right and we talked last week about how prayers and letters are quite are very much a light they have a beginning a middle and the end and we talked about the end being do you remember in in a letter it may be this word by or see you later or it might be peace out well maybe not peace out but it'll be something like that right and then in prayer our closing is that's right in jesus name amen in jesus name amen now i have to pause and tell you we don't have to always close every prayer that way but we always need to pray in jesus name let me show you why because last week we learned that when we pray in jesus name it means we believe in jesus so let's talk about a story that is helpful in helping us to understand this it's found in acts chapter 3 and there's a story of peter and john going to church how many guys came to church in person church today yeah okay right obvious you're sitting in the pew but some of you guys are at home watching virtually right well they walk to church so let's walk to church come on let's walk to church okay not march i look like i'm marching huh walking to church are you walking to church okay good good good and if you're here you can stand up and start walking with me okay now well you know what people don't really walk to church anymore i mean well not much so you know what they drive so let's drive guys come on let's drive come on ten to two ten to two both hands on the steering what none of this none of this no steer yeah there we go wait a minute now you guys don't have a driver's license you need to just slide over yes and just ride in the car okay let's ride in the car ah yeah yeah all right you know what they didn't have cars you know that you just helped you just let me have a little fun so just open the door get out of the car and let's start walking to church yeah there we go so they walked to church and when they got up when they pulled up to the church i mean when they got to the church they saw this man outside the church laying down because he couldn't walk he was lame from his mother's womb or from birth and the man was out there looking for money you guys ever see people outside the store somewhere looking for money outside the church looking for money well this man was outside the church looking for money well peter and john didn't have money but guess what they said it's found in acts chapter 3 and verse 6. i peter said this i have no silver or gold but what i have i give you in the name notice that in the name of jesus christ in the name of jesus christ of nazareth stand up and walk so let's sit down for a little bit okay now let's stand back up all right now this man this is what happened they grabbed his hands and the man lifted up off the ground and now he could walk so let's walk okay now he can run let's run but but not only that he could actually uh leap up leave up okay i'm not gonna leave up but you leave them i'm gonna watch you yeah i see you leaping yeah pastor raphael's knees won't let him leap but your knees are able to leap awesome now stop showing off now you can sit down now okay enough's enough all right enough's enough all right so there he was all of a sudden able to do it now why was he able to do this well peter has an explanation this is what peter says by faith in jesus name whose name jesus name jesus name jesus what jesus name itself has made this man strong whom you see and know and the faith that is through jesus has given him this perfect has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you so it was in the name of jesus and this man believing excuse me in the name of jesus that provided the situation for him to be healed his believing in jesus him having faith in jesus helped him to be healed and help something great to happen isn't that amazing i hope you will continue to pray in jesus name maybe you're not necessarily ending your prayer every time and saying in jesus name amen but that doesn't hurt and it's a great thing to do but especially you need to believe in jesus because when we believe in jesus like david and zion and bryce and christian and believe we can communicate with god we can connect with god jesus can be our best friend and that prayer changes things incredible things will happen fantastic things will happen amazing things will happen when we pray in the name of jesus and most especially believe in jesus when we pray do you believe that i do too well let's sing our prayer song with rain and then faith will close us out [Music] don't you want to spend special time with god in prayer me too what are you doing up here manuel i thought my little sister may need some help nah i'm good so next uh next i guess if you're up here you can help a little well next up it's time for you to get your sermon notes out if you are here or download them if you're at home at oucsda.org oaktown yes oh i mean um and i will see you at the oaktown welcome booth yes to get prizes for your sermon notes and a snack even if you didn't do your sermon notes well let's have prayer by our post kid and we'll see you all later hi kids let's pray dear lord i pray that we will truly believe in jesus while we pray and i pray that we will always love you enjoy my friend well kids stay tuned for next week where we will learn even more about praise bye [Music] then our young people do a phenomenal job let's affirm them again it is it is always a privilege to watch pastor rafael do his thing it has a special gift and we praise god for him um thank you so much pastor phil um just a couple of things i want to let you know before we continue our worship service somewhere asking about elder bradford's service um it will we have a public [Music] burial graveside service this friday at 12 30 at oakwood memorial garden so if you would like to participate be there it is open to the public this friday at 12 30. now today is special not just because we're alive that's because it's the sabbath but it's also special because this week we have been blessed um it's called power pack weekend those year old you remember it's called week of prayer but they they change and make power packed weekend we praise god for that under direction of chaplain pallege and we thank him for his leadership and before he comes to introduce our speaker our president here dr leslie pollard is here we're going to ask him to come at this time to bring greetings on behalf of the university we thank you so much for your leadership doc and we know that god is going to richly richly bless us because of what he's doing through you he also has a special guest with him the president the usm president we're going to ask oscar pollard to introduce him as they come at this time and give us the words of welcome thank you dr paul thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you good morning everybody good morning isn't it beautiful to be back in church and you say man are you like me i'm zoomed out anybody else feel that way i am zoomed out but uh god is good and i'm glad to be here in the land of the living before i introduce our of course our usm president let me just say a few things just to update you because this is a very important moment in the life of our community uh we want to welcome of course all of our oakwood university students it's a blessing to see our students on campus can you say amen to that okay come on put your hands together please all of our oakwood students those who are here in worship today we love you we are honored that you are here and i was thinking the other day as i was walking across campus and praying because this is a beautiful place we're on 125 years we are celebrating this year hello everybody founded in 1896 one century and one quarter one and one-quarter centuries we are celebrating i was walking across campus and i said to myself as i was praying i said lord what is our mission those of us who serve here every single day those who are working to make sure that the institution is sustained and that it is uh it is accomplishing its mission and the lord spoke to me he said you know something you are to love them to the launch pad love the students to the launch pad you know launches are very important today aren't they you're watching spacex and everybody's trying to get out in space and just this week we had some civilians going out into space launching well oakwood is a launching pad and our task is to simply love you to that launch pad and then watch you launch and celebrate the heights to which you will sail that's our job and that's what we do every single day so we it's a blessing to see you here as students and to to know that our student leaders are working so diligently to keep the campus safe just as an fyi for everyone who cares to know and wants to know i hear more announcements coming every single event from our students encouraging other students to comply and to support our safety protocols because our goal is to deliver our mission without having to shut down the campus okay okay maybe you want to go back home right maybe you want to be back home i know i know i've talked to enough students to know they were like they were calling during the summer because i give the students my phone number are we going to open are we going to open i got to get out of my parents house are we going to open we're going to open well yes we are and we're going to stay open because we're going to continue doing the work so you pray you pray now that takes me to one other thing this week if you've listened very carefully i'm saying it for those who are on watching online and others if you listen very carefully you listen very carefully president biden launched a mandatory vaccination mandate so this week we had a very special meeting we have something called the university task force so we had a vaccination mandate task force come together leaders from across the campus including student literature leaders to see how we would operate how we would what's the word operationalize that's what i'm looking for how to operationalize the suggestion that's not a suggestion it's a requirement of osha that we have mandatory vaccination and if someone wishes to test out of that then that capability and so we're working on that and you will see that come forward very promptly the fines for violation go up to 14 14 per incident hello everybody two fines that's a year's tuition think about that if we're fine that's less money we have to help students all right doug just give me a second pastor i know i know you want to move the service along i know you're very time conscious if you just let me just give me just a second though and i thank thank pastor how many of you have appreciated the ministry of pastor williams during the interim how many of you i certainly have thank you elda thank you thank you thank you so that's what we're doing power packed weekend we implemented in 2015 and that is just wonderful i saw pastor henderson he just slipped out um he he is a wonderful a wonderful example of walking in your purpose i met him when he was just a very small child when i was living in california but we knew even then he had a unique calling and anointing upon his life and this has been an amazing week can you say man students he has preached in ways that were just extraordinary and i'd like to thank him of course for the even though he's not here right now he'll watch the tape i'd like to thank him for his ministry to us this week i'd like to thank his parent his mother whom i knew and loved just a wonderful christian lady and his dear uncle if you're watching uncle elder gerald and uh mrs linda pinnock elder gerald penick was the first african-american president of the southeastern california conference back in the day and and and they have done just a tremendous ministry and i know they're proud of the nephew jonathan and we're grateful for him yesterday we held the alumni summit um you hear more about that you can pick it up it's it's been archived and now being it's available on youtube and on facebook we did the alumni summit where the alumni are coming together from all over the country to support our students through mentoring and financial support and we're grateful for that and then last but certainly not least i would be remiss if i did not extend on behalf of our university the condolences our condolences to the family of dr elder charles bradford uh sister ethel bradford his his dear wife more than 70 years of marriage we certainly pray for you we pray for your children we pray for your family this week i had the opportunity to spend some quality time sitting on the couch with sister bradford and we took a couple of the photo journals and we started from when elder bradford was a baby and we walked our way up and it was wonderful and now god has allowed him to go to sleep let's remember the family in prayer pastor already announced the 12 30 service on friday but let's remember this family in prayer elder branford young people the bradford cleveland brooks institute leadership center is named after him that that that center right across the way here we are memorializing great servants of god and for what they've done he was a blessing to my life now young people we talk about walking in your purpose elder bradford said to me one day he said you need to go to school we need some african-americans with phds in content theology and you're one of the ones we want to do that i said i'm having fun i'm at my church i was the pastor of the kansas avenue church they used to call me the boy pastor i was 29 years old i was a senior pastor i had a staff they called him the little boy pastor i was as slim as donovan or was it slim like that nice and cool and swelt like that he said well no we need you to do this because you don't know what god will do with that in the future now let me tell you how i thought about that this past week i finished writing under the direction of dr calvin rock a former president i finished writing a sabbath school supplement on social justice and the book of revelation and i remembered elder bradford i remember what he said and that's going to be available in february of 2022 a few of us scholars have gotten together to say the church can't keep talking as if the conversation on social justice doesn't exist and i wrote it on the book of revelation because that's what i studied and i thought about him an investment made 30 years ago will now have worldwide scope and i'm grateful for that so young people when we see you here on campus and we say please study let's go to class we want to pour into your life and make deposits that will sprout benefits for generations to come well with that in mind here is another young leader that we have on our campus he is our usm president donovan he is doing a tremendous job in leading our student body and we know that just like we saw that anointing upon jonathan henderson we see that same anointing upon the life of donovan as our president and we welcome him would you put your hands together to welcome him we are so proud of him and so proud of what usm is doing and may god bless you please keep oakwood university in your prayers remember the bradford family especially please remember the family elder branford loved oakwood and i would be remiss if i didn't say he loved oakwood academy as well he did tremendous work to help support oakwood academy he loved christian education and he loved this place so god bless you and we thank you for being here today let's continue to pray that god will keep this campus the entire campus church academy elementary university alabama school for cyber technology farmer's market community health action center god will keep west oaks god will keep from the east to the west from the north to the south that god will continue to put a protective hedge around this his oakwood university may god bless you good afternoon everyone how's everyone doing this sabbath good good thank you for the introduction pastor parliament the kind words my name is donovan williams i have the privilege of serving as us and president for the year i want to say welcome because this is the welcome welcome to oakwood university church welcome to power pack weekend put together by the office of spiritual life we want to affirm them um and everyone who just played a part and setting up this weekend started off with a prayer meeting wednesday uh thursday friday chapel on thursday and friday a-y and today here on sabbath students have you guys been blessed by pastor john henderson and the work that god has been doing to him very very powerful speaker just we want to affirm you and thank you for coming to let god use you um just one quick announcement i know without walls is having a service at 5 pm to close the sabbath i believe so students if you want to be a part of that there's going to be music praise and worship and of course the word so make sure you're there at the mac 5 p.m for that but once again i just want to say welcome on behalf of the united student movement at oakwood university to the oakwood university church um and yes just enjoy your sabbath amen thank you donovan thank you chapman dr pollard i'm going to ask chaplain pledging to come at this time and he's going to introduce the speaker but one of the things i want to share with you i'm excited about not only introducing the speaker we also are going to have a baptism today come on somebody say amen a testament to what you're doing chaplain peleche be thank you so much to be in partnership with osl we're going to ask you to introduce the speaker at this time thank you so much thank you pastor thank you dr pollard thank you donovan and thank you to all of our students who have participated in power pack weekend all week long our musicians our singers thank you to everyone you have made this a wonderful weekend so i just want to take a few moments to give a formal introduction to our speaker pastor jonathan henderson who has served as a pastor in the seventh-day adventist church for over 20 years sharing the gospel locally and globally he started preaching at the age of 15. and after graduating from pacific union college with the ba in theology jonathan began his professional ministry at puc as their outreach minister in 1998. he quickly transitioned a few years later to the campus hill church in loma linda california where he led a friday night multicultural worship service that grew from 400 to 500 regular attendees in 2001 jonathan accepted the call to be the lead pastor at the grand advent church in oakland california seeing the multicultural congregation grow from 25 to 400 consisting mostly of young adults the church had a thriving ministry focused on focusing on helping the homeless population in oakland jonathan returned to puc to be their lead chaplain in 2014 and after completing his fourth year there he moved back to the local church vallejo central sda church in the bay area in california and that's where he currently serves as senior pastor and if there are any members that are watching we send you greetings from oakwood university church again i want to thank all of our student leaders and and and our and our musicians and our band and everyone and this morning we have the privilege before pastor henderson speaks of hearing another one of our very gifted students and thank you to the ouc praise team and band as well this student ministered to us on consecration night and i can tell you even in the audition chaplain kp and i were there in the office and she came in with her guitar and we were prostrate just in the audition and if you were here for consecration evening and you me you were able to to witness her ministry her gifting then you two were moved and but if you didn't have the chance to do that we have a special blessing for you today so we invite leila gordon to lead us in in praise as we transition into the word and after she ministers you will be blessed once again by that of pastor john henderson god bless thank you chaplain palegi happy sabbath church we're just going to linger in a place of worship just a little while longer before we get into the word the theme for this weekend has been rooted and to me that means being confident being unshakeable in faith and who god is who he says he is what he says about us and his promises and this song that we're going to sing it's really simple if you don't know what you'll catch on i encourage you to sing it with me when you do it just talks about god's faithfulness it's as great as your faithfulness to me great is your faithfulness to me from the rising sun to the setting same i will praise your name great is your faithfulness [Music] god [Music] there's nothing you can do you're faithful and true from the rising sun to the setting same i will praise your name and let my heart learn when you speak a [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] the history came through there's nothing you can't do you're faithful and true though the storms may come and the winds may [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] jesus [Music] you'll never let me down [Music] foundation never let me down not with me say i put my faith in jesus [Music] me down [Music] is your faithfulness [Music] to me and from the rising sun to the setting same i will praise your name cause great is your faithfulness to me [Music] we've got one more song for you one more um and again along with that theme of being rooted it's not just being rooted in god's promises but it's being rooted in the words that he speaks about us and we can be confident in who he says that we are no matter what our past mistakes may have been no matter what we might still be struggling with god calls you a child of the king you are a daughter you are a son of the king you are who he says [Music] i was lost but he brought me [Music] i [Music] am is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] i am and you are for me not against me [Music] yes you are for me you're not against me i am who you say i am oh i am who you say i am yes i am who you say i am [Music] [Music] there's a place just [Music] [Music] there's a place just [Music] amen amen that was beautiful layla thank you so much for your gift that's what i'm talking about i want to thank all of our students here at ou even the ones you don't see up on stage all the people working to make this happen behind the scenes you know you see what only is in front of the lights but there are so many things that are happening behind the lights and i want to thank people like jayden and and his team for just miking people up making sure we know when to get on to the the rostrum the platform the stage and everyone working behind the cameras everyone working with the lighting and the sound i mean if you don't notice them that means they're doing a good job amen amen and amen i have been so so so blessed to be here this week i want to thank your chaplains especially your lead chapter lee chaplin uh pastor piledji chap palegi thank you so much for just the invite the trust to come here and and speak with your students and uh chap kp man been a blessing getting to know you these guys man man they're thinkers man they're outside the box y'all don't know they're outside the box and i love it because this is what god is called you know auntie ellen says in the last chapter of christ's object lesson she says that in every generation there is a a new light a a new development of truth that god pours out on his people in every generation and so we always need generational people that are open to hear the present truth you know the present truth uh just wasn't 200 years ago you know that right that the present truth is evolving it is growing as we learn and as we grow god pours out more of his spirit as as the messenger says he improves on the light in our day as our parents improved on the light in their day so i want to thank you chaplains for that i also want to thank you dr pauler thank you so much for your kind words i was in the back they were miking me up and so i heard you talking about my my dear mother and my uncle and uh and i remember dr pollard when he was in the ie in the inland empire there in southern california uh and so we go we go way back and i always tell him every time i see him i want to say a line from my favorite sermon of his he won man he won and every time i sleep i wanna i just i wanna do the field goal sign like touchdown or whatever it is man we he won he won um and i wanna thank you also dr williams thank you for uh trusting me in your pulpit um this afternoon now right and even morning this afternoon amen see my church we getting out at this time you already know what my church is like right hey let's get into the word of god we're in the gospel according to luke the gospel according to luke chapter 19 i've had a good time with uh the students here on campus again oh you appreciate your love and the times that we've had a chance just to connect and talk about life and and i want to say something can i do something really quick before we even get to the word because i've been talking to so many students i want i want a way that you can connect with me even after i leave sometimes you'll have questions and you get a chance to talk with me and uh i almost forgot i i i sent your av person uh um a graphic and i wanna i wanna i wanna share that with you how you can link up with me like on instagram that's that's that's how they connect i was gonna say facebook but that's where all your parents are so um but like yeah on instagram that you can you can connect with me and um and there's times i do a little devotionals called in a minute and that's really it's i am jonathan henderson but i am is really stands for in a minute and i haven't been doing those devotionals for for a minute because i have been working on a book for the last year my mother passed away almost a year ago to this day and when she did i i wanted to start writing a new book and i said that i would i wanted to touch up the first book i ever wrote like 10 15 years ago i forgot how long ago it was i just wanted to kind of update it a little bit and as i was updating it with everything that had been going on in my life i realized there was more to be said in that book itself and that book went from a small devotional to being twice that size it's almost a different book it has the same heart but more muscle and and i did something last night that i wasn't supposed to do because you know when you're when you release a book you're supposed to do this kind of promotional stuff and everything like that but after after the a y i just felt so impressed to to upload it before i was supposed to and this is just for you oakwood this is just for you i have not told my church this i will not announce this on social media this is just for you can put that up one more time that graphic this is right now it is an ebook on kindle on amazon and if the things that we talked about this week a number of those things are also in this book and this is a way for you as you start your relationship with the lower number of students that came forward wanting to give god a try this will help you along the way it deals with some of the dark places in scripture some of the more confusing texts those those texts that make god seem distant and and too mysterious it deals with that it deals with calvary in a way that maybe you have never heard it communicated before it deals with topics like hell it it completely gets to i what i want to say is the core of what we believe and why we believe it so the book is entitled worth every drop it is it is god's relentless pursuit to prove that you matter and so that it's on right now do not tell my church because they will be so upset with me it is just for you oakwood just for you and i'll leave it up there for probably about a week so that anything that can help you with your relationship with jesus christ again it's an inspiration dedicated to my mother dedicated to my precious mom and uh so it's been a labor of of love so many stories with her in it and god has been so good thank you for allowing me to share that with you um we're in uh luke chapter 19 luke chapter 19. luke chapter 19 let's get in the word luke 19. verse one says this jesus entered jericho jesus entered jericho and was passing through a man was there by the name of zacchaeus or zacchaeus tomato tomato he was a chief tax collector and he was wealthy he wanted to in verse 3 however he wanted to see who jesus was chief tax collector wealthy man he wanted to see who jesus was let us pray father thank you so much for the opportunity just to delve into your word father we have already been blessed you have all the worship has been so good i have been in tears during this worship experience god because i have felt your presence here among your people and so father as we open our hearts to you we simply want to know you better we want to see who jesus is make that a reality for us in jesus name let everyone say amen and amen amen and amen the bible says that jesus is passing through jesus is passing through aren't you so aren't you so glad that christ comes to us people always like to always say i found jesus no he found you jesus comes to us he passes through and for those of us who have grown up in a in a in a toxic religious environment the idea of christ coming to us is a scary thing christ coming through is a scary thing but you need to understand that even after adam and eve sinned in the garden of eden god never changed who he was did you notice that in the text that the bible doesn't say that the earth began to shake there was no red flashing lights there were no loud sirens or anything like that the bible says that after adam and eve had sinned god came in the cool of the day he was still just chilling just just walking through his garden asking where his peeps were where his friends were and then begins to ask questions adam eve where are you now here's the interesting thing they finally answer him and they say we heard you but we were afraid let me ask you this question was god now scary was he stomping was he now suddenly godzilla here's the problem here's the problem sin distorts our view of god even the way he sounds to us will be filtered through our own dysfunction and our own sense of authority and judgment often we project on god who we are and because we're judgmental we see god is judgmental we read into stories and text things that are not there that is why if i asked you right now why did jonah not want to go to nineveh you wouldn't be able to give me the right answer because you've been taught how to see the story of jonah why didn't jonah want to go to nineveh he was afraid of the ninevites no he wasn't that's not what he said what did jonah say in chapter 4 of jonah he says the reason i didn't want to come to nineveh is that i knew god you would change your mind you would change your mind and not destroy these people he says his own words because i know that you are always patient always kind always ready to forgive and not punish how in the world would jonah know that because that's god's mo that's what he always does and jonah like i'm not about to roll up in nineveh preach a good word and have these people get in the baptismal pool no they deserve to die and here's the other problem jonah had i'm sick and tired of looking like a false prophet telling people they're going down and then god gets all soft as jonah chapter 3 verse 10 and changes his mind now you don't try to tell me pastor but malachi tells us that god changes not yes god's character does not change his heart does not change his choices will change because we change that's ezekiel chapter 18. if i tell a righteous man he will live but then he starts doing evil then he gonna die and if i tell an evil man that he's going to die but then he turns away from his wickedness then he will live jeremiah 18 says the same thing if i tell an evil nation they will be overthrown but they repent then i will not overthrow them and if i tell a righteous nation they will be blessed but then they sin then they will not be blessed that's the bible oh y'all didn't know that prophecy was conditional you didn't know that did you man that's it that's even in our adventist commentaries man you read read volume four those green books right read the read the read the fourth volume it tells you even there it's in it's even in our dna prophecy is very much conditional prophecy is a way of telling us where we are heading and if we don't change our course this is what's going to happen you know how many unfulfilled prophecies israel experienced because they chose not to trust in jesus they chose not to trust in god sin filters and distorts the image of god so we become afraid of someone who is not scary god comes in the in the cool of the day chilling and he's and he's asking questions he's in conversation with them god doesn't come in as a know-it-all see what y'all need to understand [Music] most of us get hyped on the power of god most of us get drunk on the power of god most of us want to talk about how how how how mighty god is how how he can do this and do that most of us love the superpowers of god but what we often don't see in scripture is how often god rolls as clark kent and not a superman god who is who who who is great god who is awesome often presents himself as just some ordinary everyday joe just rolling up in the cool of the day talking to abraham at the trees i mean wrestling with jacob yo god wrestle god was willing to be in a headlock with jacob i will not let you go until you bless me and god is crying uncle all right all right all right yo brah what's your name jacob dude it's israel now for you have wrestled with god and you have prevailed god was willing to look and feel so ordinary that jacob thought he was wrestling with his big brother yes god is superman yes he's superman but often he wears glasses and looks like clark kent so he comes to us he passes through he becomes a baby pastor god came here to die to die for our sins i tell you that christ came to live if he only came to die he would have shown up as a grown adult told rome that he was a king and they would have crucified him if he only came to die he would have been here for six hours and died on a cross he came to live he came as a baby god learned how to walk god had a snotty nose god had a first pimple god knew what it was like to go through puberty god learned what it was like to be a a person that went to work god learned he learned he grew while he was here on earth why would he do that just so he could be close to you so god could say i feel you i know you i don't just sympathize with you i empathize with you i know what it's like to feel like an outcast i know what it's like to feel like you don't quite fit in i know what it's like to be human so when god thought about how he can redeem us he didn't choose the easy path he didn't just say i'm going to die he says no i'm going to live and that's why jesus could say in john 17 3 and 4 life eternal is that you may know him the only true god and jesus christ whom he has sent and then he says this father i have finished the work you gave me to do i have glorified you here on earth why in the world would christ say he finished the father's work even before the cross jesus spent 33 years living and six hours dying let me ask you this question what do you think just on time alone had the more had more importance if all he did was die and not live we would not know him and eternal life is that we may know him jeremiah 9 tells us that don't boast in your wisdom or your strength or in your wealth but if anyone needs to boast let them boast in this that they know and understand me hosea tells us i'd rather my people know me than offer sacrifices god wants to be known god wants to be seen and that is why he passes through so people like zach will go i want to see jesus i want to know jesus so let me tell you something right now i don't care how many revelation and daniel seminars you go to if after hearing that prophetic word you don't know jesus better you missed the point the book of revelation is the revelation of jesus christ if you read revelation and all you think it is about is end time events you've missed the point of revelation if you read scripture and all you're trying to do is set dates and figure out the signs of the times so you can be clear when christ is coming so you're never caught off guard you miss the point of scripture the bible says in hebrews chapter 1 that in the past god spoke through the prophets in many different ways but now in these last days he speaks through his son jesus christ who is the exact radiance of his glory god came to be known and zach wanted to see jesus but he had a problem we talked about that last night oh you i can't i can't say it the way i said it last night because your parents are here and your grandparents are here and they wouldn't understand it but zach had some issues zach had a big problem or a little problem depending on how you want to look at it the bible says that zach was a wee little man he had shortcomings that were obvious to everyone and because of his height he could not see past the crowd but this is what you also need to understand his height wasn't just an issue it was also the height of the crowd there's a lot of people that want to see jesus but we who have been in the church for a long time are just a bit uppity and we make it hard for people to see jesus we talked about we talked about this for for chapel on thursday about how the woman at the whale went there at noon because she didn't want to be around folks when we look at our churches all around this country they are emptying out listen you you're so comfortable because you know you got the best of the best you're going to get the best preachers the best pastors you're going to have the best musicians the best soloists you're always going to be the the the the crown of adventism oakwood you're always going to be you're always going to be at the head you're always going to be great the leaders but most of the churches 99 of the churches ain't like you buildings are falling apart can't make budget their praise team is just one person sometimes they don't have any musicians and they're listening to a track they have 10 people that show up not for prayer meeting for church and you think oakwood academy has issues i i've pastored in oakland for 12 years at this moment in oakland california we do not have an adventist academy golden gate academy has been closed for years how in haiti's how in gehenna can we not have a thriving adventist school in oakland california adventism if you're not paying attention is dying in north america dying we we are decades away from churches completely closing down and you know how we comfort ourselves it's the sign of the times pastor jesus is coming soon god is weeding out those that don't need to that people just can't take the straight truth it's the sign of people's hearts waxing cold that's how we comfort ourselves we'll look around and realize that we're the only people here now we're the remnant let me tell you why people are not in the church it's not because we preach the straight truth because honestly we don't preach the straight truth because the straight truth can i be real with you the straight truth is jesus christ that's the straight truth he is the truth the way in the life what we preach are things that continue to support our institutional arrogance what we like to preach over and over again at camp meetings and evangelistic series is how special we are watch this every general conference session we are voting again and again that we're still the remnant i'm sorry dr pollard i know i know you didn't invite me to say all that send all your hate mail to me the reality is we are just like israel we have gotten to the point where we worship the temple rather than the the one who who the temple was supposed to be after and built for we worship our pillars we worship we worship we worship the things that make us unique and and and distinguish us from the world we worship our traditions we we care more about everything that made us special and and called and anointed in the past not realizing that we are no longer relevant in young people's lives so we'll care about our buildings and we'll care about our our conferences and do you know that we still have archaic stuff that had a purpose back in the day but now in this day of technology and like a telephone it's not as important dr paul i'm still trying to figure out why we have unions we have put more investment in administration and adventism than we do in education no listen y'all think i'm playing listen listen listen there are talks there are talks of colleges and universities shutting down and consolidating and you know why we've lost our faith in our mission we've become an institution and we want to make sure we keep lights on and we have failed we have failed and are failing our mission we were a movement when we started do you know that the adventist church didn't even want to organize because they were afraid they would become like babylon the only reason why we organized that had to have an official name is because we had to build churches and sanitariums and hospitals and schools and this country would not allow us to do that without an official name our forefathers reluctantly organized but they always wanted to remain as a movement we don't move anymore we don't move anymore we have because of our because of our obsession with our institution we have gotten in the way of people seeing jesus that is why for most of us what you think makes you unique is the sabbath let me tell you something first of all the sabbath did not originate with adventists there are over 500 denominations that keep the sabbath honey you ain't special [Applause] you think we used to think back in the day that dress made us special all these things that make us unique listen we have shifted from a lot of the things man you y'all already know that this service doesn't roll like it did 20 years ago when was the last time you played this organ by the way listen i have never sang a hymn jesus is coming again like i mean i was in tears i love it all i'm simply saying is back in the day i remember dr paul i grew i grew up at 16th street church in san bernardino this was back in the day when and there was a conservative black church you know back in the day black churches were very much like white churches just the pigment was different the whole worship style was the same everything was the same they only sang hymns i grew up in a church i grew up in a black church that they had a moratorium on how many amens you should you could say during the service if someone was saying amen too much they would get this look what kind of church you think this is you can only say amen on jesus is coming again but you couldn't be saying amen after everything the pastor said sounded like you were pentecostal baptist something like that i remember when they would put the drum set in the corner and let it sit there just for a year so you get used to seeing it i remember when the gospel choir was seen as as something that was from the enemy from the devil i've seen our church go through transitions listen i ain't a pro i don't have an issue with advancement my issue is with how we determine what is okay what is okay for us to move forward in this department but not in another department i don't understand how we can we can say musically let's be more advanced but when it comes to allowing young people to lead nah nah nah nah i've been here for 30 years i'm holding this seat down [Applause] we get in the way of people seeing jesus you forget how you came to the lord you were involved at a young age we need to start trusting our young people but pastor they're not perfect yeah neither are you and you've been at it for like 60 years what's your excuse and sanctification takes a work of a lifetime so why are you trying to have them have it all together in the first week let them lead so zach is trying to see but the but the people are getting in the way family no one should ever have the excuse that the church got in the way of them seeing jesus we open our doors and we let everybody in when i say everybody i mean everybody no no no yeah you're clapping your hands because you think i'm just talking about people who sin like you i'm talking about everybody even the people that roll up here and don't think they're sinning everybody has been called everybody deserves to be in the house of the lord everybody deserves an opportunity to be connected to jesus you don't get to tell people who they can see and who they cannot see if they come to see jesus get out of the way what you need to understand is zach watched that zach was a tax collector he worked for the roman empire which is a brutal empire and many in many ways zach was a traitor he was the worst of sinners and then he took their money he made them more poor more impoverished him being wealthy meant people were poorer tax collectors were not allowed to attend church they could not go to the synagogue they could not go to the temple they could not offer any sacrifices they could not be among god's people so what tax collectors did is they formed their own clique they formed their own community of support they hung out with prostitutes and pushers they were the criminals that was their peeps so when you get upset that some of your young people aren't willing to hang out at church and hang out with other people because they have found acceptance elsewhere now i know i know listen listen but you're going to tell me but pastor we cannot just accept anyone if we accept people just the way they are and and don't call them out on their sins they're gonna think they're okay listen your job is not to be the holy spirit it's not nowhere does christ say i am going to go and when i leave i will send the church and the church will lead you into all truth and the church will convict you of righteousness and sin christ didn't say he says when i leave i'm going to send the comforter the paraclete i'm going to send the advocate and he will teach you and he will convict you and watch this the holy spirit doesn't shame us oh he doesn't make us feel guilty the holy spirit doesn't judge us the holy spirit convicts us the holy spirit convinces us and that is a difference you trying to come down here and feel like it you're a watchman because you read a text in ezekiel you're a watchman my pastor i'm gonna make sure people don't come in here thinking they can act like this god their blood will be on my listen their blood was on jesus jesus took responsibility for everyone's soul you can't save anybody who told pastor williams who told us that we could save people who gave who made you think that you were somebody's savior listen if you fail to do your part god has something else in the thicket if god has to use their cat to talk to them he'll do it the bible says his word will not return to him void if you fail to do your job god has someone else that will pick up the plow and keep moving oh you're not listening to me listen adventism if we fail to do our job there will be someone else that takes up the torch and moves beyond us oh you don't think god would do that to you because it's been prophesied you're a part of prophecy you see yourself in the book of revelation yeah moses thought the same thing when he hit that rock he he knew he was covered god told him to speak to the rock but you see back in the day moses hit the rock and so you know we talked about this last night so mo was like i'm going to do it the way i've always done it because when i was growing up we had in service our a y was a little bit different so you're gonna you're gonna hit the rock because that's what you did back in the day and it worked for you back then but god didn't tell you to hit the rock this time he told you to speak to it and mo thought he was covered so when he got back to the tent he was kind of feeling himself god told me to speak to i hit it and when didn't come out i hit it again you just keep doing the same thing and eventually it's gonna work and god was like yo man the only reason i let water come out is because people were thirsting and i wasn't gonna allow them to die of thirst because of your arrogance but let me tell you what's going down moe you ain't going to the promised you ain't go but but lord you prophesied that i would lead them yeah i know what i said but you changed up on me so i'm about to change up on you now don't think that god is casting him away because we know that he was forgiven he's loved listen he in heaven right now so god's judgment on moses life on this side of eternity was just for this particular incident he says bro you lost your temper listen you look at you dumb bro you're just done you tired now i get it i love you i'm not condemning you brother i'm gonna save you but you ain't going into the promised land an adventist we better watch out because we looking a whole lot like babylon and i know you like to call that woman in revelation 17 18 you like to call it a particular denomination in another church but i'm telling you we look a whole lot like her because that woman was god's bride at one time the reason why she's called a harlot and an adulteress is because she was a part of she she was married to the lord and he was like nah nah i'm listen you want to do your own thing boo boo we done we can't get in the way of people seeing jesus the bible says that that that that zacchaeus could not see over the crowd but zacchaeus does something young people zack has does something that we need to do yes our parents and grandparents have not always been the perfect example i get it i get it yes the churches ran a certain way and yeah pastor it's institutionalized in this way and they don't really care about yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah but let me tell you something young folks no excuses because now you know it's your personal relationship with jesus zach could have easily gone home and said man they ain't letting me see they're gonna even let me man they're about to beat me up here i'm the bible says that zach moves past the crowd finds a tree and climbs up that tree so that he can see jesus he takes his own relationship with christ serious enough to be responsible for it but pastor it's just hard to understand god i don't i don't get it it's just difficult sometimes the preachers they preach over my head and they hoop and they do this and i but i don't feel it well then you need to figure something out i already told you when we talked about elijah's experience remember god was not in the fire he wasn't in he wasn't he wasn't in the wind he wasn't in the earthquake remember i told you i mean even great preaching sometimes is just hot air listen it sounds good it revs you up hopefully it will inspire you but at the end of the day good preaching and good music isn't your relationship with christ at best sometimes we're just hype men but your relationship with christ happens in the trenches and those still small moments and that's when elijah heard him and elijah is coming off of mount carmel when like fireworks were going off and he still needed those still small moments some of us need to find those trees that we can scamper up where where things are quieter where things are clearer where we are away from all the noise and the distraction and all the loudness and just have our moments with god pastor it's hard for me to read the bible and understand it find a version that works for you no excuses and if the bible doesn't work then find a devotional that's about scripture just whatever it works if you don't if praying doesn't work for you then do a journal whatever it is be intentional about connecting with god everybody's different it's not a one-size-fits-all some want to pray three times a day some can get by praying three times a week i don't know who you are or what your experience is going to be but find out what works for you find out what's sustainable for you the point is don't make excuses yes there are hypocrites in the church we talked about this last night but they're hypocrites everywhere they're at walmart they're at chuck e cheese they're at disney world they're all over the place hypocrites are everywhere and hypocrites are staring at you every single morning in the mirror they're everywhere you can't escape them even when you come to a church that's supposed to be a hospital you still won't be able to escape them but no excuses because you already know you're in a sin ridden broken world get over it people are fake you fake too but we need to have real moments even with all the fakery going on we need to have real moments and zach is having a real moment do you know how bad it looked for him to scamper up a tree act like his shoe size people were looking at him laughing at him oh mommy look at that little kid that's not a kid it's a grown man and we don't talk to him but when you are real you don't mind what people know about you anymore man see shame comes from the enemy guilt comes from the enemy but when you are following after christ you don't feel shame you feel conviction you can be transparent and vulnerable even among the people of god and we need to create healthy safe groups within our church where it is healthy for us and safe for us to be who we are where we can show our wounds and say this is this is me this is where i'm struggling with right now and and it becomes fashionable they dare i say fashionable to be weak and vulnerable and broken and wounded in front of one another so zach is up in the tree and watches because he was intentional about placing himself in an in a in a in a in a in a place where he could see christ and hear him more better whoo bad grammar hear him better don't tell don't tell anybody and hear him better in that tree watch what happens christ the bible says stops underneath his tree stops underneath his tree looks up and says ah that's what i'm talking about the crowd hushes right because they're following after christ you know christ was listen christ was so popular i mean when they said large crowds followed him it's because they could not number how many people were following him when they could number it they would say five thousand men not including women and children when they couldn't number large crowd large crowd filled the streets he couldn't get close enough the crowd got in the way but when jesus stopped i imagine the disciples are like oh oh oh someone touched the hem of your garbage jesus who who touched you she said shh oh miracle's about to happen up in here come on who's blind come on forward christ is about to blow this place up in the name of god come on where are you sick people shh he looks up everybody in the crowd looks up sack is is that you people are looking up that's a squirrel or something jesus are you talking about where's that little cute little squirrel wearing sandals zach get down you you just seem down you here now zach comes down the tree i'll out of breath jesus looking at zach brah you went all the way up that tree to see me i just i just wanted i heard so much about you and i i just wanted i wanted to see you you're beautiful bro today i'm going to your house today your house now initially i thought that sounded cool because um christ coming to his house yo you got a famous person but i don't know about you but uh jesus just showing up at my house and it's not like zach was like this you know devout righteous person i mean zach was a tax collector you know the people that hung out his house i mean if i were zack i'd be like uh yeah lord about that see check this out um we had a party last night i mean just a disclaimer and uh lashonda and maricela and becky are still there um and um i got some stuff in the fridge that you would never turn water into and uh um i just i mean and if you were to see my internet history uh it would take you back to eden in a very perverted way and i just what i'm trying to say right now um is that i'm not ready how many of you would feel that way if listen you feel that way if i told you i was coming to your house today you'd be like wait a second wait a second pastor wait a second wait a second my mom always kept a very clean home and back in the day when there were no cell phones the only way you knew someone was going to come unannounced is if they came unannounced they'd ring the doorbell and my mom always wanted to make sure the house was always straight always look good right you know how it is christ is coming again we want to make sure our stuff is all together we ready for jesus we ready and so my mom approached this the way that we often spiritually approach being ready for jesus my mom looked out the peephole saw my auntie linda and she turned around us boys me and my two brothers and we knew the drill we knew the drill we ran through that house closing all the doors we were picking up stuff off the living room floor making it look like it'd been vacuumed we ran into the kitchen with the pillowcase put all the dirty dishes in the pillowcase tied it up and threw it into the closet i know some of you put it in the oven right you put it in the oven by the time my mom opened the door that house looked good my auntie walked through the house and she said girl [Applause] you sure do keep a clean house my mama's like girl you know me how you doing boys were we ready we weren't ready watch this if i told you jesus was coming a week from now you wouldn't be ready if i told you he was coming a month from now you still wouldn't be ready in your mind you think being ready is getting rid of sin as if you could as if you could oh i'm going to be ready jesus i'm going to be ready you'd be ready for the wrong reasons it's like when you make your bed because guests are coming and you want them to think you actually make your bed every morning you're fake and guess who knows that better than anyone jesus he knew zach wasn't ready and zach knew he wasn't ready so you know what zach did what we all need to do he welcomed him gladly oh jesus come over man it's a hot mess up in here oh i know it is that's why i'm coming over jesus is coming again fam he never left the building through his spirit he is here i am with you always he's knocking at your heart's door we just so superficial it's only about him coming physically in the clouds of glory with angels because we always into fireworks listen the real stuff the real fireworks are him knocking at our hearts door when he when he healed when he was going to heal the man uh that had been paralyzed that was paralyzed in mark chapter two he first did what what'd he say i forgive your sins brother your sins are forgiven people started tripping who are you to forgive sins christ says what is easier for me to say your sins are forgiving you or to say get up pick up and walk what do you think is easier fam to say your sins are forgiven you are to say get up pick up and walk everyone there would have known to get up pick up and walk was far more spectacular than saying your sins are forgiving you but your sins are forgiving you is far more spectacular than calling anyone from a grave god doesn't have to break a sweat to tell someone to get up pick up and walk but he would break a bloody sweat to be able to say your sins are forgiving you we're so worried about what's happening on the outside when god is far more concerned about what's happening on the inside so he stands at our heart's door he wants to come into your home and to your heart right now but i'm not ready pastor i know that's why he's knocking you can't get ready for jesus you can't prepare your heart for jesus who do you think you are the only one who can prepare you for his coming is jesus christ himself so he comes into the house and he opens up those closets come on get that pillow can you silly let's take care of this he's the one there in the room with you when you're on those sites he'll sit there right there with you whenever you're done we can talk make you feel a little too uncomfortable but that's jesus in our house he knows exactly what's going down he's reading those text messages he's like hey whenever you want to talk about a girl we can talk about it and if you don't want me here look i'll respect you because see god is ah man you don't realize he's a gentleman right even in the cool of the day when he came to adam and eve he asked them where they were he didn't barge in he didn't say i know exactly where you are let me use my x-ray vision nope glasses on clark kent hey where are you guys i'll wait for you to answer you take your time i stand at the door and i knock i could kick it down but that's not how i roll the devil does stuff like that no no no no no i knock and if you hear my voice and let me come in i'm going to come in and judge you is that what he says i'm going to come in and condemn you is that what he says i'm going to come in and eat with you i just want to hang with you now what happens when jesus hangs with us he doesn't take zacchaeus through any bible study watch what happens they're upset oh i can't believe he's gone to be a guest at the house of a sinner they're so upset they're so upset they're so upset he's in the house and he's eating and that's what it says in verse eight it says but zacchaeus stood up and said lord look here and now here and now i give half of my possessions to the poor and if i have cheated anybody out of anything i will pay back four times the amount y'all didn't hear him oh then this is so deep he says i'm going to give i'm selling half of my possessions give the money to the poor if i've cheated anyone which was everyone out of anything i'm going to pay them back four times the amount how much money do you think he ended up with in his bank account when he was done in the previous chapter the rich young ruler says lord what must i do to be saved tell me what i must do lord christ is like this joker keep all the commandments oh which ones honor your parents don't lie don't murder stop rabbi i've done all these things what else do i lack if you want to be perfect sell everything you have give the money to the poor and follow me that commandment that christ gave the rich young ruler does not exist in the old testament it did not exist in the law jesus after determining this man had perfectly kept the law of moses decided oh you're ready for my graduate course now yay for you you keep the commandments oh you kept the fourth commandment as well oh i got a new one for you you think you've reached a certain level of righteousness and then christ takes it to another level pulled out a customized commandment that the rich young ruler could not keep at that time and trust me he has a commandment for you right now that if he were to give it to you you would turn your back on him that's how well he knows you that's why he says i must come i stand at the door and i knock because i know the stuff that most people don't know about you pastor but i've never done that yeah because you've never been in a situation to do it i know with some more money was with more money you would do it i know i i know if your figure was this way you would be down i know you i know you so well that if you were in a particular situation with everything against you peter you would turn your back on me it would never it will happen i know you that well but pete i also know you this well when you return come strengthen your brothers when'd you return i know you that well you don't know me like i know you boy i know your heart and that's why i'm talking to you right now zacchaeus does something the rich young ruler was unwilling to do and guess what no one asked him to do it no one had to tell him to do it you want to know why because jesus ate with him jesus just ate with him jesus just hung out with him jesus just hung out with him and that's all it took for him to be converted on the spot there were no bible studies he didn't get to go over the law of moses he didn't understand what they were teaching in the synagogue all jesus did was listen sometimes all you need to do is invite a student to your house and feed them you don't need to open up your mouth you don't need to talk about what god did sometimes just be who god is and that's enough oh but pastor i'm so afraid they're going to be lost if i don't tell him this truth right now salvation is not a timing issue when the five foolish virgins show up at the house with oil they had it eventually the bridegroom didn't say you're too late if it was a timing this you would have said you're too late if it was an oil issue he would have said you don't have enough what did he tell them why couldn't they come into the house why could they not come into the house they couldn't come into the house because he did not know them which simply means they did not know him because if you know jesus you don't be trying to i'm gonna go to walmart real quick and pick up some extra oil because i don't want to be caught without enough oil you would have shown up at the house and fell down at his feet and said i'm a wretched person woe to me i'm imperfect god unclean lips i messed up i was arrogant i was full of self lord i was saying did i not prophesy did i not cast out demons did i not perform many miracles lord i fall at the mercy of the court right now please take me just as i am if they would have known jesus they would have known he probably had some extra oil stashed away just for folks like that here are your wedding garments as well and here's a little oil packet thank you for trusting me even in your sins thank you for trusting me even in your unpreparedness thank you for allowing me to be what you couldn't be thank you for allowing me to complete you thank you for trusting me enough and not being so scared that you would know that i would love you and take you just the way you are and i believe family as i close i believe that when we are convinced that god will truly accept us take us for who we are then and only then can true conversion happen if zacchaeus decided he was going to feed the homeless and and he was going to give his wealth to bless those who are impoverished those who are underserved if he did that out of compulsion because he wanted to be saved he would be doing it for the wrong reasons we want to do things from a place that is organic but i want to be a good tree pastor you're not a good tree you never will be a good tree but you can be a branch connected to the only good tree that you can do but how do i do it remain but but pastor i want to be a part of the remnant people yes the remnant people are literally those who remain remain in me and i will remain in you apart from me you can do nothing and jesus then says salvation today has come to this house what day did he say it happened what happened what day was it down the road in the future some salvation today has come to this house for this man too is a son of abraham we have so many of our family members that are not here today because we have unintentionally gotten in the way they want to see jesus and if because of their insecurities and shortcomings they feel like they can't see him at this moment let them see you and in your own authentic relationship with christ as he has yeah as he has been developing something in you that what comes naturally from you may may they see christ in you and hopefully inspire them to know that if you're kind and you're loving and you're accepting that and you follow christ that he must be the same way at the very least but pastor if we accept everyone they're good acceptance does not mean agreement i can accept you and not agree with you but i'm still going to accept you because i know that by accepting you we have an opportunity for a relationship and christ is so convinced that if you're in a relationship with him he is so convinced that if he is lifted up he will draw everyone how many everyone you know what that word everyone means in the greek everybody so convinced that if he's lifted up that if christ is central in your ministry central in your church central in your community that if he's lifted up he is irresistible oh can i share something i'll close on this part i want to share something from auntie ellen can i do that she has a beautiful quote a beautiful quote it just came to me right now i'm gonna share with you right now a beautiful quote and it's about really what this whole week has been about the true roots she says this mistaken from an article in signs of the times march 17. she says this the shortness of time is frequently urged as an incentive to seeking righteousness for seeking righteousness and making christ our friend what did you say the shortness of time is often used as an incentive oh you better make your calling election sure you don't know what's going to happen once you walk out these doors scaring people into being friends with jesus but we already know first john 4 18 says there is no fear in love for perfect love cast out all fear she says that the shortness of time is frequently urged as an incentive for seeking righteousness and making christ our friend this should not be the great motive with us for its saviors of selfishness lord what must i do to be saved as if there was something you could do is it necessary that the terrors of the day of god should be held before us that we may be compelled to write action through fear it ought not to be so jesus is attractive those are her words not mine jesus she says is attractive he is full of love mercy and compassion he proposes to be our friend to walk with us through all the rough pathways of life he says to us i am the lord thy god walk with me and i will fill thy path with light jesus is attractive he look good he looks good i just want to see jesus zach said i just want to see jesus and once he saw jesus he said oh jesus you're so beautiful oh jesus i'm so attracted to you jesus i'm so into you i'm so into you that my wealth means nothing to me anymore i don't care about the riches i don't care about the fame i don't care about the power i'm into you because he saw jesus he saw jesus unfiltered he saw jesus without fear and oh you i want you to see jesus jesus but i'm not ready pastor i know isn't it wonderful you're not ready and you can still see him he's knocking at the door he's knocking at your door right now our fear has never been that god would come and catch us off guard our fear has never been that the laodicean church in revelation 3 the fear is not i will come to you and i will judge you the fear has never been that the fear is that one day we would no longer hear the knock because in the end family god doesn't lose his temper with the wicked he just finally respects their choice and he's a gentleman and the wicked don't perish because god is angry because the god who loved them and forgave them still loves them and has forgiven them even at the end of time the reason why they're not permitted into heaven is not because they're too evil they're not permitted because they don't want to be there his very presence to him the bible says is a is a is a consuming fire auntie ellen says in steps to christ the second chapter it would be a place of torture if god wanted to torture the wicked he'd send him to heaven but he respects them so much that he honors their final prayer request you wanna know what their final prayer request is may the rocks fall down and crush us and god says i'll leave you alone and you know what happens when you no longer remain in jesus you know what happens when he finally uh does the strange act and allows you to completely separate from him you know what happens it's the same thing that happened to christ on the cross you know what happens when god finally respects your decision to no longer remain you are like a branch according to john 15 that withers away god doesn't wither you away you wither your way your sins that god has nothing to do with that part so he wants you to remain in him stay close to me we're about to have a baptism amen and before we do is there's someone else who wants to jump in that pool before we do is there's someone where you've been hearing that knock at your heart's door and you've been afraid to open up because you weren't sure how christ was going to treat you but now you know now you know for certain he'll take you just the way you are he just wants to start a journey with you but pastor in a month do i have to be perfect no no enroll at jesus you enroll in the school of christ just enroll be admitted remember you may fail some classes but christ will never fail you just remain sanctification is the work of a lifetime god wants to start the process now so there's someone who wants to make that decision i where where's my where's my chap says they're already they're already i think they're all ready to get in the pool come and meet us in the back i don't even know how to get back there but come and meet us in the back pastor you let give them instruction but if you want to make that decision we got a robe for you you're not graduating today you're enrolling amen you're enrolling you're being admitted into the school of christ so if there was someone that wants to make that decision i'm going to invite you to come forward right now and we're going to pray out this part of the service and we're going to celebrate with those who will be baptized if there is anyone i know it's different when it happens at night i know it's different when it happens at night the lights are dim you kind of feel like inconspicuously walk down here it's different when the lights are bright your choice your choice you can make this decision when you're in your dorm room i'm just saying i'm just saying you can make it now right now too there might be someone else here an adult you may say oh pastor you're just talking to the students i'm talking to you as well you're here right if the spirit's been knocking at your heart's door you said pastor i have been afraid of god all my life everything i have done has come from a place of fear inspired by fear but now i want to be inspired by love i want to get to know christ for who he is to see god for who he is not through a glass darkly but face to face and not be afraid family i believe in holiness i believe that god is creating a holy people i believe it i just believe we can't do it in a dysfunctional way it needs to be organic and it can only be organic if we are authentic and real with christ that we make ourselves known to him in a real and authentic way so that he can be real and authentic with us is there anyone i'm going to pray us out if you want to meet us in the back you may but let's pray father god thank you so much for the opportunity father just to delve into your word a little bit longer you have challenged us today on really what it means to be prepared for you father we realize we're not prepared even those who believe they're prepared we we do it from a place of self-insuredness we do it from a place of selfishness we do it from a place of arrogance we are just as broken and wretched and as needy as the tax collectors and father we know that you love us as well and that you are redeeming us as well and that you are willing to cleanse us as well and you want to be in a relationship with us as well father help heal our churches our schools the institutional part is great for cashing checks and and paying bills but father may we not lose sight of our mission as a church we want people to see jesus and we want to be that vehicle we want to help facilitate people seeing jesus may you be the center of our prophecy the center of our dna the center of all of our doctrines jesus you have revealed your character to us because you are still winning our trust right now and so father we want to give our trust to you as small as it may be right now we want to give you that little bit of trust to start this big journey knowing you and being remade in your image being remade into your character father thank you so much we open our hearts to you right now we reopen our hearts to you come in and sup with us we choose today to remain in you in jesus name let the redeemed say amen and amen amen amen and amen i think it's appropriate this song i have decided to follow jesus how many are you any of those who have accepted christ aren't you excited put a smile on your face about what god has done and he's going to continue to do in your life pastor henderson god ordained this time this week in earth's history for you to be here to share that message with us and we want to say thank you thank you and thank you for what you have done today family this is not the end it is just the beginning we have an opportunity to witness four individuals make a decision for jesus christ come on somebody say amen for the goodness of god and what he has done they've been having been examined in the back or over the baptismal vows and i want to take a motion to accept the following individuals into the fellowship of faith the oakwood university church pending their baptism is there mo is there a motion has been moved is there a second all in favor say aye it is carried let's just pray over the water lord we're thankful for an opportunity to come together we pray today that as we have this baptism that lord you will allow these young people to mark this day in their lives so they can be reminded that you love them and you will never leave them we thank you and we love you in jesus name we pray let all the children of god say amen and amen i am excited today we're going to sing take me to the water real quick and then we're going to go over the names for our baptisms [Music] [Music] every baptism is special but this baptism is even more special because this young lady brother simon she dates me i remember when she was in kindergarten in birmingham alabama we passed her there and she was a part of my wife's kindergarten class and now miss dalia henderson is making a decision to be baptized as a student of oakwood university come on somebody say amen miss david daley it's been a powerful opportunity to watch you grow but today to see you make a decision for jesus christ we are excited i personally am elated i know your family and friends are there if they're friends and family that are poor and want to support ms dow you're going to ask you to stand to your feet at this time and today dalia myself along with the chaplains now baptize you in the name of the father son of the holy spirit be faithful until he returns let somebody say amen amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] take me [Music] now it's powerful to see a young lady but it's even more exciting to see a young man make a decision for jesus christ today we have mr rayon stewart excited about what god has done excited about making a decision for him if there are friends or family members or supporters that would like to stand in support of brother rayon's baptism we're going to ask you to stand to your feet at this time so brother stewart because of your decision to make to follow christ all the way to accept him into your home and to say yes to his will and yes to his way we now want to baptize you with a smile on our faces in the name of the father in the name of the son and in the name of the holy spirit be faithful until he returns amen [Music] [Music] yes [Music] [Music] to be this is the reason why we do this this is the reason why we wake up early and go to bed late this is the reason why we connect with the chaplain's office this is the reason dr pollard why we oak wood exists so that young men boys and girls to make a decision for jesus christ and today we also have mr terrence killebrew terence i hear somebody saying yeah somebody excited and if you want to have a friend you need to have a friend that gets excited about your baptism come on somebody say amen if you're someone to support and brother and want to stand in support of brother terrence's baptism we'll ask you to do that at this time terrence chaplains are standing to your right and to your left but even greater than them are angels right now right now there is a party going on in heaven because you said yes to the holy spirit because you said i want to be make christ my lord and my savior and today because of that decision we now baptize you in the name of the father in the name of the son in the name of the holy spirit be faithful until he returns amen [Music] take me to the water take me to the water [Music] today is mr nathan handy we're gonna ask you stay at your feet supporter brother handy's baptism nathan i don't know how or where god is gonna lead you but i know i am confident that god has a plan for your life he has something special just for you and because of this decision men women boys or girls are going to see what you've done and say man i want to follow the same god that nathan's following so i'm asking those individuals that are standing in support of your baptism we rejoice today with all the angels in all of heaven because you said yes to god we want to follow him and be faithful until he returns we now baptize you in the name of the father the name of the son in the name of the holy spirit be faithful until he returns amen [Music] take me [Music] this is the reason why we're here so that we can be encouraged the baptism that we took whatever whatever you did that is a reminder man this is god the same holy spirit that's working on you is still working and is active today and we praise god for that we thank you president pollard for leading in this initiative for leading the university we thank you chaplain henderson pastor henderson for what you've done and allowing god to use you we want to say thank you let's affirm god again for this man of god that shared the word of god with us today we thank you we actually stand to your feet as ms nathalie comes forward to give us our benediction also i want to remind you that elder bradford's service will be this friday at oakwood memorial gardens at 12 30 p.m miss natalie come on at this time and give us our benediction and then we will have our will be dismissed let us pray loving father we want to say thank you for this wonderful service oh god that you have allowed us to be a part of today oh god lord we thank you for the things you will continuously do for us as we leave this place o god lord i'm praying that everything that was done today that we would take it with us and daily live out daily live out what we ought to do in jesus name lord as we leave this place allow us to never leave your presence as we close this prayer oh god let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight o lord our strength and our redeemer in jesus name amen and amen amen aren't you excited you're in the house of god today amen we praise god thank you for being with us we look forward to worship you next sabbath as we continue to worship god in spirit and in truth you may consider yourselves dismissed god bless you and again pastor we say thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Oakwood University Church

Views: 15,259

Rating: 4.8371038 out of 5

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

Id: 8LFJTP_miGc

Length: 220min 55sec (13255 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021