Scarborough SDA Sabbath Service || Adventist Christian Fellowship || August 28, 2021

this morning we have an amazing program for you we have acf joining us for this morning to be able to to share worship what is acf acf is adventist christian fellowship that's name might not uh you might not know what that is this is basically our adventist students on campuses around here in the gta and not even just in gta here in ontario even around the world we have this acf um ministry department and they are going to be leading out they're going to be sharing some things of who they are and their experiences what we want to encourage is we want to encourage especially for those of you who are in colleges to to be able to watch to be able to listen and and pray to god and ask god whether or not that you would like to join something like this before we would continue i would just like to give some announcements our first announcement is that next week next week we are going to be having our communion service next week we're having our communion service and in line with that as was announced on last wednesday if you would like a communion kit to be delivered to you please please please try to message one of the elders or one of the pastors on whatsapp let us know and we will try to get it to you the deadline to give us that in that you would like to let us know is by wednesday so on wednesday give it to us by then however during the week from tuesday to thursday we will be here at the church as well we will give the times at a later time when you would be able to come during those days where you can come to the church and pick up your communion kids look out on the whatsapp groups for that information on friday evening on friday evening we are going to be having our foot washing just like what we did uh last year where we have the foot washing during the friday evening we're gonna have an intimate we're gonna have a meaningful powerful service uh just being able to spend time with each other and spend time with god so on friday evening on zoom we're only going to be on zoom friday evening on zoom we want to invite everyone the links will be going out in what's up groups again the week after that starting september 11th is what we have been talking about this whole year where we are going to have our evangelistic series we're going to be starting our evangelistic series september 11 and we're going to be finishing on october 2. the title of the series that we have is home free home free i know that you have been praying for five people this year you might have even been praying for more people this is the chance where you would be able to tangibly do something share the link to those people that you've been praying for you might be afraid of afraid of rejection you might be afraid of what they might say but leave it in god's hands and see how god is going to work if you haven't been praying for somebody now is the time to start pray for somebody ask yourself is there somebody that i want to see in the kingdom and this is a chance where you would be able to share the link there prepare yourselves as well prepare yourselves that you would be blessed you would be refreshed and that god would use you thank you again for coming welcome acf and may god bless us this morning [Music] happy sabbath church and welcome today we acf adventist christian fellowship are so happy to be leading out your service today and we want to take this time to actually thank you for inviting us and allowing us to be a part of your worship service we believe that if you reach our campus if we reach our campuses we can change the world and with that in mind keep that throughout your mind throughout the service remember that motto because it is what we believe in and we do believe that it can make a serious impact on all lives throughout the world and those we come in contact with our lord god is almighty he is perfect in love and impurity we're going to start our worship service today with praise our first song will be holy holy holy [Music] lord god all night [Music] us today [Music] [Music] [Music] holy [Music] [Applause] passing down oh [Music] falling down [Music] shall we [Music] [Music] [Music] glory [Music] there is no [Music] [Music] amen our next song is going to be power in the blood and i know that in this year we all know that there is power in the blood so please sing with us would you be free from the burden of sin [Music] [Applause] [Music] there is [Music] [Music] [Music] could you do service for jesus [Music] [Music] power [Music] in the precious [Music] amen our next song is he is exalted and so if you know that god is exalted in this place this morning i want you to stand up you can raise your hand you can sing with us this morning he is exalted the king is exalted on high so i you we will all raise his name amen say he is exalted the king is exalted on high [Music] i will praise he is exalted the king is exalted and i will praise him he is exalted the king is exalted on high i will praise him he is exalted forever exalted and i will pray his name lord he is the lord forever [Music] [Applause] he is exalted the king is exalted [Music] on he is exalted the thing is [Music] he is exalted the king [Music] he is exalted the king is exalted on high i will praise i will praise him he is exalted the king is exalted on high i will praise him he is exalted forever name [Applause] he is the lord [Music] forever his truth shall bring [Music] rejoice in his holy name he is exalted the king is exalted on high high [Music] he is exalted the king is [Music] is exalted he is exalted the king is exalted on eye i will praise him he is exalted forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] the lord forever forever [Music] [Music] his holy name [Music] rejoice in his holy [Music] shall reign [Music] he is exalted the king is exalted the king is the lord he is the lord [Music] he is [Music] the lord he is the lord he is the lord he is [Music] rejoice in his holy name [Music] he is exalted the king is exalted on [Music] the king is exalted on [Music] [Music] now we're entering into um the portion of worship where we really want to take the holy spirit and listen to the words that he has given us so while we're singing this song if it's you i really encourage you to read the words and let them resonate into your heart [Music] they resolved with god's own heart oh let the ancient [Music] words [Music] ancient words will guide us is [Music] oh [Music] came to us through sacrifice oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] changing me and changing you we have come with open hearts oh [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] happy sabbath church family it is now that time when we can give back to the lord i know that he has provided all of us with food he's provided us with shelter he's provided us with breath in our lungs this morning so that we could come here and worship him and so he's just only asking for a portion of everything that he has given to us and something really special about giving is that it not only has an impact on us but it has a special impact on those around us if we are willing to open up our hearts right it's not even just about money it's about being willing to give your heart right giving your your time your resources to god he can use that to bless the people around you and so to put that in perspective for us this morning i wanted to share a little story with you all and i was really touched by this story and i pray that you are as well so it goes how about a small dinner party just a few people my husband tim asked me one day sighing i turned to him fine i said begrudgingly as he cheered even as i agreed i was already dreading it envisioning the hours i would spend cleaning and cooking and corralling kids while i genuinely enjoyed spending time with friends at our home my introverted nature couldn't help but feel stressed in the weeks before each event and then at a dinner party we had a conversation that changed my life sitting in my friend's well-lit kitchen sunshine streaming in the windows we talked candidly about how they often hosted church events at their home they seemed to have a revolving door of small groups and meetings one of my friends spoke up and his words struck a chord deep inside it changed for me when i started thinking of our home as a resource he said rather than viewing it as something i needed to protect it became something i could use the idea spiraled for me as i underwent a radical shift from thinking of my home finances and time as possessions to thinking of them as resources if my home is a resource i can use it to invite others in if my finances are a resource i can use them to share with those in need if my time is a resource i can use it wisely to fulfill the calling god has placed within me in first timothy 6 18 to 19 paul says to timothy tell them to use their money to do good they should be rich in good works and generous to those in need always being ready to share with others by doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life paul's words to timothy remind us that being generous with our earthly resources is a way of storing up treasure for eternity my friend's timely words to me were the perfect reminder that sharing our lives and our homes with others shouldn't feel like a drain on our resources it should be a cause for celebration so today as we are giving our tithes and offerings i hope that this week you'll also remember to give your time give other resources be willing to share your home or whatever you have with others it's a resource that god has given us to bless others a friend of mine said one time we are blessed to be a blessing so i hope that this sticks with you all now today we have three wonderful ways for you to give this morning you can give through the mail online or e-transfer if you'd like to get through mail the address is 255 morningside avenue and the po box is 25002 scrubber ontario m1e087 if you like to give online you can email direct you can visit the website mypap scarboroughsdachurch.org or if you'd like to e-transfer you can use the email scarborough treasurer adventist ontario dot org now before we give let's just our heads and say a word of prayer dear heavenly father lord thank you so much for everything that you've provided for us god you've given us food on our tables you've given us clothes on our backs shelters over our heads even as family and friends god and these things are resources that we can use to bless other people who are around us god and so i pray that today as we are giving we will give with a willing heart and we will not only think about giving our money but we'll be able to give other things that we have god other things that you've blessed us with and i pray that we will remember that we are blessed to be a blessing i pray for all the offering that it will go to good work lord and that it will continue to build your kingdom um in jesus name my friend amen [Music] good morning uh good afternoon and good evening i guess depending on where you're coming from i have the honor and privilege to be able to do the children's story and um if you are tuning in live i realized and i forgot um that we don't really have in-person children here but if you're watching uh if you're on youtube i see there's about 126 of you by the way i see you or i don't see you but i would love to have your participation so uh maybe then we have our next slide so the story today is called you make the story that is the title of our story of the children's story today and so um if i can't get your participation on the chat then i guess i'm going to ask my lovely friends and family here as well so first and foremost next slide did you want your story the story to be about a boy or a girl a lot of people here are saying girl girl all right all right so it's gonna be about a girl i just need a name a name a name just shout out a name any girl's name by the way dorsey i heard dorsey dorsey alright so dorsey all right next slide so one day dorsey you know september's coming up she's preparing she's getting ready for school um just like all all guests just just great she's going to grade five and she's getting ready to embark on a new journey in grade five somewhat in the middle of school and she goes to school and she's ready and she's excited but she's planning on what exactly she should pack so next slide um so i guess another thing we need to think about is where she's coming from whether where do you think she's coming from her house or a mansion i don't know where's dorsey live a mansion all right dorsey is living in a mansion so again she's coming from her man she's he's on her way to school and she goes she bumps into her friends on the way she meets a few people she sees a nice tree she sees the birds and she's having a great time she's on her way to school next slide next slide and so then but before she is about to leave she has this note here where it says here don't forget to clean don't forget to clean love mom and dad so now next slide i guess let me ask you the question you young boys and girls and i guess we're all children of god should she clean when she gets home because she's after school she's planning to go home should she clean or should she play games all right everyone said play games all right forget cleaning all together so answer she's on her way home she gets home and she's like you know what forget game forget cleaning i'm just gonna play games but as she's about to go to her her ps4 i guess now she has a ps5 um she accidentally trips and they're pain they're planning to paint their their walls and she trips on the paint and unfortunately all the paint gets on the floor and so now i guess she unfortunately has to clean right so next slide and so she can she has her phone because you know everyone has phones nowadays and so she should she call her parents and tell them because she realizes she doesn't even know how to clean paint paint is a whole nother cleaning thing right so what do you think should she call should dorsey call her parents or no nah all right all right nah nah oh i love okay i see people are actually answering i apologize so everyone some people said clean but yeah okay so no no we shouldn't call the parents yeah okay no all right all right so don't call the parents okay so she decides not to call her parents and so she goes and she puts her phone down and now she's walking next slide on next unfortunately she cracks her phone she she's running so fast that she trips and then she cracks her phone oh my goodness what kind of bad luck maybe she should have maybe she should have cleaned right um so next slide so as she realized about that she prayed she's like you know god um you know i live in this mansion thank you and all these things and maybe i should have cleaned and i spilled the paint and all these different things and so she was reflecting she said to herself god why why is this happy to be you know like i live in a nice place and all these things and i have a nice phone but i just broke it and like i'm doing good in school but this there's some things are just not working out right next slide and so we're brought back to this verse here and sometimes young boys and girls sometimes we do the right thing sometimes we or rather we should do the right thing you know we should follow what our parents tell us we should follow what god tells us right but sometimes we do the right thing and sometimes we do what's right and bad things happen to us and unfortunately it is what it is but as the bible says in proverbs 3 verse 5 it says trust in the lord with all your heart do not depend on your own understanding in the same way as you follow your parents girls and boys just know that god has a plan as well that no matter what choices you make that we should always do what's right we should always follow what god wants us to do if things don't work out just know that god has a plan for you and that he has something great in mind and so that's our that's our children's story for today i hope you'd enjoyed it and yeah [Music] okay check if the okay i'm like it's working [Music] all right so uh let's talk to uh jesus christ right now the one who's interceding on behalf of all sinners in heaven and our heavenly sign creatures being revealed to us so i can't kneel down because then i'll disappear but i hope you can kneel down wherever you are father god you dwell on the heavenly sanctuary i want to thank you for all the goodness you've done towards us god you're the one who has kept your covenant and your mercy towards our towards your people god towards those who love you towards those who've kept your commandments you've been faithful to your covenant you've been merciful and graceful god and to those who have not kept your commandments which is all of us god we sinned against you we transgressed against you and we committed iniquity against you god and because of all that we have done all the things that you said would happen to us because of our iniquity father these things are coming to pass and we see these things happening right before our eyes god this is all our mistake and we brought this on ourselves god all the judgments that you warned us of all the things that you warned would happen to your people it has come to us because we walked away from you we didn't regard your commandments we didn't regard anything that you said god we knew the truth you came and spoke to us to your servants your prophets your your messengers your angels time and again year after year you came to us and you spoke to us god and we kept turning away we kept walking away we didn't listen to you god and here we are amidst all of our troubles hopeless unfaithful regardless of how righteous we think we are we are not righteous god righteous just belongs to you not to us we don't deserve anything we don't deserve any of your blessings god but you knew that and you answered daniel's prayer and you came to us god that jesus christ your son to represent all of humanity and through jesus christ your son we come to you confidence and with faith knowing that you answer our prayers god so to our dear mediator i pray specifically for a few names here that i have uh rupert herlock and his family pastor winston herlock and family lynette if phil aziz and family and joan james and family father i'm not aware as to what your specific prayer request may be but whatever it may be god i know it's special to you because you love them as much as we cannot love you as as we were supposed to you love us god you're faithful to your covenant and we are accepted before you in the name of jesus christ who died in our behalf as man and as a human so please god accept our prayers before you through jesus christ we pray for all these things amen [Music] for that wonderful prayer acf has been such a huge part of my life as a student and i'm so excited to be a part of this service with everyone who's here today i'm going to read the scripture reading today from matthew 28 verse 19 and 20. i'm going to start by reading it in french and then i'll read it in english after all baptism is [Music] therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit and teaching them to obey everything i have commanded you and surely i am with you always to the very end of the age and may the lord bless the reading of his word [Music] [Music] good morning and happy sabbath it's good to be here in the good morning and happy sabbath all right that's what i that's what i thought i i know that you all are here this morning uh it's great to be in the house of the lord today um to worship with you here at the scarborough sydney adventist church my name is pastor john scott youth director for ontario conference out of which our ministry adventist christian fellowship is a part truly appreciative of your pastors and leaders uh both pastor walden o'connor and and uh r.j beckbeck for the work that they're doing for those of you who are scarborough church members could you put your hands together and celebrate your pastors and leaders here at the scarborough church one thing that i do know of is that the scarborough church is very embracing of young people and youth ministry and i want to thank your church for opening your doors to allowing us to fellowship with you from time to time last year when we hosted our youth youth ministries worship uh to end the at the end of the pandemic or so we thought we hosted it right here when metro east hosted its worship rally last year later on in the summer we hosted it right here and in a few weeks when we host our faith and science faith and science ted talks we're going to be hosting it right here we'll be filming uh from here we'll be recording from here at the scarborough church so i want to thank your church for embracing us today a christian fellow adventist christian fellowship uh started uh some so many years ago and has touched many lives and many of those lives have gone on to do service for jesus christ many of those young people from public campuses have gone on to be pastors and leaders uh politicians lawyers doctors and in all avenues of life people who have come through these programs and and have been touched in their spiritual walk in their social interaction with fellow students they have gone on to touch others lives as well and they have left behind a history and a legacy for other young people to participate in when i was a young pastor i first heard of of public campus ministry amongst all the other pastors we didn't know much of what that was and as time went on and as i became a youth director i recognized the importance and the value of empowering young people not just in the christian educational circles but also in the circles on public campuses we have multiple young people on public campuses and god wants us to reach them and in order for us to do that we have to put our money where our mouth is amen i only heard two people say amen we have to put our money where our mouth is and we have to make the investment in the lives of young people and that's one of the reasons why we host a weekend like this to empower to recharge to refocus leaders on our public campuses across ontario across ontario we have about 15 or so public campuses it's a middling number because some of the clubs don't don't exist depending on young people who at least present themselves saying that they are from our adventist churches here in ontario if you are watching this service and you know young people who are attending public campuses but they didn't let us know please let us know tell us where they're attending school and if there's no public campus there we want to be able to create one uh for them and so wherever you are please support this particular ministry and today this weekend we have provide for our leaders on those public campuses so that they may be refocused as our school year begins in the next few days i invite you to pray for our young people to pray for our leaders to pray for our executive team some of whom are here today victoria as as well as isabella um uh brother keel is is in ottawa and pamela is in brampton today um so continue to pray for our executive team continue to pray for all of our leaders as they continue to bring people to christ through the work on the public campuses may god bless you today as we fellowship as we listen in as we tune into the word of god and let's embrace our young people today as they continue to lead out in service this morning god bless you amen thank you pastor scott and thank you to scarborough church again for hosting us we're so incredibly grateful to be here today as pastor scott said acf stands for adventist christian fellowship and it's a ministry that exists for and is run by students on university campuses our motto is reach the campus change the world because we believe our public campuses are one of our greatest unreached mission fields the ontario ministry of colleges and universities reported over 490 000 students enrolled in post-secondary for 2020. among them we have a vast diversity of ethnicities cultures and religions and it makes me pause and wonder out of those 490 000 students how many of them have actually heard the gospel how many of them have understood the gospel how many of them have met someone who knows jesus as their personal savior i'm afraid to say probably very few have and that is why acf exists it's to bring christ to the places where we have forgotten about him and we'll be real with you though although the campus is the mission field we have also lost many of our own adventist young people on these public campuses i'm nearly certain almost all of us know someone who has left the faith after graduating high school and entering post-secondary and that is why acf exists as well acf is for them too it's a place for them to meet other young people who have a genuine relationship with christ it's a place for them to wrestle with difficult questions about faith and learn how to practically live their christian life we have retreats both in the fall and winter and anyone who's ever been to our acf camp fender winter retreat knows the deep spiritual conversations we have the amazing worship and the spiritual revival we experience there many of our acf chapters hold church on campus at least once a semester we bring the church service to our public campus and invite everyone to worship with us each chapter has different outreach initiatives such as exam care packages free hot chocolate bible studies every week feeding the homeless and so much more we invite our friends our classmates our professors anybody who is willing to be our friends so that we can introduce them to our best friend and some jesus think that public campus ministry apologies some might think that public campus ministries is a trendy new youth initiative that everyone just wants to be a part of but what if we told you its roots can be traced back all the way to the 12th century the darkest days that led to the protestant reformation history speaks of the waldenses a group of bible adhering christians who were persecuted by the catholic church due to their vocal recognition of discrepancies in the catholic church and its teachings labeled as heretics for holding the bible as the sole authority they were burned and murdered with the sole purpose of being eradicated in response to the persecution the valdensis began to flee the cities and they found refuge in the alps of france and italy however they did not seclude themselves from society or bow to the institutions that sought their destruction the inspired author ellen white speaks of the vuldencies in the great controversy and she says this while the densities regarded the fear of the lord as the beginning of wisdom they were not blind to the importance of a contact with the world a knowledge of men and of active life in expanding the mind and quickening the perceptions from their schools in the mountains some of the youth were sent to institutions of learning in the cities of france or italy where there was a more extended field for study thought and observation than in their native alps in the schools whether they went they were not to make confidants of any their garments were so prepared as to conceal their greatest treasure the precious manuscripts of scriptures these the fruit of months and years of toil they carried with them and whenever they could do so without exciting suspicion they cautiously placed some portion in the way of those whose hearts seemed open to receive the truth converts to the true faith were one in these institutions of learning and frequently its principles were found to be permeating the entire school our students on our public campuses today some of whom you see today are our modern day baldnessies instead of traveling to far lands or living in the alps students and the world are coming to us to our institutions right here in ontario and aside from providing a much needed community and sense of fellowship on campus acf's main purpose is to engage students in mission hence our motto reach the campus change the world so if you are a young person attending post-secondary we would love to have you be involved or maybe you're a parent an aunt uncle a grandmother a grandfather who knows a young person who would love to be involved so we have a whole list of schools that we're at that isabelle is going to read out to us yes if you'd like to take out a pen and paper you can write these down as i'm reading them out but we have a whole wide breadth of list of schools where we're involved and if there's a school that you don't hear this is an opportunity where you can invite a young person or you yourself organize a chapter yourself obviously with our support so we have a chapter at university of toronto st george campus ryerson university york university university of ottawa carleton university brock university western university and fanshawe college queen's university the university of windsor mcmaster university and mohawk college and the university of ontario and durham college yes and if if you need a more detailed list you can go to our website acf ontario.ca where you'll find an entire list of our current um acf chapters not only that we want to get in touch directly with you so in the youtube chat you'll find a google form where you can send us your personal contact information we'd love to chat with you we'd love to hear where you're at and what you're interested in doing and how we can be a blessing to you so fill out the google form and we'll get in touch with you right away and while you're doing that today we will be hearing from two bright ladies no we won't be having a sermon but rather student testimonies and they will be sharing their testimonies on how they embarked on their studies at the respective institutions and what acf meant to them during their studies first we will be hearing from miss hannah cowan hannah just completed her first year of undergraduate studies at york university where she studies linguistics and language studies alongside her academics she diligently served the acf chapter at york university as their creative director where she was able to contribute her god-given gifts to ministry when asked to describe her interest she enthusiastically quipped i like to sing engage in extracurricular activities such as tutoring languages and spending time with friends and family we look forward to hearing from you hannah our second speaker is aubrey and when i had asked her um how she would like to be introduced she said and i quote she is your normal average girl end of quote but for those of us who know aubrey personally we know that although she may be normal she's anything but average she's in her fourth year at u of t studying life science so you know she's quite the scholar she's also a dedicated and faithful member at faith filipino where she's involved in youth and children's ministry she is a dedicated leader at mustard seed which is the acf chapter for the schools in the downtown toronto area she loves reading painting playing piano but most of all she loves jesus god has used aubrey in so many ways and we're super excited for you to hear her story about how acf has affected her so without further ado we invite hannah and aubry testing can you hear me okay hello everyone happy sabbath i just want to say thank you to victoria and isabella for that very warm introduction and thank you for even considering me to share my testimony here this morning it's truly a blessing i also want to say thank you to the scarborough sda church for hosting acf day this is really important for us to get this message across to people who are in the colleges and universities that they can still stay in touch with their relationship with god while being in university so thank you so much i also want to say thank you to my church family the malton sda church i don't know if any of you guys are watching but i just want to say thank you so much for your love and support and basically nurturing me to be the person that i am today by the grace of god i'd also like to give a special shout out to pastor scott and the ontario teens ministry that i'm on and the continuous love and support and just encouragement that you guys have given me and all the skills that you basically taught me on this journey of being on this team so i thank you and i praise god for you um i'd also like to thank um acf york the executive team and shout out to gigi i see she's here the president um we did what we had to do throughout this year and we conquered many trials but we made it through by the grace of god even through a pandemic so i thank god for that team and everyone and every member that is a part of acf york so thank you so much so um i said before my name is hannah cowan and i am in my second year at york university glendon campus for the bilingual linguistics and language study program and um after my degree by the grace of god i hope to become a speech language pathologist but that is only by god's timing so continue to pray for me on that one so before i joined the aventis christian fellowship i heard of this club through friends and church family members who attended acf clubs at their post-secondary institutions from listening to their experiences i was intrigued by this club because it was a connected between faith and academic engagement also i may add that before i started university there were a lot of unknown questions that i had as mentioned before when you go off to university it's a very very different world as to what you grow up in in church and there's a lot of different temptations and you know secular activities that you can get sucked up into so if i feel like if your relationship is not steady and firm in god it's so easy to get lost and i've seen that with a lot of people that i was acquainted with that grew up in the faith or were just christian in general when they went off to university it was just a different story for them and it was kind of sad to see but clubs and organizations like acf are here to make sure that you stay on track with your relationship with god while having a community to support you as well so that's something that i really admire so this club has allowed me to build my confidence and to make a smooth transition into university and progressing as a young adult during this difficult time sometimes as i said before christian students fall away from the faith due to becoming involved in secular activities with their newfound friends and succumbing to peer pressure which is really easy to fall into knowing that acf is an active club at york university was reassuring and comforting to me it is important to have a community at your university that will support you in your relationship with god while navigating the rigors of university life in my first year of university i was elected to be the creative director of acf york for the 2020 to 2021 school year my responsibilities included managing the social media platforms and to promote events for the club and as a member of the executive team we would meet regularly to discuss continuous improvement for our organization also another thing too i'd like to shout out the other members of the team devine david and um jessica you guys are all contributing members of the team and we all made it work so i thank god for you guys as well and through applying to acf i have met the wonderful members on the executive team who have helped to lead this club in an efficient manner through the faith and fortified leadership skills this experience was a blessing and spiritually enriching this helped me to grow even more in my relationship with christ i feel that the people that i have met so far will become lifelong friends and acquaintances in christ one might assume that this added activity of being in a christian club might add challenges to the workload of post-secondary curriculum however since joining the juventus christian fellowship this experience has helped me to manage my workload and responsibilities much more effectively for instance as stated in james chapter 5 verse 16 the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much therefore it is a great comfort to know that i can pray with the members of acf when faced with the pressures of university life [Music] also this group offers diversity in terms of exciting and interesting activities that christian students and others can participate in hence this club is not exclusive to seventh-day adventist students only this offers a great opportunity for club members to witness to non-adventist students as well on their campuses joining this club also gave me the opportunity to enhance my leadership and communication skills through the task i was given as the creative director for that year with the challenges and trials of coven 19 pandemic virtual learning took place for all students across every academic institution nationwide [Music] in order to adjust to the pandemic our club including many others across ontario had to move our devotionals and events to an online platform using our social media accounts and interacting through zoom to connect with our members and the general student body this of course was an obstacle to face but by the grace of god and fervent prayer as an executive team we were able to conduct various events and connect with students at school even virtually we have also had the chance to collaborate with other acf groups from universities all across ontario to organize and execute various events and initiatives this was truly a blessing because we created a community of support between the members of our clubs every friday before sunset we would hold our devotion nights over zoom where students had the chance to forget about their academic stress and life challenges to dwell in the presence of god and to commence the sabbath through these meetings we would have meaningful discussions on the barriers we face as followers of christ and young adults have bible study and pray for and with each other matthew 18 verse 20 states for where two or three are gathered together in my name there i am in the midst of them and through these meetings the holy spirit was working through each member as we shared our experiences i particularly enjoyed friday night devotionals because it was a safe space for us as students to lay our burdens at the foot of the cross the other day it occurred to me that i completed my first year and i haven't even entered through the doors of my own university but this group has kept me connected and in tune to my mission of growing from strength to strength in my spiritual and academic development my hope and my prayer is for my second year is that god will help us all to do away with this pandemic that has been imp impacting our lives for quite some time then finally we will be able to interact and socialize with each other the way god intended it for us to be his children living together in unity in love with each other and for those of you who are considering post-secondary education my suggestion would be to join our faith-based organization within your chosen educational institution i can assure you that this will be an experience that will enrich your life spiritually and otherwise furthermore when we put god first in all that we do he will direct our path to success and will help us to overcome insurmountable challenges pursuing a university degree can be very rewarding however it does have its challenges and it can be an arduous endeavor therefore our relationship with christ needs to be a constant presence in the days of our youth admonish and encourage each and every one of you to continue to pursue a personal relationship with our heavenly father especially in the formative years of our adulthood acf offers this very opportunity to nurture our spiritual journey for those of you who would like to become a part of this wonderful organization you can find more information on acf ontario dossier and as i close i would like to leave you with a thought from isaiah chapter 26 verses 3 to 4 which says you keep him in perfect peace whose mind stays on you because he trusts in you trust in the lord forever for the lord god is an everlasting rock so students make sure you always keep god at the forefront because that is all that matters at the end every distraction that is going on around you will fall away and everything will perish but god won't because because he has your back i'd also like to do a short and quick prayer for all the students that will be returning to university or just school in general in september please bow your heads and close your eyes dear father in heaven you are an almighty god you're everlasting father and you love us dear god not because of what we've done but because of who you are right now i'm asking you that you forgive us of all our sins and transgressions dear god you see our hearts and you know that we're not perfect so cleanse us and make us new again right now father i bring all the students that will be returning back to school in september in your presence and i pray that you may help us and give us the strength to carry on especially in this new school year after what we faced during this past year dear god we don't know what may be happening and there may be some uncertainty within some of us but we know that you are a certain god that you are a constant god so we put our trust in you help us even now dear father be with our minds dwell in our hearts and help us to remember you everywhere we go in your precious name i pray amen god bless you all and enjoy the rest of your sabbath [Music] it's on hello okay okay um good morning everyone and happy sabbath um i hope you're all doing well today um i'll be giving you a testimony about my experience with mustard seed which is um downtown ucf chapter so how many of you actually understood what i just said it was it was pretty unclear right okay i'll try my best to be more clear going forward but believe it or not that was a reenactment of who i was three years ago and a lot of you guys probably know this but i was a very very shy i was a painfully shy kid just barely out of high school and i was dealing with a lot of social anxiety now you can imagine how i was back then you can imagine how hard it was for me to make some friends at university in addition to that all my friends from high school went to either a different university or a different campus than where i had gone so i was all alone in this completely new environment i was really scared but more than that i was sad lonely and ashamed i was ashamed every time i would have lunch at school and it was i was just having lunch at school by myself i was sad every time um i had a tutorial and i couldn't make friends with my lab partner because i had a lot of anxiety about interacting with people i was lonely every time i had a lecture and there was an empty seat beside me in a space where there's hundreds of people all around me you know they say it's a lot lonelier to be lonely when you're surrounded by people than it is to be lonely by yourself and i and i agree with that but thankfully even though i had so much apprehension and i had so much worries and fears and anxieties about it because i was scared of meeting new people and interacting with them the youth in my church encouraged me to go to mustard seed and to give it a try so mustard seed is the downtown acs chapter so but even more i'm thankful um to victoria who you probably saw just a few minutes ago because she personally reached out and texted me to come to the massage meetings not only that she would also talk to me and not make me feel left out during the meetings um i kind of feel bad looking back to it as i was writing this because it almost felt like she was babysitting me but yeah victoria you have no idea how much the things you did meant to me and how much what you did got me to stay and to keep attending mustard seed when i first started out and getting me to stay was probably one of the biggest things that had affected and improved my relationship with god because when i stayed i got to meet people who are just as in inspiring and as wonderful as victoria i met bright and young people who were so passionate about god these people were barely older than i was but they knew god so much deeper and so much more than i ever knew him they would have such deep and passionate spiritual discussions about stories in the bible and about beliefs like the sabbath they would talk about jesus and if you look in their eyes if you listen to them in the way that they spoke you could just tell how much they loved him god and god's word so passionately that it made me want that same relationship with god as stated before mustard seed you know i knew god i would pray to god every day and i would read the bible but it wasn't nearly with the same conviction as i had after meeting the people at mustard seed i was motivated to read the bible frequently and i while searching up the directions to here i actually um saw um pastor rj backback preaching just a few weeks ago in this church i watched a video of him um for you who may not know pastor r.j was an idiot pastor at my old church faith filipino yeah i saw how he preached a few weeks ago about first love and um first our first love when it comes to god and it comes to our relationship with jesus when we first fall in love with him and i was reminded how that was how it felt with me after meeting mustard seed i was more motivated to read the bible frequently and um pastor pastor archie talked about how um he was really motivated about re reading the bible and he would go to matthew and re and every time he would go to the bible he read four chapters and it felt like that to me back then i was motivated to read the bible frequently and i wanted to start from genesis i was more deliberate with how i read and studied the bible and pastor rj talked about how when he prayed he would be talking to god and that's how i it felt to me too when i prayed it wasn't just general prayers of thanks anymore and it wasn't prayers of just general wants and prayers of forgiveness i started talking to god when i prayed i would tell them about my day about my problems and i would be more specific about the things i was thankful for i wasn't just praying to god for the sake of praying anymore i was praying to god because i wanted to talk to him i wanted to have a close relationship with him and as i got close to god and learned more about him i was able to be more confident in talking about him and the bible to other people when two i remember in my second year at university i met two students in camp on my campus they stopped me to talk to me about the bible and i stopped and talked to them and surprisingly one of the topics that came out was the sabbath and while they were seventh-day adventists they also believed in the sabbath and we ended up exchanging numbers after and we even texted and we even had we even studied the bible together in campus at uft after that it was before covet unfortunately coveted hit right after that but um yeah and you saw how i was when i first started out right with my first reenactment i know it was bad acting but i was super shy if i didn't go to mustard seed and didn't get used to talking about god to other people and to listen to these kids who had so much passion for god and learned a lot about god from them i probably wouldn't have stopped to even listen to to the students at my campus let alone even talk to them knowing me back then i probably would have just kept on walking while looking at the ground and not making eye contact on anyone only making eye contact at the ground as if it had eyes because that's how i was before now i know i was probably supposed to talk about more about master seed and what we do well um mustard seed is the downtown acf chapter we're affiliated with ryerson university university of toronto george brown and ocad university so if you're part of those any of those universities or colleges i invite you please go to our meetings at mustard seed um please reach out and learn more about us at acf ontario.ca yeah at mustard seed we do bible studies every friday night and we do outreach each in campus but us last year we did it online virtually and we have church on campus every year or at least because of covet every year that we can i know that that's a very quick review of what we do but i felt that for me it was more appropriate to share my own personal experience and testimony about how mustard seed has helped me personally and spiritually and how the people there have encouraged me to seek god and have a deeper and more meaningful relationship with him so i want to leave this testimony with this not just for the people who are in acf but for anyone who is listening not just to youths i pray that you show your love for god confidently that you talk about god and god's word passionately that you display jesus's character continually because just like victorious kindness tim and andrew's vast knowledge and passion for god's word lauren's contagious joy alvia's boldness to reach out and share god to others and the many more people at mustard seed and at all the acf chapters you can be used by god to inspire others to love and get to know him more deeply your faith can move mountains but they can also move the hearts of others towards god thank you [Music] thank you thank you everyone for being a part of the service the testimonies the prayer that was all so beautiful we're just now entering the part of the service where we're gonna sing our closing hymn it's called blessed assurance so i encourage you all whether you're in the church with us right now or watching virtually to stand up and open your hearts to the lord [Music] blessed assurance jesus [Applause] is [Music] perfect submission angels descending [Music] this is [Music] this is my story is [Music] this is my story this is my song this is my story this is my song [Music] [Applause] this is my story this is my song this is my story this my is [Music] on behalf of scarborough church i want to thank so much the acf team under the leadership of isabella and victoria with pastor john for coming here to scarborough church to put on a powerful worship program for us i have been blessed i know many in the chats have been saying that they have been blessed uh with the testimonies with the singing with the prayer with the with the children's story thank you so much acf has a very special place in my heart i've been pastoring since 2012 mostly in the capacity as a youth pastor and in my experience i have seen that it is during the collegiate years where many youth start to not come to church and i've always wondered within myself of why this is the case and as i see in our structure as a church that it sort of makes sense you see when you're a child you go through the adventurers and then you go to pathfinders and you finish pathfinders right about the time when you finish high school what happens after that there's nothing really and it's not to say that the church isn't supportive but there's nothing structured that's there for our our young people in the collegiate years and here in acf is a chance where it can be structured yet a little bit less structured because it is the students who are the ones who are leading all of the students they are the ones who like who have let out this morning so again i'd like to request that the link be put in the chat for those of you who are going to one of these campuses even if it was a campus that wasn't mentioned and you would like to start an acf chapter there and meet other people please fill out that form if you know somebody as a parent you can fill out the form fill out the format and and it's going to be there in the chat we're going to be praying a prayer of of consecration for those who are in this in these chapters as well as for the school year also we're going to be praying and we want to request especially for our scarborough members uh sister ines lopez her son michael last night went to the hospital so we're going to be praying for him and we want to request our church family to to pray for michael also uh sister ato is going to be going to ghana this tuesday so we want to remember her and our prayers we're going to be praying for you our dear sister bow your heads with me as we would seek the lord in prayer our father in heaven we thank you so much lord that you are a god who is always there for us lord we like to thank you for this ministry acf where we're able to come together as students with other people who share the same values as us and and worship together encourage each other let each other know that yes it is possible to be christian on public campuses and not only that we can excel and share what we believe lord there are people right now who are listening who are not a part of an acf chapter although they are in a public school and lord i just ask that you would be with them at this time lord impress in their hearts that this is something that is for them that they can gain and have benefit in this and contribute learn and to grow and to make more friends we thank you for the testimonies that were shared of of how you have been working through this ministry lord i want to pray for all of the different chapters all over ontario lord i ask that you would bless them especially the leadership as as they go forward especially in the pandemic lord it's different it's difficult lord i just ask that your guidance and holy spirit would be with them be with all of our students going into school this year that they would be able to navigate to be able to learn be able to share what they know to other people as well for the lord we want to pray in a very special way for michael [Music] i asked lord that you would be with him and the family we're not exactly sure all of the details but lord you know we ask that your healing touch would be upon him we ask that you would be with the nurses and doctors who are there or be with the family provide for them lord as they feel afraid lord give them comfort as they have stressed lord let them know you are right beside them we want to pray in a special way for sister atta as well as she departs going back to ghana lord i just ask your traveling mercy to be upon her keep her safe lord and her family we thank you so much lord that as a church family we can come together and pray and we know by faith you're listening to us because you love us and because you care for us we ask this in jesus name amen happy sabbath once again we have one more announcement and that is for those of you who would like to come to pick up your communion kits for communion the sabbath you can come pick it up on wednesday this wednesday from 4 until seven wednesday four until seven and thursday so thursday four until six so wednesday four [Music] you

Channel: Scarborough Seventh-day Adventist Church

Views: 1,056

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: wQ8sZXyJs6Q

Length: 86min 39sec (5199 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 28 2021