Thriving in Life's Toughest Times | David Butcher | 4th September 2021

[Music] holy [Music] let [Music] i'd like to take this opportunity to welcome you all to our chat service special welcome to our online audience from all parts of the world especially from dundee in the uk and every other part of the world really special welcome also goes to those of us privileged to be here with me today physically while i was doing my devotion in the course of the week i came across a text that i would like to share with you if you can allow me it says when christ died on the cross crying with a loud voice it is finished his work was completed the way was laid open the veil was rent in towing humanity could now approach god without sacrificial offerings without the service of the earthly priests christ's work on the field of humiliation and conflict was now done he ascended up into the heavens and is forever set down on the right hand of god interceding for us who believe in him making requests on our behalf and bringing our prayers before the father knowing these things that we god is in jesus christ is interceding for us who believe in him and we can approach god without sacrificial offerings anymore it's really important it's very encouraging and humbling even as we prepare for the 24 7 week of prayer i would also like to mention that we may continue to pray for ron and charlie simons especially ron who got a stroke a few weeks ago thank you and uh hope you remember that this is god's place this is your place and this is our place welcome again thank you good morning church it's good to see you lovely to have you with us today now last week i came up the front as our worship committee leader and i thought i'd talk to you a little bit about our our singing and things like that so i've had some people come to me and ask are we allowed to sing at church we miss singing and i said yes i miss singing so much because singing is such an essential part of our worship isn't it and so we as a worship team and as the leaders of our church we've come together and we've looked at all of these rules and we've been doing this for the every single week we've discussed can we sing this week what are we going to do how can we ensure that we are responsible and safe as a congregation whilst also maintaining that balance and being able to sing so we've tried the singing up the front like this and so we've revisited we tried it for three weeks when we came back after our little lockdown and it's hard you need lyrics don't you you just want to express in worship to god and so i'd like to share with you the actual rules what it says and the good news is you can sing but we wanted to be very clear with what it says so that you are you know with us on this the first one can i go to church yes if for a service the three person per four square meters rule applies if everyone is seated must be worn indoors note singing is permitted a mask is worn now that's very cool it's very nice but there's a little paragraph a little bit later that we pay careful attention to can i sing at a church service if singing is essential to your practice of worship or faith-based service this is permitted but masks must be worn at all times to ensure masks remain effective and protect you you should change your mask as soon as it becomes damp and also after you have finished singing make sure you bring spare masks a bag to keep used masks in and hand sanitizer to use before and after putting in or taking off a mask so that does complicate it just a little bit but the good news is we can sing so if you have come prepared with a spare mask then we'd love you to sing uh if not we're ready for next week uh you know that you know what it does say we are looking out for each other in our safety here and we do want to praise god but i know that he understands as well it's important to be responsible with each other here you might also ask the question why aren't these people up here wearing masks there is another directive that we haven't got on the slides that says that performers a small number spaced out don't need to wear the masks these are all on the cover 19 south australian government website so if you have any further questions please ask myself eileen pastor will but we thank you once more for joining us thank you for understanding we really want to worship with you and we invite you if you're prepared to worship with us today in music thank you good morning and happy sabbath church family it's great to be here and it's great to be able to sing with you when i saw that we were doing that i got very excited i want to share a bible verse with you here this is taken from psalms chapter 95 and i'm reading for verses one to three it says o come let us sing to the lord let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation let us come before his presence with thanksgiving let us shout joyfully to him with prayer with psalms for the lord is the great god and the great king above all gods a little while down there it says in verse 6 oh come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the lord god our maker the first song that we're going to be singing together is who you say i am and the words of this song are a reminder to us all not just about who we are but about whose we are we're made in the image of the great god and that god knows you personally intimately truly and deeply he knows the highs and the lows the ups and the downs and he's there with us every step of the way so i hope that as you sing this song you're reminded of that fact that you are known by the god who is your makeup let's sing together [Music] i was lost but he brought and know his love for me [Music] who [Music] of god yes i am free at last he has [Music] while i was a slave to sin jesus died for me yes he died for me through the sun sets free o is free [Music] of god yes i am in my [Music] house there's a place for me i'm the child of god yes i am i am chosen not forsaken i am who you say i am you are for me not against me i am who you say i am i am chosen [Music] not against me i am who you say i am oh i am who you say i am [Music] yes i am in my father's house there's a place for me i'm the child of god yes i am [Music] thank you so much for your beautiful singing [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] kidspace come on kids got something special today again and what do we got anyone else anyone else want to come and join us here we come right righto how are we oh thank you alana you going okay having a good day safe now right who considers themselves a half decent artist who likes to draw oh okay you're going to be my first guinea pig what do you like to draw the most chloe flowers clouds clouds all right well i mean you're going to come and draw me some clouds but i i couldn't find a blindfold so um you can draw some clouds for me chloe draw another one i don't have a look it's not bad it's pretty good has anyone else got a favorite thing they like to draw ryan glass glass grass okay ryan you're gonna have a go hang on we've got a marker here let's see oh boy all right let's have a go the cone of silence there here we go keep coming all right some grass ryan's going to draw some grass for us um yep sure let's draw some more grass and what do you think it looks like after it's been mowed draw that mowed grass yeah pretty cool have a look there's our grass it's not too bad thank you well hang on all right i need another volunteer now we're gonna do something a bit different who wants to volunteer and do a drawing for me all right all right there's the whiteboard marker and you've got a face you're gonna face the whiteboard all right i'm gonna have my back to you i've got this shape okay i'm going to try and describe this shape to alana and she's going to try and draw it okay so we've got a square draw a square and then draw a circle around that square and a triangle at the bottom of the circle and a line going up from the top of the circle that looks like a t okay pretty good pretty good it's just yep we've got the triangle around the wrong way but apart from that you've done very well okay who wants to have another go out there sue wants to try and draw something all right ryan up again let's rub this out and alana do you want to try and describe this one terrain that's the shape a little bit harder this time you describe that one you can use this if you like describe that and he's going to draw it what's that called is that a woman he's got to draw that well he can look that way it doesn't really matter right you describe that shape to ryan and ryan's going to try and draw it you've got to listen um a triangle and on top of the triangle a wonky rectangle and uh in the top left hand corner inside like the wonky try the wonky rectangle put like a circle in the corner of like the left top side here and then on the right side of like the top line put like a half circle like squashed onto it kind of yeah all right okay have a look around it's close that's close um do you two squats very nice this is a bit harder all right there's our shape brian you've got to describe that shape to alana you want me to do it no you got to do it all right um we've got a pentagon down the bottom there's a pentagon and on top of the pentagon is a tall skinny rectangle with curved edges at the top right hand of the rectangle there's a square sticking out from the right and in the bottom left of the rectangle there's a circle it's touching the rectangle and it's got a smaller circle on the inside how'd she go that's a pen a pentagon how many sides does the pentagon have yes has that got five sides all right okay all right anyway moving on moving on this is not a geometry lesson all right last last one now i need another drawer come on come on but this time this time we're going to do it a little differently that's the shape but i get to stand next to you you can't see it and i can watch what you're drawing you can ask me questions if you need to ask me questions uh you can ask me a question and i can tell you how to draw this by watching you so down in the got the pen yep down the bottom right hand corner you're going to draw a square that's about the size of your hand right pretty good now you're going to come across to the right a little bit and in line with the bottom of that square you're going to draw a triangle that's a little bit taller than that square so over here somewhere a triangle yeah and yep okay the top of the triangle has got to be taller than the top of that square all right try that again so the bottom is good and the top of the triangle's got to come up a bit higher there we go and down all right that's pretty close all right okay now but listen listen listen for a sec the the bottom of the square is resting on top of the triangle and that square so it's sort of a square a larger square and the bottom line of the square is sitting on top of that triangle and that square so it starts over here somewhere yep now the bottom line of the square goes along there and then goes over to that square cool and then goes up and across draw a square that's square getting down pretty good all right now in the top middle of that square you're going to draw a circle that is about about that big oh jeez oh that circle by the way is sitting on top of that square on top of the square big scale right and then pointing out from the right of that circle is a little triangle that looks kind of like a bird speak a little sort of bird beak coming out there all right all right pretty good pretty good all right well done well done have a seat have a seat all right okay let's leave that up there all right now what did all that mean what did all that mean okay so we drew three pictures yeah so the first one we were we were blind we had a towel over our heads so in a spiritual context we were going through our lives with a towel over our heads we were spiritually blind we we're trying to draw stuff um and it's difficult it's some the clouds and the grass sometimes they come out really good but most often they're not they don't okay so you're spiritually blind towel over your head the second one when we were drawing back to back like we had people facing each other at the back so you you're aware of the voice behind you you're listening to a voice that's the voice of god you're listening to him but you can't talk to him and you're just guided by his voice so you get much better results you get better results but the best way to to draw at on our canvas of life is to be side by side with god so we can have a voice to listen to we've got eyes to watch us we can ask questions and we get much better results so how do we talk to god we pray we pray say pray often talk to god listen to god and he's going to help us draw our canvas of life much better so having said that can i just say a quick prayer with you guys right now okay our heads uh dear father in heaven please bless every single child here today let them be and help them be the best possible person that they can be and to be a marvelous blessing to those around them we pray in your blessed name amen thanks kids i hope you enjoyed that all right that's all i got [Music] the next song we'll be singing is soon i pray that these songs remind you of the hope that we have in jesus christ that soon we'll be able to see him face to face with unveiled faces gives a bit of new meaning in this day and age doesn't it please join us and sing with us soon [Music] soon and very soon my king is coming broken righteousness and crowned with love when i see him i shall be made like him soon and very soon soon and very soon i'll be going to the place there my sin embraced my shape forgotten soon and very soon [Music] [Music] see him there my soul will be satisfied [Music] soon [Music] soon and very soon see the procession the angels and the elders [Music] soon and very soon i will be [Music] [Music] soon soon though i have not seen him my heart knows [Music] jesus christ [Music] i will be with the one i love [Music] will be satisfied [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] super awesome because he plays with me all the time a nice gentle man because god gave him that gift good because he's intelligent very funny because he's always being silly in the car because he won third in a bike race and he's super handsome like me happy because he takes me right motorbike riding good and special because he loves me in the whole world happy why because he took because he makes me laugh happy because he plays with me at home happy because he spends time with me [Music] he calls me silly names like bootsy pants whoopsie face because he makes weird noises watermelon and dobsy because i told mum that he was listening to the news in the car when he tells jokes he tells his dead jokes but they're not funny they're bad but that makes them dead jokes why did the chicken cross the road so it could get to the other side is it funny yeah my dad is funny when he carries me like an airplane spins me around and then when he's had enough spinning me around he goes a deep dive and pretends to put me in the trash bin that's how he's funny [Music] my dad teaches me how to i meant to be humble um kind how to love god more and to be loving [Music] how to be a better mountain biker how to make things science games like flow flow [Music] he is loving that i love him he's the best dad in the world at ps he gave me his hysterical laugh like this that i am no doubt better than him at mario kart but i love him very much that i love him more than chicken nuggets [Music] so good morning church permit me to read to you from ellen white prayer is the opening of the heart us to a friend prayer does not bring god down to us but it brings us up to him shall we go to him as we pray those who can please kneel with me lord you are good you are great you are powerful you are the creator you are the king you are god yet we can call you father because you are also love we cannot comprehend you so we try to put you in a box and yet you still love us father it is indeed a relief to be able to run to you we are tired we are exhausted we are scared we need your rest we bring you our concerns our burdens our troubles our anxieties give us rest father we uplift to you the simon's family lord touch ron simon with your healing hand make him well not only him lord but everyone today who is silently groaning to you hear our prayer lord lord our father speak to us use your servant david open our ears open our hearts help us to listen help us to be filled help us to be rested once again and when we go out of this service prepare us make us ready to do your work again father thank you that we could come here thank you that we could talk to you thank you that you are always listening to us thank you that you are our father in jesus name we pray amen good morning para vista it's good to be worshiping with you um not so good to be wearing masks is it um i remember even two or three years ago you would still see some communities and cultures in the shopping areas and in town they would wear masks and i would wonder and i think why would you do that but we are living in different times aren't we different times and rapidly changing times i want to um affirm the fathers that are here and also obviously father's day like mother's day can be a very sad day for some people as they reflect on the loss of a dear person and then of course just like with mothers there are fathers that um have not been all they could have or should have been and i guess we can look to the one father can't we the heavenly father that provides everything we need i want to also um praise god for your minister pastor will he has some incredible gifts and we greatly thank god for his ministry here and i pray that you will continue to support him so thank you eileen for your ministry here and your team as well and um also for tehrani and nariah keep them in your prayers because ministry whether it's the teaching ministry or the preaching ministry as a pastor it's tough very tough because we're not fighting against other human beings although sometimes we see that but it's really we're fighting against principalities and powers not of this world one other plug this afternoon what are you doing at four o'clock i will go thank you and where will you go you'll get a prospect church hall between four and six now there is heating in the hall it will be cozy and not only will it be good to meet with other people in a covert friendly environment but more importantly you will learn some incredible tips and tools of how to share your faith it's one thing for us to worship together but if we're not prepared to share it and sometimes we we aren't equipped and so four till six pm today prospect church we would love to see you there let's pray shall we father god we thank you for the worship that has already taken place the worship of song the worship of giving which has happened before we got here and in between programs the worship of story the worship of prayer the worship of reflecting on fathers and now lord as we open your bible i pray that you'll speak through me i pray that our hearts will be illuminated in our minds lord and that you will challenge us that you will also affirm us give us hope give us courage in jesus name amen how many of you would have known what ppe was prior to say march last year if you work in the health industry or even some other infrastructure industries you would probably know what ppe is but now certainly it's an everyday part of our vocabulary isn't it ppe personal protective equipment and it's obviously become increasingly important and a necessity in the times in which we live and you might remember about march-ish last year certainly we were told by authorities masks didn't really help do you remember that and it only came in months later but there was this call for doctors and nurses for masks for visors for gowns for gloves and you might also remember that there was an incredible shortage at times i remember speaking to an adventist dentist and this dentist i was chatting to him and i was saying so how are you going with all the ppe because obviously dentists they wear masks normally anyway right when they're hovering over your mouth and all that sort of thing and gloves and this dentist told me they said look we are sort of in a little bit short supply but we've put orders in advance and you may remember that many industries repurpose their tooling and their production lines to produce additional ppe because obviously with them covert and with infrastructure issues and transit issues from offshore supplies we had to make do with what we could do here so it's incredibly important and from time to time we also hear about doctors and frontline nurses and workers that say that their ppe is not up to scratch and they are working in the front line the government sort of suggests that even once we get to 70 or 80 percent of vaccinations that there will still be need for some of these requirements to be in place so across the world many of the frontline workers in spite of having ppe have caught the covert 19 virus and it's deadly but i want to tell you about another virus and it's a virus of sin and it is also a pandemic and it is also incredibly deadly deadly and it has infected every single human being on this planet paul in his first sorry peter in his first epistle first peter 5 8 you might know this verse he says be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour satan is deadly satan is the cause of sin speaking to the religious leaders who were attacking him in his day jesus said these words he said referring to satan he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaks a lie he speaks from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it we need to remember that covert is not a person covert is a virus covert has no agenda it has no goal it has no purpose it's simply a virus and a very deadly virus at that but we need to understand by contrast that satan is a being he's not mindless he does have a purpose he is strategic he has plans he waits and he organizes and all of his plans and all of his purposes and all of his determinations are to seek to destroy you your families your marriages and your church if you listen to the press conferences by state leaders and by federal leaders they will often talk about the fact that we are fighting against something that's invisible something that we can't see have you heard that you know you don't know what you're fighting because you can't see it you don't know who it's trans being transmitted to the person next to you when you're out in public maybe someone that is carrying the virus so we can't see it and it's the same with the virus of sin we cannot see it i want you to turn in your bibles to ephesians chapter six i was going to ask if you've got bibles with you but i won't but we're talking about the bible today so maybe i should whether it's a device or whether it's not a device or whether it's the written word i'd encourage you to not come naked to church without the bible because if you don't come to church with access to the bible you're basically spiritually naked when it comes to church ephesians chapter 6 verse 12. the apostle paul for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places so i want to suggest that sin cannot be defeated by human beings there is nothing that we can do to defeat sin because each one of us is infected and each one of us has already been defeated by sin and we are continually reinfected do you agree so as human beings we cannot fight this because it's not like wrestling or fighting with another person that you may have the ability to overthrow or defeat we are fighting against a spiritual force a force that will always win unless we have the spiritual vaccine but paul does not leave us in defeated state he shares with his readers how we as human beings can put our on our own ppe our own personal protective equipment and i want you to read the same chapter verses 10 and 11 ephesians 6 verses 10 and 11 and verses 13 to 17. and he's concluding his letter to the church in ephesus which was a real church of the there was a lot of idolatry in ephesus you had the whole temple to diana it was a pagan city it had huge libraries and the worship of the true god was was very minimal verse 10 finally my brethren be strong in the lord and in the power of his might put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil verse 13 therefore take up the whole armor of god that you may may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand therefore having girded your waste with truth having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of god paul is reflecting on the times and the culture in which he lived and he was thinking of a soldier a soldier that had all the headdress that had the body armor that had the sandals that had the weapons that had the shield that was ready for battle now when we see troops go into battle today when we see troops in the theater of war and when they're in hard and rugged combat they don't decide i'll leave my helmet at home they don't sort of think well i'll leave my grenades or i'll leave this back at the base they are fully prepared they are wearing everything they need they have their full battle armor on to face the conflict and paul is telling us here as believers he is saying the only hope that we have to resist the devil because it's not flesh and blood is to put on our spiritual protective personal protective equipment the full armor of god in paul's second letter to the church in corinth he went further about this battle that believers face and this is what he said in chapter two sorry in second corinthians two verses ten chapter ten verse four he says the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world on the contrary they have no divine power to demolish strongholds so there is no weapon there is nothing that i possess that i can throw down or fight or battle the evil one there is nothing we are powerless but in the book of hebrews the author penned these words he says for the word of god is alive and active sharper than any double-edged sword it penetrates even to the dividing soul and spirit joints and marrow it judges the thoughts and the attitudes of the heart so this is talking about the scriptures this is talking about this book that is not like any other book this book is active this book has power this book is life-changing not because of the leather or the bonded leather or whatever it may be not because it's on an app on a phone and whoever the developer is not because of the print or the font but because it is the word of god and yet in the culture in which we live most people would look at the bible and say it's irrelevant it has little if any impact on my life it has no guidance for me it's outdated how could a book from 2000 years ago impact and be purposeful for my life today and that's what most people think and there are christians and there are seventh-day adventists that also think the same thing other people suggest well look the bible is just a bunch of meaningless stories it's almost like those golden bedtime stories do you remember those it has no nothing to do with me it's just fables then there are those other people that say well look faith and religion is a personal experience and because it's a personal experience there is no book that has relevance to my personal experience because my personal experience is my own journey my own feelings and therefore it has no place in my life then there are other detractors that suggest that the bible is not scientific it's filled with all kinds of inaccuracies and it's even offensive to the modern intellectual and that's often what our young people get hit with when they go to university and that sadly that's often why so many of our young people leave when they're challenged in subjects and classes like that and perhaps they have not been built up by us as families and as churches and as schools like they could to be able to respond or to have a deeper faith in the word of god i want to suggest you that the word of god is alive and it's active hebrews 4 12 tells us that the bible is also the living word of god it is made alive in our hearts through the ministry of the holy spirit and so when we invite the holy spirit into our lives on a daily basis it is never outdated the bible and it is never irrelevant because the holy spirit will on a daily basis as we spend time in the word of god will make it relevant and applicable to the needs and to the challenges and to the hopes that we face on a daily basis the word of god is also creative and i'm out of sync but that's okay we'll go back i want you to turn your bibles to psalm 33 psalm 33 verses 6 and 9 in the old testament psalm 33 verses 6 and 9. and i want you to come i want you to contemplate the implications of what these verses are saying psalm 33 verse 6 and verse 9 by the word of the lord the heavens were made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth that's verse 6. verse 9 for he spoke and it was done he commanded and it stood fast what are these verses telling us you can speak through your masks these verses are telling us that it was the audible word that you're not using now it was the audible word of god that brought that brought forth worlds and creation occurred god spoke and it took place if you read genesis the very first chapter we are told that god said let there be light and there was let there be let there be birds in the air and and animals in the fishing in the sea and there was he spoke and it happened the audible word of god is all-powerful that's what the bible tells us and i want to suggest to you that when we take that one step further it is the written word of god comes from the same source does it not if it the written word of god does not come from the same source as the audible word of god then i want to challenge you to throw your bibles out and burn them the audible word of god brought the worlds into existence brought life into existence from nothing god has given us a revelation of his written word the written word is essentially the same thing as the audible spoken word we take that one step further that same creative power that can create something from nothing that can make animals and stars and planets that can make dry land appear and vegetation occur all from the word of his mouth that same word but this time in the written form guess what has the same life-giving creative power do you believe that you couldn't convince a judge do you believe that the written word of god has the same life-changing power as the audible word of god it does it's what god has given us and and so this then should impact everything that we do and every sermon i preach i'm preaching to myself first how many times do we forget that the written word of god has the same power that was there right back at the beginning of creation when you wake up every morning is that what resonates with you is that what goes through your head when you face the challenges of life and you don't know where to turn and you're struggling do you think back that the written word of god has the same life-changing power that occurred back in creation because it works it does apostle paul speaking of abraham and sarah and you might remember they had some challenges with their childbirth god had this crazy sense of humor and he promised abram that he would have a son and he'd be the father of a great nation but nothing was happening and he took it into his own hands with sarah's help and tragedy resulted from that if you like but then god comes and he sort of says this time next year sarah will conceive you might recall a story she's in her tent and she laughs she's 90. there is no um pregnancy help there is no infertility help by the doctor she is 90 years old and god audibly speaks and he says i will make something from nothing i will turn your barrenness your lack of being able to bear a child and i will make you conceive god speaks when there is nothing and creation occurs he speaks when there is nothing and things change in our lives when we're connected with him the text says this as it is written i have made you a father of many nations he is the god who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not what challenges are you facing in your life god can bring to pass he can bring into being things that have not yet occurred he talks and they happen now i don't want to sound like a prosperity preacher that sort of say if you say in your mind if you focus and if you concentrate i want to be rich i want to boat it'll happen because there are preachers that do that but i'm talking about the written word of god and the same power from the audible word of god so god's word declared that sarah would become pregnant when she was not god's word declared that she would become pregnant when she was 90. and that's exactly what occurred something from nothing from the audible word of god the word of if the word of god can call worlds into existence where there was none if the word of god can make a barren woman at 90 pregnant when she was not if the word of god can raise a dead man lazarus back to life then surely the written word of god from the same audible word of god can change your life it's the same word that can change your life from a hopeless sinner into someone of being and purpose the same word of god can pick you up no matter how many times you have fallen the same written word can continue to hold you as you live in a relationship with you with him and it doesn't matter where you've been it doesn't matter where you've come from because we are talking about a god who does miracles a god who brings something from nothing so if the god who raised lazarus the god who made creation there is no heart there is no life that he cannot touch there is no person that he cannot heal the problem of sin there is no person that has no hope when we realize that it's the same god and the same power but people may argue that the bible is too old that a book that was written two thousand years ago cannot have any relevance for us and it is full of inaccuracies and maybe you have heard that and if you haven't and you do further study at university you may be challenged with that if you're studying in a state school a non-christian school maybe you will hear that but i want to suggest you that there are about twenty five thousand manuscripts which are copies of originals if you like or copies of copies there is about twenty five thousand manuscripts of the bible or significant portions which gives evidence that the written word that we have is accurate the next document that comes closest to the bible is homer's iliad and there is only 643 manuscripts how many did i say there was of the bible nearly 25 000. homer's iliad and yet if you go to a university professor and if you say to them um i don't really think that we can really rely on the manuscripts of homer's iliad they would no doubt tell you you are crazy there are 643 manuscripts what are you talking about of course you can trust it and yet when it comes to the all-powerful word of god where there are nearly 25 000 manuscripts some of these same people will say you can't trust it 25 000 and yet we're living in an area in an era where people are questioning the veracity of the scriptures the truthfulness the accuracy of the bible and yet the bible although it was written and penned by human beings the thoughts and the inspiration came from god it was written by 40 human beings over 1500 years and several continents and you can imagine if you have two or three people at a car accident as witnesses often you will find their stories will be different and sometimes significantly different correct but the story of scripture with 40 authors 1500 years working independent of each other not being able to put it up on google drive to see what the other one has written coming from different cultures some of them are farmers some are shepherds some are kings some are academic some are doctors it is the one single theme throughout it's the story of god and so i suggest you that the bible is one cohesive book one cohesive message when we look at the veracity and the truthfulness of the bible it can also be confirmed by the bible prophecies there are so many about 300 prophecies that are predicting the birth of jesus and or his ministry life and death 300. micah 5 2 700 years before the birth of jesus god gave micah a prophecy that out of bethlehem in ephrata would come one who would be everlasting that's jesus christ 700 years before jesus was born his autobiography is already being written how about that 700 years before and then under the time of caesar augustus he calls a census to occur we just had one didn't we august 10 caesar augustus calls for a census and who would have thought mary and joseph she's heavily pregnant they live in nazareth about 150 kilometers north of bethlehem now when you're heavily pregnant you're told not to fly correct not that many of us can fly now anyway but but here is mary she's a young middle middle teenager if you like under 20 years of age no doubt she's heavily pregnant and they make a 150 kilometer journey from nazareth to bethlehem all because of caesar augustus declaring a census and on that very night that they arrive at bethlehem not along the way not in nazareth but the very night they enter bethlehem she gives birth to the savior of this world declared predicted and fulfil declared and predicted 700 years earlier and fulfilled all because caesar augustus declares a census they make the 150 kilometer journey and she gives birth there that is supernatural i want to suggest you that the bible is also indestructible let's get back because i'm i'm not indestructible the bible is also indestructible the bible has been burned more than any other book the bible has been destroyed more than any other book it has been outlawed by more than any other book and yet it still remains the world's best seller i want to suggest you that the devil wants to destroy the written word of god and there is a reason for that more than any other book that's what he wants to do he wants to destroy it and i don't know about you but if you look in our western culture today you won't find islam or buddhism or hinduism being mocked but christianity is often derided and mocked in our culture in our country we are living in an era where christianity is being pushed from the marketplace and separated we are living in an era where we no longer were we're being challenged and where we may not be able to have freedom of religion much longer we're living in an era where there are movements and groups that are pushing the governments to have freedom from religion how often do you pick this book up how often do you sit there and read the words and read its pages so why is this why is there so much attack on christianity in the word of god i want to suggest you that the reason is that god has only chosen one book there is only one word of god it's not from buddha it's not from the krishnas it's not from muhammad there is only one book that can change humanity there is only one book that can lead us to a relationship with jesus and have salvation and the prophet isaiah put it this way the grass withers and the flowers fall but the word of god endures forever the word of god is indestructible so what's the purpose of the bible i want to suggest you the purpose of the bible is to unfold the plan of salvation the purpose of the bible is to highlight jesus christ front and center the old testament reveals and speaks the old testament talks about the jesus who would come the new testament reveals the jesus who would come and looks forward to his return the whole of the bible is about jesus and testifies about jesus i want you to turn in your bibles to john 5 39 john chapter 5 verse 39 john 5 39 and jesus is talking to religious leaders who are out to attack him and trap him and they know their bibles and this is what he said john 5 39 you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life but these are they which testify of me but you are not willing to come to me verse 40 that you may have life you search the scriptures because you're looking for the messiah but here i am right in front of you but you refuse to come to me and therefore you are rejecting eternal life so the bible declares and jesus speaks that he is spirit and that he is life paul says that we are a new creation when we give our hearts to jesus the psalmist says that the bible is a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path the bible tells us that jesus is the light of the world and the prophet jeremiah says to us that god's word brings joy and rejoicing and yet we are living in a world of fear did you know if you were to search the most popular bible verse for um 2020 simon i think read it this morning it was isaiah 41 10 where it talks about not fearing we're living in a world of fear and the bible is here to give us hope so how can you and i benefit from the from the bible how can we get most benefit from it i want to suggest that the first thing is that we need to pick the bible up we need to pick it up the diary of a bible january 15 this is the diary of a bible been resting for a week a few nights after the first of the year my owner opened me but no more another new year's resolution gone wrong february 3 owner picked me up and rushed off to church february 23 cleaning day dusted and put back in my place april 2 busy day only had to present the lesson at a church meeting quickly looked up a lot of references may 5 grandma's in town back in her lap a very comfortable place may 9 she let a tear fall on john 14 may 10 grandma's gone back in my old place again may 20 baby born they wrote his name on one of the pages july 1 packed a suitcase packed in a suitcase off for a holiday july 20 still in the suitcase almost everything else was taken out july 25 home again quite a journey though i didn't see why i wins august 16 dusted again and put in a prominent place the minister is to be here for dinner august 20 owner wrote grandma's death in the family record he left his extra pair of glasses between my pages december 31 owner just found his glasses wonder if he will make any resolutions about me for the new year what story would your bible tell of you what story would my bible tell of me we're living in a world where we have so many bibles in our society and yet we hardly ever pick them up i think in general so we need to pick the bible up we need to read it and i would challenge you to find an easy reading version whether it's on a phone or whether it's the written word you need to read the word of god and reading different versions of the bible and not starting at the beginning or the end but read from the gospels and you don't have to read a lot just read a small little section question it ask questions of the text what is this telling me about god where do i see god in this what's god telling me and what's god challenging me to do today you need to plan your time with god we plan most other things but if we don't plan our time with god it won't happen we need to pray over what we've been reading and pray before we read that god will give us instruction and that god will give us answers and direction for the day and then finally if we don't share what we've been given we lose it god wants us to share what we have learned eugene peterson the author of the message bible a very colorful translation a very descriptive translation and one that i often like to just ponder on as i'm doing my devotions he died on october 22 funny date right he died on october 22 2018. i think he was a presbyterian minister and and prolific writer and author and had an incredible grasp of the english language his son leif peterson said at his father's funeral that he knew what the secret was to his father eugene's life and his father's ministry because he said his father had been telling him this secret for 50 years and at his funeral the sun leaf revealed that for all of his years in the ministry his dad really only ever preached one sermon only ever preached one sermon it was always the same and he said that for all of the books that dad published the message in all of those books was exactly the same he repeated it over and over again and leif said that that i knew this message from a very early age because my father when i was young when he would come into my bedroom and lean over my bed he would whisper softly in my ear this one message this message of his life's work and those words stuck with him from the time of childhood and so at his father's funeral leif peterson shared what the secret and what the message was of his father's life work and it goes like this god loves you god is on your side god is coming after you and god is relentless in coming after you so a god that speaks and the universe is brought into existence a god who speaks and can make a 90 year old barren woman pregnant a god who speaks and can raise lazarus from the grave who's been dead for four days a god who was spoken through the the epochs of history in the written word the god who can bring something from nothing can do exactly the same thing in your life and mine what are you doing with the word of god may god bless you [Music] we're going to sing turn your eyes upon jesus now i pray that as we sing these words together you're reminded to pick up your bible to turn your eyes upon jesus and to look full in his wonderful face please sing with us turn your eyes upon jesus look for his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strange leading in the light of his glory and grace [Music] turn your eyes [Music] embrace bear the sun of god gave his life for us and our measure listed was erased [Music] jesus to you we lived our eyes [Music] jesus our glory and our [Music] oh jesus we turn our eyes to you [Music] turn your [Music] what a glorious stone fear of death is gone for we carry his life in our way jesus [Music] jesus our [Music] we adore you behold you i'll sing forever true oh jesus we turn our eyes [Music] our king will return for his own every knee will bow every tongue will shout o glory to jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus our glory and ours [Music] we adore you behold you i'll save you forever oh jesus we turn our [Music] we eyes our eyes [Music] father in heaven we want to tune our eyes to jesus there are so many distractions in the world in which we live our lives are so busy they're so cluttered and yet in our own homes we have so much wealth we have so much treasure and it's not the possessions it's not the clothes it's not the gadgets it's not the furnishings it's not the home it's your word the written word the bible father i pray that you'll convict each of us through your spirit to start the day to end the day and to journey the day with you through your written word in jesus name amen [Music] do you pray where do you pray when do you pray what do you pray for how do you pray in first thessalonians 5 17 the bible writes rejoice always pray without ceasing give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of god in christ jesus for you [Music] on september 17th paravista church will be starting a 24 7 week of continuous prayer we would love to have you involved the date has been changed but we will still be starting with a friday night evening program our prayer will continue for the next seven days until the following friday the 24th of september where we'll be ending with another friday night evening program so how will it work our prayer team created an empty roster for the entire week both day and night and they've divided it into one hour time slots all you need to do is to fill out the times that you will be praying and indicate whether you will be praying at church at work or at home for those wishing to pray at church our prayer team will be setting up a dedicated prayer room which will be open at specific times throughout the daytime hours [Music] these times are staggered and will be spaced to allow time for you to settle in be still and spend time in prayer the roster is available online at go.paravista.church forward slash prayer a physical copy will also be available in the church for you [Music] we want to encourage you to sign up please join us in this 24 7 week of continuous prayer let us pray and give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of god in christ jesus for us [Music] thank you very much for the wonderful word i hope all of us have been challenged and especially that important question what would our bibles say if they were to talk we have different ways to give and uh there is a qr code which you can scan and we'll really appreciate your offering as we continue to support god's ministry here in paravista church [Music] as we are going to wrap up the chat service i want to remind each and every one of you that we still have the sabbath school lessons going on and in the foyer we have lovely people with here to help t-shirts and also uh you can grab the hand of anybody who's next to you and if you're new they can guide you to the sabbath school that is preferable for you as we start another week i would like to leave you with special word from matthew chapter 26 from 39 to 44 and especially i'll focus on matthew chapter 26 39 and 42 where god says jesus christ as he was praying just before gethsemane he says yet not as i will but as you will that's in 30 and 39 and in verse 42 he says my father if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless i drink it may your will be done in our prayers this week let us strive to seek for god's will to be done in our lives because it is hard to hear god's voice when we've already decided what you want him to say uh before i leave i would like to mention to add more about the 24 7 week of prayer that is going to come up from the 17th to the 24th of this month of this month first as i mentioned we are going to have the by the world sabot school prepared for anyone who will be willing to come and pray here in church and the times as we've said them at the moment will be for the weekend that is saturday and sunday from 8 a.m to 6 p.m it will be open for you to come in and pray and in weekdays in the morning from 7 am to 10 am and in the evening from 5 p.m to 8 p.m all of you are welcome to come and pray in church and uh aside from that as the prayer ministry we've set the old kindy sabat school as a special place where you can come in every sabbath morning before the chat at the beginning of the chat service and uh you'll be you are there will be a private place for you to pray there if you will be happy to do that before the church service begins um [Music] i hope i've not forgotten anything but more information especially with regards to the 24 7 week of prayer will be communicated in the various bulletins and in the church website again happy father's day to all our lovely fathers who are here with us and those who've gone before us thank you very much and have a blessed rest of the sabbath thank you [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Para Vista Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Length: 90min 51sec (5451 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 04 2021