Pastor John Nixon II | "Learning From 9/11; 20 Years Later"

amen i'd love to see that don't you some of them really enjoying themselves in the front especially and we got a kick out of that thank you so much to our children uh thank you to miss faith and the others who put that together pastor job for organizing that nice solo little miranda excellent job and we praise god for our children don't we love our children let's give them a handcuff one more time you do such a great job [Applause] when i was up here earlier during the church life i was supposed to have reminded us about a second reading that we were doing for today we have some transfers people who are going out and coming in and i meant to do it during the church life and forgot about it and thank you to romania for reminding me uh if you went to your email you would have seen it today or yesterday when it was sent in that we have several people that are transferring and i want to just do that right now if i can i want to read the names to you and then i will take a motion from the floor and then we can vote these names in and out so we have antoinette hicks going from tacoma park to the bladensburg sda church we have cheryl mcdonald going from tacoma park to the cherokee sda church in woodstock georgia we have fabian taff going from tacoma park to the patmos chapel sda church in apopka florida and then we have citrus severin going from tacoma park to the lithonia emmanuel sda church in lithonia georgia so those four are going out we have several coming in the warfield friend family that would be fred lindsay michaela and phoebe are coming to the tacoma park sda church from the community praised church in alexandria and we also have lakeisha weems who is coming to tacoma park she is our new middle school math teacher at taps to come to tacoma park from the oakwood university church so i wonder if there's a motion to accept those transfers does anybody want to do that okay it's been moved is there a second all right all in favor say aye anybody opposed you can use the same sign okay that is carried thank you very much for that and we're able to do that thank you we of course already put it in the email for those of you that are watching us online who did not come to church today we want to make sure that we always keep in lock step together as a congregation so that even for those who are virtual during this time you can still feel like you are part of us here at the tacoma park seventh adventist church well you see that i'm wearing my service sabbath shirt i talked about this earlier for those of you that were not here earlier uh you know that our shirts we wear on service sabbath because there's nothing like seeing a whole sea of red people out there in the same exact shirt doing good on the lord's day which we are doing right now there are 30 volunteers that are out with pastor shisto at a woman's home as they are renovating it for and there's a whole nother group going at one o'clock today maybe another 30 or so they'll all be wearing these shirts you see some of us wearing the shirts today in honor of that in a normal situation on service sabbath we have about 10 different service projects going at the same time all during the day that you can be involved in this time though we decided to do it a slightly bit differently because of the nature of this project that we're actually doing so this is not our first time renovating for someone but in a normal situation the renovation we come in on someone else's thing meaning they're the ones that plan everything they get the materials all we do is provide the people but in this situation they asked us if we would lead the entire thing so we had to get our own contractor and our own materials and our own people everything the whole thing is ours and pastor shiesta wanted to make sure we had enough people and enough volunteers and so that's what we did so in the future we will get back to what we used to do which is having several different service projects all available on the same sabbath and we'll all do our different things we'll come to church for a little while and then we'll go back out and do things in the afternoon it's always a wonderful way to celebrate the sabbath you do know the bible says it is lawful to do good on the sabbath right and when we get out there and we are the hands and feet of jesus sometimes they find out things about god for the first time when we do something good for them when we help someone that is in need and it's a good idea for us to get involved in it so i want to thank you for what you're doing to involve yourself in that when we give of our money that's a big deal but when we also give of our time and our talents that's just as important in the family of god so i want to make sure that we stay engaged in that way who says amen to that today so we praise the lord that we are here on this sabbath one more time why don't i get right into the word now last sabbath i was not here but i watched the sermon yesterday from last sabbath where pastor shisto actually shared at the beginning of the sermon his experience with us what happened on 9 11 as he was working in new york at the time it turns out i am from new york but i was not living in new york at the time of the world trade center attack and i'm sure you remember where you were what you were doing because it was such a memorable moment it left an indelible impression in our minds it was 20 years ago but i remember it like it was yesterday we got up that morning we got up to go to a funeral a man named tommy giles who was our pianist at our little church in milledgeville georgia that's what we were pastoring we'd been pastoring for maybe a year i was about 23 years old april and i hadn't been married very long either i guess about a year and uh tommy one sabbath all of a sudden didn't come to church and we didn't know what happened somebody investigated it turns out tommy giles our pianist just dropped it out of nowhere had a heart attack and died and on this particular morning the morning of september 11th we got up to get ready for his funeral we were headed there to go funeralize brother tommy giles and i turned on the tv that morning i guess just out of habit it was a tuesday morning and when i turned on the tv i saw what i thought was a scene from a movie no joke i actually said to april what movie is this couldn't figure it out changed the channel a few times and the same scene was on every channel and i realized this is the news this is happening right now i watched and saw there was a building i recognized it right away it was one of the twin towers a plane had been flown into it i was watching and listening and there was the building was on fire as we sat there we were glued i don't remember what we were in the middle of might have been putting on our pants didn't matter we stopped what we were doing and just watched that tv we were glued to that thing what seemed like for hours it may have been hours because i remember 56 minutes later that tower fell not the first one the second one in fact if you remember correctly the plane the first plane we didn't watch go into that building because there was no media coverage there yet the the news people came after the fact and and by the way we didn't have cell phone cameras back in 2001. you guys remember that so nobody caught i think there might have been somebody that had a video camera out there or something but it was weeks later when we saw that first plane go into the building so by the time we saw by the time we tuned in that play had already gone in but we all watched the second one go in and that building was the first building to fall the second building and i remember watching in the horror as that thing crumbled i was not expecting that to happen my heart actually sank as the building fell i thought to myself about all those lives that were lost that day pastor shisto talked about it last week you remember watching people even jump out of the building then the second tower fell we were horrified again i remember not being able to process what was going on i was in shock you may have been too we ended up at some point getting ready we made it on time to the funeral that day i remember being in that funeral it was like a double morning we were mourning the loss of our of our of our pianist and the loss of all of those lives three thousand of them we found out later just under three thousand died in that terrible tragedy hard to process it's funny because 20 years later we can look back on it and we have you know they say hindsight is 20 20. you've heard that before we can look back on it we can see everything so clearly and you really think about we changed dramatically as a country and as individuals because of that situation didn't we changed dramatically never to be the same again we gave up some of our personal freedoms willingly because we wanted to be safe we learned that we could galvanize together as a country over a common enemy didn't we learn that we learned what it felt like to spend your life thinking only of revenge was all that was on the news all the time learned a lot about ourselves during that time but what i want to focus on today is what did we learn as a congregation what did we learn as a people what did we learn as the people of god from a spiritual perspective i want to show you three things that i think we can learn from 9 11 as we look back 20 years ago and i want to pray right now father thank you so much thank you for your word thank you for your guidance and your protection thank you for giving us the ability to look back on things to gain perspective i'm asking god that you would give us that very perspective today help us to see jesus christ may we be encouraged by the word of god we pray in jesus name amen first john chapter 4 that's what i want to start what book did i say everybody first john chapter 4 starting in verse 16 b that's the second half of 16 and then reading to verse 18. i've got the new international version of the bible this is where i want us to start as we look back on 9 11 what are the three things that we could learn we could learn a lot of things a lot more than three i want to point out three things three spiritual things we can learn from the 9 11 tragedy first john chapter 4 starting in verse 16 the second half of that and reading to verse 18. here's what the bible says god is what everybody love that's right whoever lives in love lives in god and god in them this is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence everybody say confidence can't say like you're confidence say confidence confidence on the day of judgment in this world we are like jesus there is no fear in love but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment the one who fears is not made perfect in love wow what a wonderful and encouraging word from the apostle john this is part of a longer passage of scripture about the essence of love and how it works in and around the life of the believer john essentially teaches us that love is the one indispensable characteristic of every true believer of god because god himself is everybody say is god is love now this is quite a statement because john could have said god has love or god displays love john could have said that god is loving and that god's love for us lasts forever all of those things are true if those things are true say amen all of them are true but to say that god is love is a very different statement to make it's an all-encompassing statement that takes our breath away if god is love then love and god cannot be separated if god is love then love is not a feeling or an action love is a being if god is love then we cannot live without him if we ever expect to display true love in this life everything else is an imitation a phony a fake if god is love then everything he does comes from a motive of love and an outgrowth of love every motivation of god must then be loved because it is who he is it's an essential inescapable truth god is love who says amen to that today but then john says this we can only have complete love if we have god and god's complete love has another added benefit it drives away all fear that's very interesting to me john is setting up this argument as if to say that love and fear are incompatible as a primary motivator in our lives did you hear what i just said love and fear are incompatible as primary motivators in our lives and what john is doing here he's giving encouragement to believers in the last days who will be tempted to live their lives from a position of fear instead of a position of love don't miss this part of the sermon john is saying that as the day of judgment approaches we will not fear if we have god's complete love because perfect love drives out fear so here's the first thing that we learn from the tragedy of 9 11. wanna know what it is here it is right here first thing fear is effective only for a short time all right repeat after me fear is no match for love you believe that say amen fear is no match for love fear is an outside force that alters our actions temporarily but only love can transform our hearts because it works from within we can learn this in a big way as we look at the tragedy of 9 11. so i was pastoring in millageville and i was there at my little small church had two churches actually millageville and dublin and this same phenomenon happened almost the exact same way in both churches and with the same timing almost must be something about human nature the very next wednesday which would have been the next day right because september 11th that year and 20 2001 happened on a tuesday the very next day was wednesday and at prayer meeting the place was packed everybody was at prayer meeting everybody on that sabbath was at sabbath school on time [Music] i'm 23 years old it's my first year of ministry i just turned 23 10 days before that september 1st is my birthday september 11th is when this happened september 12th i would have been 23 for 12 days 11 days all these people came back and in my i guess i was naive at the time i just thought that everyone at church had a big spiritual awakening i knew it i was excited about this new reformation that was happening within the people of god it was beautiful beautiful for the next three weeks fourth week a few less people came fifth week a few less than that by the time we got to three months everything was back to normal church was just as empty at prayer meeting people came to church on sabbath but they didn't come to prayer meeting and they didn't come to cyber school but during that time they needed a word from the lord they wanted to be close to him and i thought this was some great spiritual awakening you know what it was everybody was scared once the fear wore off we went back to our normal ways it's not a coincidence that it happened the same way in both churches it's human nature this is who we are no one was really transformed we were all just scared once it wore off business as usual see our human nature is revealed every time we find ourselves in a life-altering situation like this we often get scared and we're motivated by fear but here's the thing about fear it seems really effective in the moment because fear always gets an immediate response can you say immediate fear always gets an immediate response our bodies have a natural reflexive and involuntary response to fear it's built into us it presents itself at the onset of the situation and it makes us scared we often make decisions in those moments that are meant to preserve our lives fear is a motivator that gives immediate results and we care about results in this country we really do and the quicker the results the better so we sometimes resort to bad things that don't have a lasting effect in fact many of us use fear tactics to teach our kids about sex and drugs and what they're going to do when they get older these are the things we're scared about our kids having a problem in and so we use fear to try to convince them not to do certain things don't we do that the problem with that fear tactic is it goes away pretty quickly the bible is pitting fear and love against each other and the bible is saying that love is so strong that it actually drives out fear altogether now don't get me wrong i'm not saying that if you're afraid of roller coasters that you're not really a christian that's not what i'm saying i'm not saying that you're scared of dogs that means you don't have any faith that's not what i'm saying at all those are okay those are fear responses that the bible i mean that the lord put in you to keep you alive nothing wrong with that but the bible is saying that fear should not be the primary influencer in your life to help you make decisions should not be the primary influencer we are believers and love should be our main motivator because god is love and if we accept god into our hearts then we have his perfect love and perfect love eradicates fear as a leader in our lives you see love may not get the immediate results but it will get lasting results love is slower and it takes more time but it has the power to invoke a meaningful transformation of the heart fear can make the heart beat faster but love can change the heart from being stoned into flesh fear motivates you to run scared and flee while while love encourages you to stand firm on the word of god fear will make your palms sweaty but love will motivate you to use those same hands to help your brother and sister out like on service sabbath fear may get immediate results but they will never be lasting results if you want someone to change for good they need the love of god in their hearts and no wonder that's true because god is love and god's love is everlasting tragedies like september 11th reveal our human nature we are usually motivated by fear but that doesn't last long only genuine love lasts first thing we learn from 9 11 is that fear is effective only for a short time what's the second thing we learned ephesians chapter four i'm switching books of the bible now i've got one more text later on ephesians chapter 4 verses 29 through 32. so the first thing we learned fear is a motivator but only for a short time here's the second thing we learned bible says do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth but only what is helpful for doing what everybody building others up according to their need that it may benefit those who listen and do not grieve the holy spirit of god with whom you are sealed for the day of redemption get rid of all bitterness rage and anger brawling and slander along with every form of malice be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other just as in christ god forgave you who says amen to god's word today here's the second thing that we learned the second thing we learned from 9 11 is this it's much easier to tear down than it is to build up repeat after me god wants his children to be master builders let's add one word god wants his children to be master people builders who says amen to that today that's our role as the body of christ that's what god wants from us but it's much easier to tear down than it is to build up here is the apostle paul writing to the church in ephesus to encourage them about how they are to live with one another within the family of god it's part of a longer passage where he instructs them on what things look like when they live as children of light according to paul children of light live very differently from children of darkness paul says they don't know about actually he says they do know about living as children of darkness because they just came out of darkness and now they're in the light and he's saying here are the things that you should do here is the essence of it right here here is what it means to be a child of light are you listening you ready for it here it is right here the essence of it right here start building people up instead of tearing them down that's it right there how do i know because of what paul says in his list be kind and compassionate to people that's in his list get rid of bitterness and rage and anger that's in his list no more slander throw away malice stop brawling paul says not eat not to even let unwholesome talk come out of your mouth except that which is helpful for building others up according to their needs now i put this text on the screen for a reason we we we see the building each other's up part but the last part is the part that lets me know that god wants us to be master builders you know what it is it says according to their needs that requires a little bit extra work how do i even know what your needs are unless i know who you are so the building is not just talking nice to people it's it's doing something specific based on what someone needs so you're telling me i can't just it's not enough for me to just not say whatever comes to my mind i'm also supposed to consider your needs that's deep paul is calling for us to be master builders in case you don't know construction is a kind of profession that has many different facets to it just like any other profession and it turns out that constructions construction has specialists who are masters in certain areas of construction some are architects others are structural engineers some are good with carpentry while others specialize in roofing but a master builder is one who would have the knowledge and appropriate skills to be proficient in all of those areas so that the master builder could build a house all by herself because she has all the necessary skills to do so you can imagine that it takes many years of study and practice to become a master builder and you would be right in fact one of the things that's the most effective part of becoming a master builder is what's called apprenticeship that means you are working right beside another master builder you're trying to become one and you're watching and you're observing and the master builder is giving you all kinds of instructions on how to do certain things that apprenticeship is actually the part of it that is the most effective in making you into a master builder that's what they have to do it kind of reminds me now if if if paul is saying that we're supposed to be master builders how do we become that the only way is by being apprentices of jesus gotta walk with him and talk with him and get advice from him about how to do things for people and if we stay in the word of god all that we need is right there in the word for us to become master people builders who says amen to that today if we walk closely with him and submit ourselves to his teachings he will guide us and share with us the precious secrets of how to build people up we can be master people builders in jesus name who says amen to that today did you know it only took an hour and 42 minutes to knock down both of those twin towers i looked it up in the timeline of things in preparation for this sermon and i was surprised at some of the things that i misremembered from that time the first plane crashed into the north tower but the north tower fell second the second plane crashed into the south tower at 9 03 am eastern time and that tower fell at 9 59 am less than an hour 56 minutes it took to collapse a 110 story building and it took an hour and 42 minutes to get the other one down too two buildings down in less than two hours in fact a little more than an hour and a half and do you know how long it took them to actually build those two buildings seven years but you know building takes more than just the actual putting up the you know taking the digging in the ground and all that stuff that building starts way before that because you got to buy the land you got to get permits you got to get permission to do it you got to hire all kinds of people that started seven years before that so it took 14 years from the day they made the proposal to the day that they opened up the building see what i'm trying to say it takes way more to build up than it does to tear down now i see why it is that we don't want to build up it takes too much work it's so much easier to notice flaws in what people do and to point them out all the time to be critical to make ourselves feel better in fact sometimes by tearing you down it makes me feel built up but the bible says if we're going to be master people builders we have to get better at being like the ultimate master builder jesus christ who gave himself for us in every single way possible so that we could be built up he even gave his life so that we could live eternally who says amen to that today we have got to learn to build people up it's hard work it's much easier to tear down but god wants us to be master people builders so that's the second thing we learn from 9 11 it's much easier to tear down than it is to build up last one matthew 28 16-20 matthew 28 16-20 you guys know this text then the 11 disciples went to galilee to the mountain where jesus had told them to go when they saw him they worshiped him but some doubted then jesus came to them and said all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son of the holy spirit and teaching them to obey everything i have commanded you and surely i am with you how long everybody always to the very end of the age here's the third thing the third thing we learn from 9 11 is that building up the kingdom of god is the most important building there is fact repeat after me the best kind of building is a verb not a noun did you get it building not the structure the action it's the best kind of building god has called us to build up the kingdom of god and this should be what excites us every day as believers we have the privilege of showing people the love of god in a way that is redemptive in other words god wants to redeem us to win us back to himself and the way he has chosen to demonstrate his love is by coming to earth living a perfect life as a substitute for our messed up lives and he submitted to a cruel cross in death so that we could live eternally it was meant to be a visual depiction of how much love jesus has for us god says since you know about all this i want you to start demonstrating that same love for other people the ones that don't know about this this is how we build up the kingdom of god by winning people to his side away from the devil's side this is why we have service sabbath seriously when we go out and we serve people we're actually using christ's method for winning people to god did you know that did you realize that okay you're not convinced i want to show you a quote this is a quote from one of my favorite authors named ellen white she may be one of yours too here is what she says and if you think about service sabbath you will see how this fits christ's method alone will give true success in reaching people true success what's his method the savior mingled with people as one who desired their good this is why on service sabbath we don't do it in a suit and tie we wear our jeans and sneakers and a t-shirt because then the people that we're mingling with will feel like we're part of them they're probably not wearing a suit and tie jesus mingled with people as one who desired their good so we can't just be around them we have to actually look like and make it feel like we care about doing something good for them then she says this he showed sympathy for them ministering to their needs and won their confidence then he invited them follow me what a method it's christ's method and we're trying to adopt this method as the body of christ this is what service sabbath is all about and this is why we have so many service projects throughout the year we're meeting people where they are ministering to their needs so that they will feel the love of god through us and then we invite them to follow jesus and guess what they just might say yes i'll follow him 911 teaches us that physical buildings are not most important building up god's kingdom is so there you have it 9 11 teaches us that fear is effective only for a short time number two it's much easier to tear down than to build up god asks us to be master people builders we've got to get better at building and number three building up the kingdom of god is the most important building that there is you believe god's word raise your hand right now if you do if you want to be a better people builder raise your other hand right now and look up and say i surrender praise the lord praise the lord almost 3 000 people were lost on that fateful day those people many of them were somehow connected to people here in this audience i know a lot of people that had family members or friends who were involved in that tragedy that day maybe they didn't lose their lives but maybe they were there in the area when that great tragedy took place 20 years have passed and i wonder if you think things are any better today i would say no some things might be slightly better but overall this world feels so much worse than men in fact i would say since 20 2001 we have had many other tragedies that have been similar in their effect as that world trade center uh attack up until including what we just went through and are still going through in this pandemic [Music] think about the level of concentration think about the amount of things that have happened just in this last year alone things we've had to live through know what kind of trauma that is happening on us emotionally we may not even realize it all of this all of these things are signs that the end is near jesus is soon to come and when jesus comes he wants to take us back to heaven with him he wants to rescue us from this world of sin he wants to emancipate us from the bonds of sin he wants to give us victory through his son jesus christ and i want that today what about you if you want that victorious life and you want it to be such an overflow that it spills into the way that you treat other people just stand to your feet right now just recommitting yourself to god and saying god that's what i want today if you're watching us online and you want to make a commitment to him right now just say give me jesus in the chat and we'll pray a special prayer for you today in fact maybe there's somebody that wants to go a step further and accept jesus christ maybe for the first time maybe you want to come back to him maybe you want to join this sabbath-keeping family i don't know who you are you're here in the sanctuary you're online if you're here raise your hand if you're online i see your hand god bless you if you're online just put give me jesus in the chat one of our pastors will get in contact with you and we'll get you started on a process to make you one of us let's pray father thank you so much for the encouraging word that we receive today and i thank you god for giving us this idea in our minds that we can live a better life even in the midst of all this chaos and tragedy we've experienced so much since 9 11. and got a whole generation of people is being shaped by the tragedies that are happening week after week it feels like and lord we're standing right now recommitting ourselves to you saying we want to live victorious lives lives that have so much overflow that it impacts the people that we're around even when we're not trying they see the love of god in us lord help us to be the hands and feet of jesus make us into people builders master people builders so that when you come a whole bunch of us can be saved into your kingdom we know you're coming soon help us to be ready in the name of jesus we pray let everyone who loves god say together amen and amen god bless you you might as well remain standing because we're going to have our closing hymn now would you come and give us our closing hymn and we'll sing it together let us join together singing bless be the tie that binds 350. [Music] bless me the [Music] is [Music] our fears we share our mutual walls [Applause] the same day [Music] it gave us [Applause] to meet once [Music] another benediction now may the very god of peace sanctify you through and through and i pray god your whole spirit soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our lord jesus christ he which testifieth these things saith surely i come quickly even so come lord jesus amen you may be seated for a moment silent meditation and then i believe our ushers will come to dismiss us we will use our doors here at the back and you can be outside congregating as long as you want may god bless you and happy sabbath you

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Keywords: Sabbath Worship, TPC, Takoma Park SDA Church Live Stream, TPC Live Stream, SDA, Seventh Day Adventist, Seventh-Day Advenist, Sabbath, #TPC, Pastor Henry Wright, Pastor Chris Cheatham, Pastor Wesley Knight, Pastor Anwar Ottley, Pastor Daniel Xisto, Pastor John Nixon II, Takoma Park, Takoma Park Church, Takoma Park SDA, Pastor Michael Kelly, Pastor John Nixon, Pastor Griselda Jobe, Pastor John Nixon Sr, Pastor Trevor Kinlock

Id: Va6h-5_NAn4

Length: 43min 4sec (2584 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021