Worship Service with Doug Batchelor

[Music] good morning friends welcome to sabbath school study hour coming to here from the granite bay seventh avenue church in sacramento california we'd like to welcome all of those who are joining us live across the country and around the world on social media the various television outlets and those who will be watching these programs in a few weeks after we've done the editing and they're ready for broadcast we'd like to welcome you as well well this morning we're very excited because we're going to be starting a brand new series of studies dealing with the book of isaiah one of those great old testament books and so today we'll be looking at lesson number one which is entitled crisis of identity that's less number one in our new lesson study quarterly and if you'd like to get the notes to kind of follow along with the presentations as we study together we will encourage you to get the cyber school courtly it looks like this it's entitled isaiah that's the one we're studying for the next 13 weeks and you can get one from a local seventh adventist church or the adventist book center or you can actually just read it online if you were to go to the amazing facts website and a number of other websites you'll be able to get a link to download the cyber school quarterly we have a free offer we'd like to tell you about a book entitled point of no return and this is our free offer today and we'll be happy to send this to anyone in north america if you'd like to receive the book call the number 866 788 ask for offer number 177 and we'll get that in the mail and send it to you or if you prefer you can get a digital download of the book and to do so you just need to text the code sh0 to the number 40544 you will then receive a a text or an email letting you know how you can download the book and i think you'll be blessed by reading it it's entitled point of no return well we've come to that time of the year when in a special way we get to sing some wonderful christmas carols and so this morning we're going to be singing heart the herald angels for our friends who are joining us online you're welcome to join in as jolene leads us in heart the herald angels hark the herald angels sing glory to the newborn king peace on earth and mercy mild good and sinners reconciled joyful lordy nation rise join the triumph of the skies with angelico's proclaim christ is born in bethlehem hark the herald angels sing glory to the newborn king christ by highest heaven adored christ the everlasting lord in the manger born a king will adoring angels sing peace on earth to men good will be the trembling soul be still christ on earth has come to dwarf jesus [Music] heart angels glory to the newborn king [Music] hail the handborn prince of peace [Music] life and light to all he brings rise [Applause] [Music] no [Laughter] [Music] born to give them second [Music] glory to the new boy [Music] thank you jolene and michelle for playing i invite you to bow your heads as we have a word of prayer dear father we are indeed so grateful for the opportunity to just take a break from the busyness of the week and gather in your presence on this special day that you've blessed now lord we know there are folks scattered all over the country that are part of our study time together we can't be united in person at the moment but lord we are grateful that we can be united in your spirit and we're all sharing the same faith we're looking at the same scriptures to build our faith and so father we ask a special blessing upon our time today be with those who are listening and pray that you guide them be with pastor doug as he opens up the word and we launch into a whole new series of studies on the book of isaiah how exciting this is so thank you lord for being with us and we commend this time in your keeping in jesus name amen our study on the book of isaiah begins today and pastor doug will be leading us in our first lesson thank you pastor ross thank you michelle and jolene for helping us with the music and i want to welcome our friends that are studying the word of god with us today i'm very excited about the uh the new study that we've got going today because we're dealing with just one of the most magnificent books in the bible the book of isaiah and that was as was mentioned for those who may have tuned in late we're just beginning a new quarter study now keep in mind that some of you are watching this stream live that's because here at the granite bay church to provide the sabbath school program for the other satellite networks we record it three weeks in advance so that we can do the editing and put in the subtitles and so forth and but it will play nationally the first week of january but we're getting to get into it here with our friends who are watching online and i'm excited about isaiah because it's just a wonderful book it's basically like the gospel in the old testament now the lesson for today lesson one is called a crisis of a den uh identity and we've got a memory verse and the memory verse is from isaiah 1 verse 18. now we've got a few families here with our support staff that are helping us with this production they're welcome to say it with us isaiah 1 18 and i bet some of us know this one by heart even before we we were told it was our memory verse come now let us reason together says the lord though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they are red like crimson they shall be as wool there you've got the gospel all summarized in that verse the lord can take our sins though they're just as red as scarlet he can make them white as snow that's a wonderful promise now the study today just you don't get confused you might be wondering how are we going to study 66 chapters of isaiah in 13 weeks and the way i think that they're doing it i haven't read the whole quarterly yet is there they'll be bouncing around and doing some things based on content and sections so our assignment today we're going to be studying chapter one of isaiah and part of chapter five and then i believe in future lessons they'll back up and look at isaiah 2 3 4 and so forth and so it'll be covering certain themes now i thought it was appropriate today as we're getting ready to enter this majestic book of isaiah that we have a little bit of introduction to help understand it the word isaiah the name it means salvation is of the lord and he is really a gospel prophet in the old testament and it says isaiah is the son of amos and the word amos means strong strength to be firm and so here you've got this person whose name is salvation of the lord he is the son of strength and just even in the names bible names mean something and you know when they were naming their babies in the bible they would pray the holy spirit would guide them and that name would somehow be the mission of their life or have some prophetic significance and when jacob went from jacob which means deceiver and he wrestled with god he was renamed no longer the deceiver now he's the prince israel and so they would even change their names sometimes when their destinies changed so isaiah's name salvation is of the lord and the time period of isaiah when you read your bibles isaiah is both a historical book it covers bible history and it is also a prophetic book the time of his ministry is about 47 years of public ministry from about 760 to 713 bc now the the talmud which is the jewish tradition it tells us that he was ultimately killed by king manasseh and he was executed supposedly because isaiah said that he had visually seen the lord and they said that was not possible you read in chapter 6 he says in the year the king of zion died i saw the lord and that's at least the pretense that manasseh used for executing him i doubt that was the real reason but tradition says that he was sawn in two now that's very possible because you read in hebrews 11 37 that some of those that's in the great chapter of faith some of those who died were sawn asunder and they believe that is a reference to how isaiah died he started as a prophet early his prophetic ministry covering 47 years maybe 50 years but he was a contemporaneous prophet with jonah that's right jonah was a real prophet in the northern kingdom amos hosea but he was a contemporary of micah who was the prophet in the southern kingdom now you realize that when isaiah was involved in ministry a civil war had happened long ago much earlier between the northern 10 tribes and the southern kingdom of levi benjamin and judah and isaiah's ministry was almost exclusively the southern kingdom working in and around jerusalem the northern kingdom was being plagued by the assyrians at this time and they had their cadre of god's prophets up there isaiah was a prophet unlike elijah isaiah was married how many of you know the name of his wife she was a prophetess the bible says i don't think her name is given but do you know the name of one of isaiah's sons mayor shaler hashbads so if any of you are expecting you might pass that on but so he was actually married evidently to a prophetess but i don't know that her name is given and if i'm wrong you can correct me on that isaiah is a fascinating book because it in many respects it is one of the oldest books that we have copies of a complete copy of the scroll of isaiah was found among the first dead sea scrolls that were found and it clearly dates to at least a hundred years before christ possibly 300 bc actually the historians say you're always supposed to say bc first bc 300 and meaning that the prophecies that you find in isaiah such as chapter 53 where he talks very clearly about the messiah were written before the event and so it is a fascinating book not only that because isaiah lived about 760 to 713 bc about 150 years before the king of persia was born he specifically mentions the king of persia by name and has a message for him in his book that's pretty fascinating you know i remember reading in the um the writings of josephus the jewish historian that when alexander the great after he finished conquering tyre he came down to jerusalem and the priests went out of the city kind of waving the white flag and they a procession of priests went to alexander and they said do not attack us you are here our god said that you would be the king that would destroy the persians you're going to succeed and they showed him through translators of course they showed him the books of daniel that talked about the greek king that would go forth and conquer and it says alexander got on his knees and he worshipped at that point so this is not the first time that great conquering kings were foretold before they lived but yeah even cyrus he could have read about himself written by name alexander is not given by name but cyrus is mentioned in isaiah by name in chapter 45. so in the prophecies of isaiah it talks about prophecy he prophesied the fate of many kingdoms and they all came true babylon assyria the philistines moab syria ethiopia egypt edom arabia judah and tyre and so it's it's a very um thorough book now there are 66 chapters in isaiah but it's not the longest of the prophetic books do you know who the longest prophetic book is it's a jeremiah don't you can't always go by chapters jeremiah's got 52 chapters but jeremiah has 33 000 words i don't think that's including his book of lamentations and isaiah's only got 25 000. so sometimes the chapters are longer are the the um yeah the chapters are longer and there's more words in them and so this is just a little background in the book of isaiah to uh tell us that um and of course isaiah has quite a few prophecies that talk about the coming messiah and let me see here there were some other little facts yeah i think i covered i covered the main point oh isaiah is quoted more than 50 times in the new testament jesus frequently refers to the book of isaiah so if there's any question about if isaiah was really a prophet of god jesus said he was and so with that and i may share a little more as we get into other weeks let's get into the first section of our study today and it says hear o heavens now we're going to read the first two verses i'm looking forward to the day when we can move into normal sabbath school and worship service you know there was a time we used to pass around microphones and ask people to help us read the verses had it a little more interactive and i'm hoping that that they will come again soon but i'll read this for you isaiah chapter one verse one and two the vision of isaiah the son of amos which he saw concerning judah and jerusalem in the days of isaiah jotham and ahaz and hezekiah kings of judah so we know that his ministry spanned the reign of several kings who is the longest reigning king of judah manasseh manasseh comes right after hezekiah who is the second longest reigning king of judah azia so isaiah's life is bookend by the two longest reigning kings azia is when he starts manasseh is when he ends so that's just a little interesting piece of trivia he starts out then and he says in verse 2 hear o heavens give ear o earth for the lord has spoken i have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me now he starts his message by saying hear o heavens is he asking the atmosphere to listen is it the gases that he's speaking to and when he says give ear o earth was isaiah a pantheist and he's talking to the trees and the rocks what does that statement mean well you know if you want to understand something in the bible what's the key compare scripture with scripture if you look in deuteronomy 30 verse 19 moses is speaking here he said i call heaven and earth as a witness today against you that i have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that both you and your descendants might live i call heaven and earth as a witness go to deuteronomy 31 28 28 gather to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers that i might speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them so why did these bible writers appeal to the heavens and the earth you know i think it's interesting at one point israel i think it was a tribe of manasseh they built an altar and joshua and the other tribes got upset and they said you're only supposed to sacrifice at this one altar they said no we just created this altar to be a witness are the rocks are a witness and then when they cross the jordan river and the river parted joshua said take 12 stones out of the base of the river before it closed up again and stack them up as a witness really a reminder and so when they said hear oh heavens and earth now let me give you one more thing to think about are there beings in the room today other than human beings i don't mean pinto beans i mean if you read in ephesians it says we wrestle not against flesh and blood and but against what principalities and powers and rulers in heavenly places so when you say hero heavens for the believer in jehovah is there a spiritual world are they witnessing what's happening here on earth as well and so when it says give witness heavens and earth it's really calling all the humans angels good and bad the angels above the angels below it says we're giving witness of the word of god this challenge so isaiah is making a declaration for all to hear the beginning of his book you can also read in micah 1 verse 2 hear you peoples all you pay attention o earth and all that is in it let the lord god be a witness against you the lord from his holy temple all right so he's making an appeal what he's about to say so what does he say now when he says hero heavens look in verse 3 isaiah 1 verse 3 the ox knows its owner in the donkey its master's crib or stall we would say but israel does not know my people do not consider a last sinful nation a people laden with iniquity a brood of evildoers children who are corrupters they are forsaken the lord they provoke to anger the holy one of israel they've turned away backward why should you be stricken again and you revolt more and more i'll pause there before i get to the the other section here in this passage uh with verse six or with verse five rather he says the ox knows his uh his master the donkey his master's crib but my people don't know me you know if a if a horse bucks off his rider you know where the horse is going to go back to the barn where the food and if you've got a dog that takes off and runs they will almost always come home when they get hungry and if you've got a homing pigeon and you put it in a crate and you take it from st louis to new york and then the crate breaks and it takes off you know where it's going to go it's going to fly back to st louis one of the longest pilgrimages a homing pigeon was being shipped it was a very expensive homing pigeon from england to some collector in south africa and on unloading that pigeon it escaped about six weeks later it showed up in england it knew how to find its way home that's why they're so famous as homing visions so he's saying even the animals know where their owners are it says but my people forgot that i am your father i'm the one who led you out of egypt you're going after these other gods you're forgetting about me and then he he talks about what's at the heart of it all this is isaiah 1 verse 5 why should you be stricken again you will revolt more and more the whole head is sick the whole heart faints from the soul of the foot to the head there is no soundness that means no healthiness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying that word putrefying means stinking decaying corrupting sores it's not a very pretty picture um future fighting swords they've not been closed or bound up it's it's like talking about green or soothed with ointment your country is desolate before i get into that part here he describes the condition of sin can you think of somebody in the bible that was sick from the crown of their head to the soul of their foot when job was afflicted and by the way keep in mind the afflictions of job were a type of the sufferings of christ for our sins and it says that job was afflicted with boils painful boils and he had to scrape himself so these are open sores it's like what isaiah is talking about i know it's not pretty but this is what the bible says from the crown of his head to the soul of his foot how does paul describe sin it's like a physical sickness it's a disease or a dis-ease and this is what isaiah is saying and he says i want to heal you jesus is called the balm in gilead it says these wounds have not been closed or bound up by the way we're going to study later on isaiah does a little medical work did you know that when king hezekiah is sick he's got some kind of a fever and isaiah has to tell him he's going to die and there's a sign that comes to him and it says uh you know the sun actually stops and goes backwards for 10 degrees and then god tells isaiah tell hezekiah that he will recover and that he is to place a lump of figs on the boil so evidently he had some kind of open infection and isaiah is the one who gave him the prescription it's interesting that he didn't just do a healing like jesus and say be healed but he used a medicinal remedy so they had some rudimentary idea about healing back then and nothing was being done he says you're sick and you're doing nothing about it they've not been closed or bound up or soothed with ointment your country is desolate your cities are burned with fire strangers devour your land and your presence and it is a desolate as overthrown by strangers now so when isaiah is writing part of the time at least historically when isaiah is writing the assyrians are rampaging through the northern kingdom in fact at one point in isaiah's writing um and this was also mentioned in chronicles and in kings that the king of assyria came right to the gates of jerusalem in order for him to get to the gates of jerusalem they had to conquer and burn through all the fortress cities of judea and so with all of this these enemies at the gates so to speak the people are not turning to god they're spiritually sick they're threatened by their enemies they're economically devastated and he said what's with this you're not turning to me you're not praying it says your cities are burned with fire strangers devour your land in your presence and it's desolate as oh they're overthrown by strangers so the daughter of zion god's people the church is left as a booth in a vineyard now you know you might some people if you're going to live in a house for a long time you might have a substantial house with stone walls and a tile roof in bible times but uh the farmers sometimes when they were working and watching their crops they would have these little uh booths made out of leaves that would be out there in the farm or the garden you know they were living scarecrows back then and they had these little booths out there and he says your cities are they're beginning to look like a hut in a garden of cucumbers pretty pathetic like a booth in a vineyard or a hut in a garden of cucumbers as a besieged city unless the lord of hosts had led to us a very small remnant we would have become like sodom we would have been made like gomorrah now of course sodom and gomorrah were obliterated they were annihilated no survivors and god said look i'm giving you a remnant the 10 tribes in the north are going to be carried off by assyria your country has been invaded by the land because of your sins you've turned to other gods and isaiah he goes into the specifics of what those sins are many times in his books but the southern kingdom was still going through the sacrificial system they were still going through the the rituals and we'll get to that in just a minute so he said if it wasn't for the mercy of the lord you wouldn't even have a remnant i'm sparing a remnant next section rotten ritualism and jesus spoke about this and i'll be reading isaiah 1 10-14 hear the word of the lord you rulers of sodom notice how he starts that next verse give ear to the law of your god you people of gomorrah to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me says the lord they still had the temple they still have the services they still went through the the rituals they went through the sham of going through all the the sacraments and but he said what good is it if your life is wicked and if you're going to talk about people who are really wicked there's only a couple places you can point that are the epitome of wickedness sodom and gomorrah and the people in the days of noah by the way jesus said that's what the world will be like before he returns and this is what israel had become like before the babylonian captivity to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices says the lord i've had enough of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle i do not delight in the blood of bulls or lambs or of goats what can the blood of goats and lambs and those animal sacrifices do they wash away sin no they all pointed to the only one who can wash away sin and that's jesus and so if we're living high-handed sinful lives but we say well well you know we're giving a big offering does that cover our sin god is saying what good is that if you're living wickedly and you're going through all the pretense of religious you know ceremony it says when you come to appear before me who has required this of you from your hand to trample my courts to bring no more feudal sacrifices incense is an abomination to me the new moons and the sabbaths the calling you're saying now does that mean he did away with the sabbath no just meant you're not honoring me when you come to worship me on sabbath and you live like the devil the rest of the week the new moons and the sabbaths and the calling of assemblies i cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates they're trouble to me i'm weary of bearing them now that's pretty strong language it's like when jesus said to the religious leaders you rob widow's houses and for a pretense you make long prayers so can you be excused from robbing widows if you just pray a long time no amos 5 verse 21 he says i hate i despise your feasts i take no delight in your solemn assemblies even though you offer to me burnt offerings and grain offerings i will not accept them and the peace offerings of your fattened animals i will not look upon them what is the condition to having lord accept our sacrifices repentance humbling of our hearts sincerity if we sincerely repent of our sins and come he he accepts our worship he accepts our sacrifices but if if we're living in open rebellion and then we're going through just the you know the sham of uh religious ritual that doesn't please the lord it's like you remember the parable that jesus tells two men went up to the temple to pray one was republican one was a pharisee pharisees were very religious and the pharisees stood and he prayed thus with himself lord i thank you i'm not like other men i pay tithe of all that i have and i fast and i'm not like this publican back here he's just trusting in his own self-righteousness but the publican would not so much as lift up his head unto heaven but he smote upon his breast he's standing in the back says the lord have mercy on me a center he's repenting this is what the lord wants the bible says a contrite heart god will not despise he wants us to have broken hearts repentance for our sins amos 5 24 explains what he's looking for but let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream and moving on to isaiah chapter 1 verse 15 when you spread out your hands i will hide my eyes from you now that's a scary thought that we might pray we're talking about when you spread out your hands and you pray when you spread out your hands i'll hide my eyes from you even though you make many prayers i will not hear your hands are full of blood wash yourselves here's that verse that we were memorizing wash yourselves make yourselves clean put away the evil of your doings before my eyes cease to do evil learn to do good seek justice rebuke the oppressor defend the fatherless plead for the widow then he says though your sins be a scarlet they'll be as white as snow so what does the lord want from us wash yourselves make yourselves clean through the blood of the lamb turning to jesus repentance put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes cease to do evil learn to do good now that's a very important verse learn to do good you know why if you decide you want to turn to the lord and you repent if you can't change everything in one day don't get discouraged there is a learning process when i first came to the lord it took a while for me to learn how to talk without cursing it was a learning process but through the holy spirit god was able to put the brakes on and so you know if you've spent your whole life doing evil and you decide all right i repent of my sins you may need to take some time to learn to do good right that makes sense rebuke the oppressor defend the fatherless plead for the widow psalm 66 18 if i regard iniquity in the heart in my heart the lord will not hear me that's why he said in isaiah 1 15 if you spread out your hands i'll hide my eyes so if we're living in deliberate sin and we're giving god our christmas shopping list and say lord do this and this and this god says look i want your heart i want you to be surrender i want you to be turning from your sins and following jesus and then we're really saying lord i want to be on your team matthew 23 14. i already read that actually woe to you scribes and pharisees you devour widow's houses and for a pretense you make long prayers therefore you will receive greater condemnation and even in isaiah 58 he uses the same principle he says what good is your fasting if you fast for strife and debate and to strike with the fists of wickedness you'll not fast as you do this day to make will you not fast as you do this day to make your voice heard on high jesus in his ministry said woe to you scribes and pharisees matthew 23 23 you pay tithe and paint tithe is good but he says you pay tithe of mint and annis and cumin and you've neglected the weightier matters of the law justice and mercy and faith these you ought to have done without leaving the other undone don't neglect pain tithe and even in the small things but he said we cannot cloak our unrighteousness by you know giving an extra offering and you know i've we've all seen it not just me in the church you've got some people that major in minors uh they're extremely religious and exacting in certain areas you know i'm a vegan and that's you know i'm not trying to make you feel bad if you're not just saying that i believe in healthful living but i've met some people that are vegans or vegetarians they're very fastidious about the way they eat and they're as mean as snakes so you're not saved by veganism are you you know what i'm talking about and so what god wants is righteousness in us it's it's not just a few legalistic outward forms of worship woe to you scribes and pharisees you cleanse the outside of the cup in the dish but inside they're full of extortion and self-indulgence blind pharisee first cleanse the inside of the cup so what does jesus want cleanse first you want the outside to be clean you really got to clean the inside all right and the next section we're going to is the argument of forgiveness and this is isaiah chapter 1 verse 18 come now let us reason together says the lord though your sins are like scarlet they'll be white as snow though they are red like crimson they will be as wool so here you've got this incredible contrast and you know whenever i read this verse a couple of stories come to mind one is when i lived in new york city growing up new york city is better now as far as the the it's they're having a hard time under the current times but uh they are better than back when i was a kid uh you know now when people walk their dogs they kind of clean up after the dogs they didn't do that in new york city and they had a lot of dogs and that just to give you one example and the buses did not have catalytic converters there was a lot of smog in the city and you know in our buildings in new york city we did not take the trash out we went to the the landing and there was an incinerator we threw our garbage into a big burner that was in the basement you could from the 15th floor you could throw your garbage in this chute and you could hear it as it fell down into the incinerator you can open up the door and you feel the heat coming up from the incinerator on top of all the apartment buildings in new york they had incinerators and there was ashes in the city on the street it was a dirty city back in the 60s when i was living there i woke up one morning and i thought something weird going on i couldn't hear anything usually outside my window in new york city you always heard the buses stopping and starting and the taxis honking and and the people yelling and there's always noise it was dead quiet i thought what happened i went to the window i looked at about a foot of snow had fallen during the night and it paralyzed all the traffic it may have been more than a foot of snow but there was no no no vehicles were moving there were no snowplows at yet and it made everything so quiet it insulates noise and everything suddenly went from dirty to pure and it was the most amazing transformation i'll never forget that but then i had another experience when i read this verse i was in maine i was going to school in maine and it was winter time and they were driving on the snow in maine they knew how to do that and i was going down the road in a truck with one of the teachers and we were on some school erin to go to the store and we were driving by this farm and this beautiful gray and white dog ran out as dogs sometimes due to bark at trucks that go by and it slid on the ice and it slid off under the truck it normally probably would have been fine and we hit it but we didn't kill it right away and we felt terrible we hit it and it went and tumbled out from underneath the truck and we pulled over and went out and the dog was on the snow and it was looking up to us and it was badly wounded it was bleeding and the red blood on the white snow i'll never forget that picture and if we watched it it died there in front of us and i just think about the contrast of the steaming red blood on the white snow and how different it was whenever i think about jesus and it says scarlet though your sins be a scarlet the whitest know i think because of the scarlet blood of jesus our sins are made white as snow and the contrast can't be any greater between those two so this is what he does for us and he says it will be like wool and of course they would they they knew how to dye even white wool to make it very white back then and so god is saying it doesn't matter what your sins are though they are like scarlet it's interesting that isaiah wrote this and then one of the most wicked kings in the world manasseh whose sins were very much like scarlet he repented and god forgave him and then when he says come now let us reason together what does that mean let's argue this out it's like jesus said what prophet is there he wants us to take into account and think use our noodle as i used to say think about it i'm willing to forgive you in revelation 3 18 i counsel you to buy of me gold in the fire that you might be rich and white garments that you might be clothed that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed and so this white represents the purity of christ's righteousness and then isaiah 44 a similar teaching he says i am blotted out like a thick cloud your transgressions and so you think not a cloud of uh you can always tell when you see a fire on the horizon if the smoke is white it's usually a grass fire if the smoke is black it could be a car or a house because there's toxins and things in there that produce black smoke and so when it's talking about your sins are like a cloud it's talking about a black cloud of sin it says god can make us pure it says like a cloud your sins return to me for i have redeemed you all right and then we're going on to the section to eat or be eaten this is isaiah 1 19 if you're willing and obedient you will lead the good of the land so when we come to the lord what does he want from us a willingness now some of you might say oh you know i'm not sure i'm prepared to make a christian commitment i've got so many changes i need to make i don't know that i'm even willing you know what you can do you can pray that god will make you willing to be willing i mean everybody you could be willing to be made willing so really everybody's without excuse say lord i make me willing to do your will says you'll eat the good of the land but if you refuse and rebel sin is really rebellion you will be devoured by the sword for the mouth of the lord has spoken he know they did refuse and rebel and the sword of the babylonians did ultimately come how is the faithful city become a harlot it was full of justice now does revelation talk about a harlot city revelation 17 and revelation 18 it does jerusalem was to be god's bride calls her zion and now it says you become like a harlot your silver has become dross your wine mixed with water your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards they do not defend the fatherless nor does the cause of the widow come before them therefore the lord says the lord of hosts the mighty one of israel ah i will rid myself of my adversaries and i will take vengeance on my enemies i will turn my hand against you and thoroughly purge away your dross and take away your alloy i will restore your judges as the first and your counselors as at the beginning afterward you will be called the city of righteousness in the faithful city zion shall be redeemed with justice and her penitence with righteousness the destruction and transgression of sinners shall be together and those who forsake the lord will be consumed for they will be ashamed as the terrible trees which you have desired they were worshiping under these trees and you will be embarrassed because of the gardens where they have their idols which you have chosen for you will be as a terabith whose leaf fades and is a garden that has no water the strong shall be as tinder and the work of it as spark let's talk about judgment coming like the tinder and the spark both will burn together and no one will quench them isaiah and jeremiah talked about them struggling because of judgment and that they would be burned with unquenchable fire now did this prophecy of isaiah come true because they did not turn they temporarily repented during the reign of hezekiah and they found some deliverance then and even during the the reign of um of josiah but then ultimately the babylonians came and destroyed the city and the last section here we've just got a couple minutes isaiah chapter five now we're jumping from isaiah 1 to chapter 5 because we're doing these things in segments and verse 137 now let me sing to my well beloved the song of my beloved by the way isaiah writes many of his prophecies in poetry and you know something is lost when you go from hebrew to english you know if i tell you a poem in english roses or red violets or blue whatever there'll usually be some rhyme to it but when you take the poetry uh from one language to another sometimes you lose some of the rhyme of it but this was written often in poetry and uh it's a lot more beautiful i understand in the hebrew let me sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved regarding his vineyard my well beloved has a vineyard now where do you find something about my well beloved in a vineyard isn't that also in what they call canticles the song of solomon on a very fruitful hill and he dug it up and he cleared out its stones and he planted it with the choicest vine he built a tower in its midst and he also made a wine press in it so he expected it to bring forth good grapes but it brought forth wild grapes and now o inhabitants of jerusalem and men of judah judge please between me and my vineyard what more could have been done to my vineyard that i've not done in it why then when i expected it to bring forth good grapes that did bring forth wild grapes can you think of a parable in luke chapter 13 where jesus talks about a man that had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and it didn't bring forth any fruit and he and the owner said just cut it down it's taking up ground these are fruitless trees and he said i'll give it one more year the gardener said let me dig around it let me fertilize it i'll irrigate it and then hopefully it'll bring forth fruit i'll do everything that can possibly be done let's be patient and so god is so patient with his people back then and is he patient with his people now i'm not sure but it could be true that the the worldliness that existed in the church in the days of isaiah might be existing in the church today what do you think was there warnings that came they had to repent or there'd be judgment yeah what more could be done to my vineyard and now o inhabitants of jerusalem i'll tell you why then when i expected it to bring forth good grapes it brought forth wild grapes please let me tell you what i'll do to my vineyard i will take away its hedge the walls are jerusalem and broken down and it shall be burned and i'll break down its wall and it will be trampled down i will lay at waste it will not be pruned or dug and there will come up brayers and thorns and i'll also command the clouds that they do not reign upon it for the vineyard of the lord of hosts as the house of israel and the men of judah are its pleasant plant he looked for justice but behold oppression and he looked for righteousness but behold a cry now he said that there'd be judgment because the vineyard did not turn now this happened twice god's people were judged the very prophecy that isaiah made came true in the days of the babylonians jeremiah when the city was destroyed the wall was destroyed everything was burnt it was thorns came up on the land of judah jerusalem he restored them gave them another chance and after the teaching of christ jesus message was very much like that of isaiah he said this generation will not pass away until there won't be left one stone upon another the same thing happened again now has god changed he's calling again for his church to repent and i think that message is going out did you what did jesus say to the um you read in matthew chapter 20 chapter 22 he tells these parables about the vineyard workers who abused the owner of the vineyard and they did not give him the fruit and he gives two or three parables about the vineyard and i think he's pointing back to that passage there in isaiah chapter five the vineyard represents the house of god well i hope you got something out of our introduction to isaiah and i want to remind you if you tuned in a little late we have a free offer that's available to everybody and it's called the point of no return this is a great book it talks about how do you how do you get the point of no return like in the unpardonable sin what is the unpardonable sin you'll really enjoy this book by joe cruz and if you'd like a free copy you can download it by texting sh051 to 40544 and that ask for offer number 177 if you call the number is 866 788 3966 that's 866 study more god bless you friends lord willing we will study the next lesson in isaiah next week [Music] amazing facts change lives i was born into a family of criminals when i got older and i started breaking the rules no one ever taught me about thou shalt not steal thou shalt not lie thou shalt not commit adultery anything like that when i became a runaway at 14 i was just a wild and lost child i had somebody tell me hey you want to earn some money cleaning this guy's kitchen so i went to this house on a different side of town than i was used to someone kept giving me alcoholic drinks and being 115 pounds and 14 years old it really didn't take much time before i was so inebriated that i had no control over what was going on around me he took me to another location another town and i was put in isolation i would come out to be abused between three and eight times a day i was degraded i was humiliated i had no value as a human being and i learned very quickly that what i felt and what i thought and how this made me feel did not matter to him at all if i even thought about not doing what he wanted me to do i would have a gun to my head a knife to my throat there was one time in particular where he had been tormenting me psychologically and one day he said oh you'll never kill yourself you'll never do it and almost defiantly i was like yes i will and he handed me a big old handful of pills and i took him while i was overdosing and i had been overdosing all night i cried out to a god that i didn't even believe in and at that very moment in the most powerful way god shone his light on me and he gave me peace of mind like i never had and he let me know right then and there while i was on that bathroom floor that he was real and that he was loved and that i did not know how at that time but he was going to help me a little less than a year later i became pregnant at 15. i loved my son with my whole heart he also became something that my abuser could use against me in order to pump more fear and coercion i had finally got away from my abuser and i had finally built up a support system to help me stay on the move and stay on the run and i was at my grandmother's house and on my son's third birthday [Music] he he took my son and when i called the police said my son's just been kidnapped they said he's the father we can't do anything about it after my son was gone i lost my mind i started doing drugs and within a month and a half i robbed a convenience store so i was sentenced to 70 months five years 10 months in prison and it was the best thing that ever happened to me i started attending the church services in prison seven days a week it blew my mind i was hooked and then we went through it was millennium of prophecy and net 99 that just solidified my faith in such a powerful way and i knew god that god was leading me even the guards there commented on how much i had changed and since i started doing the the studies on amazing facts i was so excited about what i was learning that i was coming back from there and trying to convert my my hardened criminal friends with the historicals of prophecy every question i ever had every worry everything that i ever wondered about the bible answered everything and it was so clear and so easy to understand it's been 11 years since i've been out of prison i am married to an amazing wonderful man my first non-abusive relationship in my whole entire life before we got married we watched the millennium of prophecy series together and it was just such a blessing to be able to see him learn and see him grow and i feel like my life now is just a gift that every single thing that happened to me bad in the past is nothing compared to the the joy and happiness and the stability that i have now my name is christine van order and my life has been changed by jesus christ and amazing facts [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] um [Music] [Applause] [Music] the holy spirit came down this is what god wants you to experience you come to christ your sins are washed away you become a new creature it's a land of beginning again and how many of you wish for i was hungry and you gave me something to eat in as much as you do it to one of the least of these my brethren you did it to me [Music] hello friends we all know a marathon is one of the longest and hardest races a person can run but did you hear about the ultra marathon they used to have in australia it was 544 miles from melbourne to sydney it attracted as many as 150 world-class athletes but then something happened that no one would ever forget in 1983 a 61-year-old potato farmer named cliff young decided to enter the race people were very amused because he had on rubber galoshes over his boots and when the race began and all the runners took off sure enough old cliff was left behind shuffling along very slowly but he was shuffling very persistently normally during this seven day race the runners would go about 18 hours running and then they'd sleep for six hours but nobody ever told cliff that when the other runner stopped to rest during the night cliff just kept on running some people were afraid old cliff was gonna have a heart attack and they were asking the race organizers to show mercy and stop the crazy old man but he would have none of it each day he was gaining on the pack because when they were sleeping he was plodding along during the last night of the race cliff passed all of these world-class athletes not only was cliff able to run that 544 mile race without dying he won beating all the other racers by nine hours breaking the record and becoming a national hero in the process what's really amazing is when they told him that he had won the ten thousand dollar prize he looked confused and said he didn't know there was a prize and he decided to share it with the other runners when asked how he was able to run all night long cliff responded that he grew up on a farm where they had about two thousand head of cattle and because they couldn't afford horses he used to have to round them up on foot sometimes running two and three days non-stop so throughout the race he just imagined he was chasing after the cows and trying to outrun a storm old cliff's secret was to keep on running while others were sleeping you know the bible tells us that the race is not necessarily to the swift something like aesop's parable of the tortoise and the hare the tortoise just kept on plodding along that's why jesus tells us in matthew 24 13 he that endures unto the end the same will be saved now you might slip and fall during the race you might even get off to a bad start but in the christian race that we run the main thing is you want to finish well keep on running friends and don't give up [Music] [Music] hello friends we would like to welcome you all to the granite bay church service again coming to you from granite bay in sacramento california how many online members are joining us who can't meet in person as well as those who might be watching outside of north america we know we have folks tuning in around the world a very warm welcome to all of you we do have some announcements that we'd like to bring to your attention first of all want to remind you to take advantage of the granite bay church website just granite bay sda.org and we upload the bulletin every week usually on a thursday evening so you'll be able to see the announcements you'll also be able to see what's coming up for the worship service so we do have some announcements that we'd like to bring to your attention and again that is available at the granite bay church website first of all because of the current pandemic and the situation that we find ourselves in our church services are predominantly online now there's a number of ways that you can participate online and we actually have a list in the bulletin that tells you the various links we'd like to also remind our elders and our church board members of a church board meeting scheduled for december the 14th that is monday the elders meeting will be at 6 00 p.m followed by the board meeting at 7 pm those of you who can come in person will be meeting at the amazing facts boardroom office we'll also remind you of our online midweek bible study we've been having a great time studying through first samuel we have just finished the book of first samuel and we are launching this coming wednesday into second samuel so we want to encourage you participate it's online at the granite bay sda church facebook page you can also learn more by going to the granite bay church website but it's 7 p.m pacific time and you can join us and be a part of the study of the book of 2nd samuel and we'll look at it verse by verse and we'll take our time to study this very fascinating book also if you'd like to get church updates you can send an email to the church office at office at granite baysda.org and you can give us your email contact information so we can let you know of upcoming events we're still looking for some help for our media ministry now this is primarily for our folks who are worshiping with us in person from week to week now of course you might not be able to be with us right now but we are preparing for when the pandemic ends that we'll be able to have our media program up and running completely if you're in the area and you attend granite bay on a regular basis and would be like to be involved in our media ministry we have this brand new facility a great media but we need people to help work the media you can send an email to d grady at amazingfacts.org that is in the bulletin and you can also spoke to speak to devin he can give you more information about that we have an announcement about the women's ministry event that's scheduled for december the 15th from 6 30 to 7 30 p.m so please take a look at the bulletin with those additional details we have an announcement for the homeless ministry they are collecting various items and if you'd like to participate in that you can just drop the light the items off at the church office during the week monday through thursday and there's a list of some of the items that they would need and then finally relating to the um invitation on the or the announcements on a personal basis we'd like to invite our granite bay church family to participate online for a wedding that's scheduled for december the 20th and that is my son justin who is getting married so we would like to invite the whole church family you can get the details right there in the bulletin as well and join us online uh we would so enjoy having you i'd also like to remind those who might be here we have just a few folks scattered throughout the auditorium and if you are not familiar with it we do have some great facilities for families with little children we have a mother's room where you can actually control the sound and you can feel part and it's right in the back of the auditorium so if you have little children would like to take advantage of that feel free to do so well with that i'd like to invite those who are here and also those who are joining us online you're more than welcome to join us as we sing our call to worship and the words to that is found in the bulletin it's we have this hope and at this time we will lift our hearts and voices in song [Music] we have this hope that burns within our hearts open the coming of the lord we have this faith that christ alone imparts faith in the promise of his word we believe the time is here when the nations far and near awake and shout and sing [Music] hallelujah christ is king we have this hope that burns within our hearts hope in the [Music] coming our loving father lord jehovah our creator we thank you for this sabbath day a reminder that you are both creator and redeemer that you sanctify today and you can sanctify us lord we pray your blessing during this time be with your people so many that are they're scattered alone all over the country in the world and i pray that you'll draw very close to them lord as we come together to worship you we we pray lord that you will honor us with your presence that your holy spirit will be in every heart and every mind that in the the words that are spoken the words that are sung and the gifts that we give and all that we do you will be exalted and glorified so please bless lord we dedicate this time to you we pray all these things in jesus name amen god bless you may be seated we've come to that party now service where we get to worship through giving we don't always think of giving as an act of worship but it definitely is returning our tithes and offerings is an act of worship and i'd like to begin by just thanking the granite bay church family those of you are joining us online and those who are here thank you for your faithful giving this past year yes this year has had plenty of challenges i know it's impacted even our members financially with things that have been happening around the country and around the world but still your faithful giving we just praise god for that i'm happy to report that here we are at the beginning of december our annual budget for the year is 35 000 per month and so we multiply that by 12 but i'm happy to announce that we have already met our annual church budget for this year so we want to thank you for your faithful giving and of course the funds that come in not only help to provide for our services here but a big part of the funds goes towards evangelism and sharing the gospel with the world so thank you for your faithful giving i'd like to remind you of something that jesus said in luke chapter 16 he says this verse 10 he who is faithful in what is least is faithful in that which is much and if you not being faithful in what is another man's who will give you what is your own no servant can serve two masters either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other you cannot serve god and mammon we can't focus on the things of this earth and make them paramount in our minds we're just pilgrims passing through this world our treasures are up in heaven we are longing for the day when jesus comes so in our giving today we want to thank you for your faithfulness and also those who are joining us want to remind you that you can't participate online by making your offering at the granite bay church website and again for those of you who are here thank you for your faithful giving let's just bow our heads for prayer dear lord indeed we are grateful for the many blessings you have bestowed upon us we are grateful that we're able to gather and worship you in freedom we thank you for the great gospel message that you've given us lord that truly helps us understand that this world is not our home our true treasure is in heaven we're looking for the mansions prepared for us by jesus so lord we thank you for the faithful giving of so many participating in our local church as well as those around the world and we ask us all in jesus name amen happy sabbath it's been a while since we haven't had a children's story so i'm so glad that we can have one today this right here does anyone see the the resemblance yeah but he's the better looking one he got the good hair he got the good nose he even got the good beard this is my little brother michael i'm sure that some of you have heard about him in my sermons or in lesson or even in child children's stories this is my brother michael which is the pastor in my family my family is a family of pastors my father is a pastor i have uncles that are pastors and cousins that are pastors my wife my my wife my father-in-law is a pastor my sister's father-in-law is a pastor we are a family of pastors but we have a saying at home that um that although we're a family of pastors the family of pastors has its own fam has its own pastor and this is the pastor of our family michael and today he is going to preach a sermon for you guys he is going to read psalm 23. but you have a you have a special treat okay and the treat is that he's going to read it he's going to practice his gift of tongues michael speaks fluently english and well he speaks english and portuguese and he is so good at it that he made one language out of the two of them so that's how good he is but today he's going to read psalm 23 in portuguese for you guys [Music] is impossible it will emit the ever agus tranquilizers or ceo involved means forces michael is 28 years old he speaks portuguese and english michael has a girlfriend and they've been dating for about five or six years and they want to get married michael has attended he wants to get married michael has attended theology classes um every sabbath afternoon back at the university where my parents live in brazil the adventist university in in the southern part of brazil michael suits up every sabbath afternoon he gets his bible and his guitar and he goes out to make visits to visit the elderly the retired and he'll read the bible with them and he'll pray with them and he'll play for them michael is a pastor in the deepest definition of the word because he takes care of us and those around us the lessons that i've learned in my life about humility about dependence on god about deliverance really i've learned in part because of my brother michael we have a we have a theme a motto in our home which is for for limited beings unlimited love and i cannot but apply that to god's relationship with us we are the limited beings and god has unlimited love for us so kids i do want you to know that with all the challenges that you might have in your life and the difficulties that you might think you have to speak or to share jesus trust me if michael can be a pastor for our family you can minister to the people around you too as a child growing up boy or girl god can use you to reach people whoever you are wherever you may be god can use it to reach people if you are available so may god bless you always remember this lesson and i hope that god does use you and i hope that you do become available for him to use god bless you [Music] oh come on ye faithful joyful and triumphant oh god [Music] [Applause] [Music] him [Music] [Music] oh him o come let [Music] us [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] lord [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] crosstalk good morning happy sabbath please stand for scripture reading our scripture reading today will be found in matthew chapter 1 verses 20 through 23 and it reads but while he thought about these things behold an angel of the lord appeared to him in a dream saying joseph son of david do not be afraid to take you mary your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the holy spirit and she will bring forth a son and you shall call his name jesus for he will save his people from their sins so all this was done that might be fulfilled which was spoken by the lord through the prophet saying behold the virgin shall be with child and bear a son and they shall call his name emmanuel which is translated god with us please remain standing as we prepare our hearts for prayer if you have a special burden on your heart a special praise i invite you to just quietly in your uh where you are lift it up to the lord he knows our hearts he knows everything we're going through and i'm so grateful that we have a god in heaven let's sing as we come to you in prayer now dear lord as we pray take our hearts and minds far away from the press of the world all around to your throne where grace does abound may our lives be transformed by your love may your souls be refreshed from above at this moment let people everywhere join us now as we come to you in praise [Music] as far as possible please kneel for prayer good morning everyone i want to welcome all of those who are watching online whether it's in the local area whether you are watching across the united states or around the world normally at this time in our service we invite people to come forward to pray with us but because of covet we are asking them to stay in their seats and we want to invite you at home to join us in kneeling now father in heaven lord thank you for the sabbath day thank you that we can come before you and commune with you and with each other lord you knew our need and you provided for us from the very beginning and lord we invite you to join us this morning we pray that you would inhabit our hearts that lord you would be with us and father as pastor doug comes out and talks about god with us lord we pray you would be in us and lord we pray you'd be in him and you would speak through him in a very powerful way that lord we would hear from heaven that you would speak directly to our hearts and lord you would show us what you would have us do and we pray that we would bring glory to your name and lord that you would give us the joy of being a part of your ministry we ask it in jesus name amen [Music] thank you pastor rod good morning friends happy sabbath and we want to welcome those who are tuning in and joining us online to the granite bay hilltop seventh-day adventist church and uh you know we're praising god that the the building is 99 complete and we have the rain is being kept out it's been finally got some rain in california after a year of fires and so we're very thankful for that and we're we're glad that we can come together and this technology is available to study the word of god with you today's scripture that you heard is dealing with that uh prophecy that was given originally in isaiah and repeated by matthew they'll call his name emmanuel which is being interpreted god with us it's interesting that the gospel writer said that is being interpreted or is translated god with us in other words he knew that the people who would someday be reading that may not be jews and understand it in hebrew that the message of jesus coming was not just for jews and so he translates this is what it means god with us it's interesting you don't find the word immanuel anywhere else in the new testament but the teaching of god with us is a biblical teaching it's really the teaching of what we would call the incarnation and that is just a phenomenal mystery and i should probably preface anything i see this morning by just stating that when we talk about god entering into humanity and one member of the the godhead somehow coming into the flesh of a human that is a mystery the bible speaks of the mystery of iniquity and you get the mystery of godliness mystery of iniquity is the devil wanting to be god the creation wanting to be god and the mystery of godliness is god entering into the creation and becoming a human and for me i just i can't imagine what that must have been like when they're in heaven before jesus was to enter into mary uh or the essence of that divinity it says that the holy spirit this brought about this conception that god the father and the son embraced and and he said i'll see you in 33 and a half years actually including gestation it would have been longer than that a little more than 34 and i don't know if any of you have ever had surgery with general anesthetic where they knock you out i've only had that a couple of times once then they took my tonsils out another time i won't tell you about but they basically they put this mask over your face and uh they say and just start camping backwards and you they're putting you asleep and you're wondering will i wake up again and at some point jesus said to the father you lay down on a golden street in heaven i don't know what happened it's a mystery but he basically laid aside his divinity and suddenly became extremely vulnerable as a human and entered into humanity but you know the most beautiful part of this passage is that god would be willing to be with us and this teaching is a teaching you find all through the bible and i remember hearing a story of um oh one night there was a thunderstorm and little billy got nervous and so he opened up his bedroom door and he called downstairs he said dad can you come upstairs and stay in bed with me and dad said you're okay billy jesus is with you and he said but yeah right now i really need someone with skin on and uh that's what jesus did he came into our world and he put on our skin he became one of us to reach us you know there are three really principle things we're going to look at there's three words here that we're going to consider and we've got a lot to say about these three words god with us that's what our focus is going to be and i will not even touch the tip of the iceberg of the truth that's contained in those incredible words this is probably one of the most amazing and hopeful passages in the bible so we're going to be talking about who god where with it's talking about that he is the word with means to be accompanied by another person or thing it gives you a locality with whom us now the reason this verse is so important is because there is a great gulf between humanity and god you know god is everywhere but we can't see him there's nowhere you can really flee from his presence but the blessing of god is separated from many people the communion of god is separated from many people even jonah couldn't run from god so god is everywhere he fills heaven and earth when solomon dedicated the temple he said the heavens the heavens is not big enough to contain you so we're going to talk about those three points god being with and with us first of all who is it that is with us it says god but it's talking about jesus now you've probably heard there's an ongoing debate it's been going on for about 1900 years is jesus god well right here in this verse when it says you call his name emmanuel god with us i would think that would settle the issue it's telling us that jesus is god the son he became with us but that won't be enough for some so let me give you a few thoughts and passages to explain how profound it is the one who is going to be with us is the almighty creator is jesus god john 5 17. i'm giving out a lot of verses today i don't know if the kids want to count how many verses i'm giving out but it may be a record you may want to take notes if you want to remember some of these passages john 5 17 and 18 jesus answered and said my father has been working until now and i have been working therefore the jews sought all the more to kill him not only because he broke the sabbath but that he said that god was his father making himself equal with god now jesus never denied his equality with god when moses said whom shall i say he's speaking to god at the burning bush it clearly says he's talking to god at the burning bush who shall i say has sent me how did god respond i am who i am thus you shall say to the children of israel i am those words indicate the self-existent one god did not come from anybody or anything he has lived from everlasting to everlasting so look at all the times now that jesus used that same phrase to define himself you can read in john 8 58 jesus said most assuredly i say to you before abraham was i am then they took up stones to throw at him they see jesus knew what he was saying they knew jesus knew what he was saying they knew that unless he was god that's blasphemy because jesus was taking the title of jehovah he says i am they took up stones to throw at him and jesus hid himself and went out of the temple read in john 6 35 i am the bread of life john is the big i am book john 8 12 i am the light of the world john 10 9 i am the door john 10 11 i am the good shepherd john 10 36 i am the son of god john 11 25 i am the resurrection and the life john 14 6 i am the way the truth and the life john 15 1 i am the true vine in john 10 33 i and my father are one so he continues to refer to himself as i am i am i am i am and the jews took up stones to stone him again jesus said many good works i've shown you from my father for which of those do you stone me they said not for a good work but because of blasphemy because you being a man make yourself god you know it's interesting jesus never came out and said i am god but he said it every other way he could say it he made it very clear for instance the bible tells us only god can forgive sin isaiah 43 25 even i am the one who blots out your transgressions mark 2 5-7 when jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic son your sins are forgiven and some of those scribes that were sitting there said why does this man speak blasphemies who can forgive sin but god alone they were right only god can forgive sin according to the bible let's face it now could jesus forgive sin what did the angel say to mary you'll call his name jesus because he'll do what he'll save his people from their sins another definition for god only god can read hearts first kings 8 39 whose heart you know for you alone know the hearts of all the sons of men god and god only knows the thoughts of your hearts it's good to know the devil cannot read your mind when you pray nothing wrong with praying out loud but the devil can't read your mind only god can read your mind psalm 44 21 would not god search this out for he knows the secrets of the heart but you read about jesus matthew 9 4 but jesus knowing their thoughts said why do you think evil in your hearts he knew john 2 25 for he knew what was in man i could cite you a dozen different examples in the ministry of christ where he knew what they were thinking at the feast in simon's house simon is thinking if this man is a prophet he'd know who and what manner of woman this is that's touching him for he's she's a sinner and jesus turns to simon and answers his thoughts he knew he could read his mind only god can do that jesus is god the bible says who knows the first five words in the bible in the beginning god created okay maybe it's not verse five god created who created the world god well you read in colossians 1 16 for by him jesus all things were created that are in heaven above and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created through him and for him you read in john 1 verse 3 all things were made through him without him nothing was made hebrews tells us through christ god made the worlds but the bible says in the beginning god created that's not a problem if jesus is god so when jesus came into the world what you've got is god with us the bible tells us one of the commandments thou shalt not have other gods and even jesus said thou shalt worship the lord alone we are to worship nobody but god is that right and that's in matthew 4 10 it is written you shall worship the lord god him only shall you serve but did jesus receive worship hebrews 1 6 but when he again brings the firstborn into the world he says let all the angels worship him in matthew 2 11 and when they had come into the house they saw the young child this is the wise men with his mother mary they fell down and they worshipped him joseph and mary did not say no no don't do that it was appropriate because this was god incarnate you can read in matthew chapter 28 when jesus rose from the dead and he went to tell his disciples behold jesus met them and said rejoice so they came and held them by the feet and worshipped him but you're only supposed to worship god john 20 he rises from the dead verse 28 he appears to thomas thomas says my lord and my god he worshipped him and you've got a number of other examples where jesus accepts worship even angels told him when john fell down to worship an angel in revelation then the angel said don't do that the only one to be worshipped is god and so it's not a problem to worship jesus because he is god god is our judge the bible tells us first samuel 2 10 the lord will judge the ends of the earth psalms 98 verse 8 and 9 let the rivers clap their hands and the hills be joyful together before the lord for he is coming to judge the earth with righteousness he will judge the world and the peoples with equity what does the new testament tell us about who is our judge for the father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the son that all should honor the son just as they honor the father so how should we honor the son just as we honor the father the father and the jesus said i'm in the father he's in me we are one now they have different functions but jesus is god the son so you know the bible is pretty clear we will all stand before the judgment seat of christ so you look at the different definitions in the bible for god and you're going to find jesus fits all of those definitions and so when we read god with us jesus did not begin his existence there in bethlehem from everlasting to everlasting now our god it tells us that out of bethlehem would come the one who is coming from everlasting he was incarnate then but even before jesus came into the world he appeared several times in the old testament when this captain of the lord's army appears to joshua and he said are you for our adversaries or are you for us and he says neither but i've come as captain of the lord's army take your shoes off your feet for you're on holy ground and joshua fell down and worshipped him who do you think that was who was it that talked to abraham when he came with the two angels abraham addressed him as jehovah he's the lord and so this is god jesus pre-incarnate there are times in history when he came and appeared to man so as we're talking about the one who is with us when you think of jesus jesus is not a lesser god this is the god who created all things who sustains all things and he is saying i want to be with you now that right there if we park and go home that is a phenomenal thought you know i was doing a um i was doing a letter and i was looking for a verse in the bible i thought it must be there somewhere about how wonderful it will be to be with our friends in heaven and i went through all the verses i could find that talks about who we will be with in heaven and i was surprised there was almost nothing that talked about our being with our friends or our family in heaven all of the bible writers talk about how wonderful it will be to be with god in heaven there is that verse in first thessalonians where it says we will be caught up together with them and so we'll ever be with the lord there's no question we'll be together but the emphasis of the bible writers is not that you and i get to be together in heaven the emphasis of the bible writers is we get to be with god in heaven you know and that should really be the greatest desire when you think about that the angels the highest honor is those who are by the throne of god saying holy holy holy their being throbbing with joy and bliss and just to be in his presence so we talked a little bit about god now let's talk a little bit about god being with us you know especially in the world right now with the um at the time of this recording pandemic is still lingering and they were going through a second wave and so many people are isolated and you know what's especially sad as i hear stories of people who have been married for 60 years they've been together all of that time and then because one gets sick they're in the hospital they're isolated they cannot even go see their spouse and you've probably heard some of these touching stories of people who are separated from the ones they love and i've seen some just very moving news reports of people who are separated for weeks while one is getting treatment and how they finally are together in the reunions and i saw this one report with these two senior citizens husband and wife been married for like 75 years one was separated they didn't know if he'd make it and all she could think about was being back with her husband again and they were forced for several weeks as he went through a difficult recovery and it finally shows them being wheeled together again and they're crying so they can finally be reunited and they're hugging each other and and i thought they look kind of old and wrinkled but they thought he said it looked beautiful it was something to see so we're living in that age where people are alone and the bible says woe to him who is alone when he falls and bible tells us it's not good for man to be alone that's not just meaning men but mankind god created us social creatures but not only did god make man and woman for each other god made man and god for each other why would god make us in his image and not want communion with us god wants to be with us i mean you think about it one of the greatest honors for humanity is that the almighty would condescend to become a human you realize that jesus married himself with the human race for eternity god became a man not just for the time that he redeems us but even after the resurrection he still bore the human form and he will still have the scars in his hands through eternity you know that really ought to give you an exalted idea of our value and our worth that god would say i will align myself forever with the human race and some people think that you know we're just highly evolved monkeys no humans are made in the image of god god wants to be with us but we've been separated now the book of matthew is interesting it starts by saying god with us and it ends by saying god with us did you know that matthew 28 lo i am with you always and of course at the beginning his name will be called emmanuel god with us the theme of matthew is that god wants to be reunited with us why is this important because we have been separated from god by a terrible pandemic called sin isaiah chapter 59 but your iniquities this is verse 2 your iniquities have separated you from your god and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear we've been separated from god now angels are in this room god sees what's happening here god promises when you gather in his name which we have done he is with us now not only for the people that might be here but the vast majority who are watching online we gather in his name he's with us and he honors us with his presence but because of sin sin separates after adam and eve sinned and god came walking in the cool of the garden looking for them they ran from him because they were ashamed the shame of sin separates i know some people they don't go to church they think they're not good enough and they the shame is keeping them away and that's too bad because it's so backwards to think that when i'm good enough i'll come to church it's kind of like a mother telling her dirty children will you get cleaned up so you can take a bath you don't get cleaned up so you can take a bath you take a bath so you can get cleaned up so for people to think i'm not good enough to come to god adam and he ran from god because of their shame people stay away from god they don't open the bible because it makes them feel guilty god wants to be with us and the bible promises if we draw near to him he'll run to meet us like the father with the prodigal son he will draw near to meet us he doesn't want to be separated from us so our sins have separated us ephesians 2 13 and at the time you were without christ having no hope and without god in the world what a sad position to be in people all around the world without christ without god separated from god micah chapter 3 verse 4 then they will cry to the lord but he will not hear them he will even hide his face from them at that time because they have been evil in their deeds our sins have separated us from god so what's the solution god wants to be back together with us he must separate us from our sins god is not staying away in our sinful condition because he doesn't love us he is staying away because he does love us because the presence of god the holy presence of god is a consuming fire if we would all say lord in your undiminished glory will you please come into this place right now we couldn't bear it even the holy priests of god even moses when god's shekinah glory filled the temple they left says they could not bear it god says yes i want nothing more than to be with you but if i was to be with you now in my unveiled glory it would consume you you could not bear it the holiness would just vaporize you so i'm veiling my glory in a human form again that's a mystery how that happened i'm going to come into your world to show you who i am i'm going to come into the world and teach you how to live and how to treat each other and then i'm going to die for your sins i'm going to deal with the disease so we can be reunited without the veil in between this is the purpose for the plan of salvation that we might be back together with god it's called reconciliation this is what redemption is like whenever you sin sin separates sin separates you from god sin separates you from others sin separates you from you you know there's three involved in the great commandment love the lord all your heart your neighbor yourself sin hurts the relationship with god hurts the relationship with your neighbor and sin it hurts your relationship with you when people are crushed under guilt and shame i never feel very happy about life in themselves when you're forgiven and born again that's when you have the joy of the lord so jesus he's not separated from our sins because he doesn't love us he's separated from our sins because he does love us he doesn't want to destroy us so he needs to deal with the sin problem and that's why he came sin separates obedience draws our presence to god first kings 8 57 58 this is solomon and his dedication prayer of the temple may the lord our god be with us as he was with our fathers may notice with us may he not leave us or forsake us that he that we may incline our hearts to himself i'm sorry that he may incline our hearts to himself for what purpose to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments we need god with us to help us walk in his ways keep his commandments his statutes his judgments which he commanded our fathers philemon 4 9 the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me these do and the god of peace will be with you so as we do all we can humanly to draw near to god to submit to obey god he draws near to us and we invite his presence something else that happens is if we focus on the outside um we can be distracted god wants us to focus on the inside god being with us not with us on the outside but with us on the inside genesis 28 when jacob had that dream and the lord appeared in a ladder he said behold i am with you and i will keep you wherever you go and bring you back to the land for i will not leave you until i have done what i've spoken to you and jacob awoke from the place he said surely the lord is in this place and they didn't know it and he sets up a pillar and he anoints it he thought that god was in that spot geographically and god was saying no jacob when i said i'm going to be with you i want to be in you wherever you go during that next 21 years while he was wandering john 14 20 jesus said and in that day you will know that i am in my father and you in me and i in you so jesus is in the father and jesus said he's in us now by the way don't think for a moment that god the father is up there he's in the sky and he really wants to snuff us out because he's the judge and we send and he needs to execute uh you know his wrath against sinners and jesus then he jumps between us and the wrath of god and he pleads that god will forgive us jesus is the nice merciful one the father is the wrathful one i meet people all the time i even hear preachers talk like you know god is up there wanting to burn us up and jesus is trying to stop him they forget that god the father loves you this is what jesus said god the father so loved the world he sent his son jesus does not love you more than the father and the father does not love you more than jesus they both love you equally and fully because they are love amen john 14 17 the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him for catch this he dwells with you and will be in you this is what paul said all through his writing christ in you the hope of glory christ wants to be in us what could be better to have jesus standing by you or living in you this is what he wants he wants to be in us first corinthians 3 16 do you not know that you are the temple of god and the spirit of god dwells in you so when you talk about with how does he want to be with us not just like he's with the nation not kind of like you know the children of israel going through the wilderness and they had the pillar of fire and they said yeah there he is god's with us we sometimes think about the pillar on the outside god wants the fire on the inside this is how it's an upgrade this is how jesus wants to be with us now we can cope with almost anything if we know that god is with us you know that if you really know that the lord is with you and there's no trouble that is coming into your life there's no trial that is coming to you except that he's measuring it out and and he is there with you one reason that alexander the great was able to conquer the world is he always went into battle with his troops and he was right there on the front line he did not like generals today sit in a room somewhere in another country and order them where to go he went out there with his sword in hand and his men were willing to die for him you know i remember reading a story in the bible you know the 30 mighty men of david and i could never forget the story of eliezer the remember the reason i remember the story of eleganza is because he was eliezer the son of dodo now you see i just smile because in our culture dodo is a dumb bird that you know is extinct now because it was so dumb but dodo actually means beloved it's a good hebrew word and but eliezer was in a battle with david and it says that this was one occasion when the men of israel retreated from the philistines but david would not retreat and eliezer said well if david's not retreating i'm not retreating and david and eleazar stood back to back and they fought against the philistines and it says that they defended this hill of barley and they had a great slaughter at the end of the battle they'd fought so long and so hard eliezer could not even let go of his sword his hand claimed to his sword but he became one of david's mighty men he said i will not leave david now i could understand that because you realize david never lost a battle and so if you've got david with you do you ever have to be afraid of the enemy can you name one battle that david lost he fought a lot of battles he won every battle you can't even point to where david was wounded so uh it's like you know he was good luck if you were with david that's good you know that it seemed like he had the angelic protection about him and whatever you're going through if you know that jesus is with you should you be afraid barrack said to deborah and this is judges 4 8 if you will go with me then i will go he went into the battle he said if you will not go with me i will not go and that's something we can say to the lord judges 6 12 and the angel of the lord appeared to him and said the lord is with you mighty man of valor the most most important thing that god could say to gideon to encourage him is what even though it looks like the midian knights have totally decimated the land the lord is with you you have nothing to be afraid of if god is with you deuteronomy 4 7 moses said for what great nation is there that has god so near to it as the lord our god is to us for whatever reason he may call upon him you know i've just got to tell you honestly friends we had an amazing fact board meeting this week and when it came time to do my little segment of the president's report for our board members and our board is online we're scattered around the country that's the first thing i've got to tell you is this is a miracle i said this whole the whole amazing fact is a miracle you think about it and for a ministry to live this is our 55th year 55 years never knowing from week to week if the money was going to come in we have no guaranteed income from any organization denomination corporation it's by faith 55 years the bills have always been paid it is a miracle that we are right now in this facility that i won't tell you how much but it was expensive you could retire somewhere really nice for what it cost to build this and here we are we told the bank this week thank you very much for offering to lend us money doesn't look like we're going to need it to have a bill now we haven't had our big dedication yet but that is a miracle it is a miracle and the only thing i can say is god is with us that's the best thing that it's clear that god has been blessed i think because we've been trusting in him in the presence of god if god is with us don't be discouraged if you notice the dirt the bible tells us jesus is a light and the light came into the world and when you're next to the light you will be aware of the darkness isaiah 6 5 here's isaiah the prophet we're going to study this in a couple of weeks he sees the lord in his glory on his throne and what does he say woe is me i am undone and the translation for that in uh in hebrew would be veismia you ever heard of jesus oh yes it means woe is me he said woe is me i am undone i am a man of unclean lips here he is in the blazing light of god's glory and he sees the sin jesus performs a miracle for peter fills their nets and when simon peter saw it he fell down and jesus needs and he says lord depart for me this is luke 5 verse 8. he says depart from me lord from a sinful man you'll see all these cases in the bible where god reveals his power and his glory and those near god they suddenly become aware of their sin so if god is with you you may feel conviction but don't send him away conviction is healthy he came to save us from our sins see what i'm saying so when we're when we're in the presence of god we may notice every spot of defilement standing in the blazing glory of his holiness something about else about being with god you don't want to presume god is with you if he's not you want to know he's really with you there are some examples in the bible people who are living in disobedience and they just assumed god was made with us in the past he's probably still with me you know the story of samson god had given him great power filled him with the holy spirit but he continued to live a life of high-handed disobedience and it says delilah said the philistines were upon you judges 16 20 samson awoke from his sleep and he gone out at his other times to shake himself free but he didn't know that the lord had departed from him those are some of the saddest words in the bible i wonder how many people out there are saying lord lord they don't know jesus depart from me you who work iniquity so we want to know that god is really with us amen children of israel disobeyed the lord they didn't have faith he could bring them into the promised land and god said look if you don't think for every for every day that the spies wandered searching the promised land you're going to spend a year and they said oh no we were just kidding we don't want to wander 40 years we'll go up right now and they decided without moses without god's approval they said we're just going to go fight we're going to take the land right now we don't want to wander moses said don't go god isn't with you and they didn't listen do not go up lest you are defeated by your enemies the lord is not among you this is not god's will when we are going away from god's will you are going away from god's presence they're talking about god being with you if you are deliberately going away from god's will you're walking away from god's presence i uh love that quote from betsy ten boom this is a corey ten boom sister it's in the book the hiding place when they're in a german it was a nazi concentration camp and betsy seemed to have peace no matter what was happening she was fully surrendered to the lord i'm sorry um yeah betsy and she told her sister corey she said the safest place in the world is to be in the center of god's will and she said even here god is with us we don't have to be if you know that you are surrendered to god's will he is going to be with you you have nothing to be afraid of doesn't matter what's happening to you financially circumstantially health-wise that if you are surrendered to god's will god is with you but don't make the mistake the sons of eli they said yeah we're in the church business they took the ark of god and they went to fight the philistines and god said you might have the ark but i'm not with you and they were defeated in battle because they had been living in defiance so when going through these different points of understanding the presence of god god is with those who think and talk about him matthew 18 20 where two or three are gathered together in my name i am there in the midst of them walking down the road to emmaus the two disciples were talking about jesus and the bible says jesus drew near they're talking about him and he drew near in the upper room those same two disciples started talking about jesus again telling the other disciples suddenly jesus appeared jesus will always be with you when you're telling others about jesus there's nothing that is more important to christ than winning the lost he said go into the world teach the gospel to all nations behold i am with you how is he with us when we are out there teaching others about christ he is with you because you're doing his work malachi 3 16 i like this passage then those who feared the lord spoke to one another and the lord listened and heard them so a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the lord and who meditate on his name they shall be mine says the lord of hosts on that day when i make up my jewels and i will spare them as a man spears his son if you read in the book of ezekiel who gets a mark on their forehead this is a saving mark you realize revelation you get the mark of the beast bad mark get seal of god forehead good mark ezekiel 9 talks about a good mark saving mark who gets it the ones who sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done in israel they're talking about the lord they're praying for repentance they're praying for revival their minds are in heaven god says put a mark on those people their conversation as paul says their conversation is in heaven and those are the ones who have that mark and then of course god is with those who do his work i already mentioned matthew 28 go make disciples i am with you to the ends of the age acts 18 10 for i am with you no one will attack you i've got many people in the city if we're out trying to reach the people in our community god says i'm with you don't be afraid second timothy 4 17 but the lord paul is speaking the lord stood with me and strengthened me so that the message might be preached fully through me that all the gentiles might hear and i was delivered out of the mouth of the lion he had to go and he had to stand before nero and everyone had forsook him but paul said the lord was with me everybody had left him demons has forsaken me but he said the lord was with me and then another point one of my final points here we can be fearless if we know that god is with us i noticed during the children's story reading psalm 23 michael did a good job even though i don't speak portuguese yea though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil why do we fear no evil because you're with me if we just know that god is with us your rod your staff they comfort me isaiah 41 verse 10 fear not for i am with you be not dismayed for i am your god i will strengthen you i will help you i will uphold you with your my right hand and you read in isaiah 43 1. fear not i have redeemed you i have called you by your name you are mine when you pass through the waters i will be with you through the rivers they will not overflow you when you walk through the fire you will not be burned nor will the flames scorch you for i am the lord your god the holy one your savior now friends i don't know if you're reading the headlines at all it's been kind of depressing this year i saw an interesting mime on the internet you know how you do star ratings for different products someone for 2020 and they gave it one star but if you're looking at what's going on in the news things that are happening in the world freedoms that have been lost and i understand you know some of the rules about people congregating but it's not i think a healthy trend for christians not to gather together you know the bible says the sabbath is a holy convocation in heaven all flesh will come and gather together before me in heaven and it's just not i understand it and you know i'm i think that we need to respect the laws of the land also things are happening religiously i don't know if you caught it this week pope had a meeting with 27 a guardian group 27 of the leaders of some of the most powerful corporations in america to talk about uh changing the way business is done in the world to preserve the environment to help people socially and i can just see that there is a shift happening this year is like a place where you turn a chapter in world history and we are very near i think the second coming of jesus and it's encouraging to me to remember that when daniel was in the lion's den it says that god was with him when shadrach meshach and abednego went through the fiery furnace what did isaiah just promise when you go through the fire i'll be with you and i think they claimed you know that was written before that happened to them i think they claimed the promise of isaiah that our god is able to deliver us even in the fire that's what isaiah said and jesus came to them in their fire i think there are some fiery trials that are coming in the future i think our faith is going to be tested and i don't want you to be afraid people say doug aren't you worried about the seven last plague that doesn't worry me at all i'm worried about doug i'm worried about doug separating himself from god but if i'm with god i have nothing to be afraid of you know the whole plan of salvation is is designed to get us back to god i want to go back to a verse i read earlier but i can read the whole thing ephesians 2 12 speaking of the loss that at that time you were without christ being aliens from the commonwealth of israel strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without god in the world but now in christ you who are once afar off have been brought near by the blood of christ so some listening if you are wondering if god is with you how do you get near by the blood of christ by accepting the sacrifice of jesus that's why he came into the world because he wants to be with us in revelation 21 i heard a voice from heaven saying behold the tabernacle of god the dwelling place of god is with men he will dwell with them they will be his people and god himself will be with them and be their god isn't that wonderful you read in the garden of eden man lost the garden lost the tree of life lost the presence of god the last three chapters talk about man being restored to the garden the tree of life and the presence of god in chapter three the dragon comes in in revelation you read the last uh the third from the last chapter the dragon goes out and he is destroyed revelation 22 3 there'll be no more curse but the throne of god and the lamb shall be in it he's with us his servants will serve him they will see his face adam fled from the presence of the lord we will be restored to his presence revelation 22 21 by the way this is the last verse in the bible the grace of our lord jesus christ be with you you know friends i think that's such a beautiful truth the last words jesus said jesus christ be with you that's what he wants he wants to be with us he wants to be with us eternally but you know in order for that to happen he needs to be with us now he wants you to walk with him now the word became flesh to dwell among us don't you want to have that experience so when we read those simple words god with us that's really a summary of the whole plan of salvation and we're going to sing about that and are closing him and then we'll pray together that's him 115 if you've got a hymnal and some of you can find those watching online you may find that if you have one at home or you can find it in the the app that has the hymnal we're going to sing o come o come emmanuel and we'll have our closing prayer and i think our singers will be coming out to lead us please stand oh come and on captive [Music] israel that mourns in lowly exile here [Music] rejoice rejoice [Music] shall come to thee always [Music] and order all things [Music] and cause us [Music] rejoice [Music] is [Music] i [Music] feel the whole world [Music] peace [Music] [Applause] [Music] thee [Music] amen can you say amen you know in 1791 john wesley that great revivalist and reformist founder of the methodist church incredible bible scholar was dying in his 80s he was surrounded by friends and family and his last words were best of all god is with us and if we just know that there may be some who are here or watching and uh you want to have that experience of knowing that god is with us you know the promise is that we are made nigh by the blood of christ that in christ the veil of separation is removed that in christ god took on human flesh and in the same way that miracle took place of jesus entering into mary christ wants to enter into his church and be born in us you invite him in he wants it more than anything and he ask him to forgive you for your sins don't worry how you're going to live a new life tomorrow you just ask him today and say lord and you can pray that prayer right now come into my heart forgive my sins this is a new year before us great time to have a new beginning in jesus father in heaven we're so thankful for your love for us that you would send your son that you might abolish the separation that we might be with you through eternity i pray lord you'll bless each person here that we might sense your presence now that even through the trials of life that the world is going through that you've not forsaken your church you've not forsaken your people that we have nothing to fear because you are with us if there are some here who are running from you lord i pray like the prodigal they will turn around they'll come to their senses they'll arise and come to their father we know that you will run out to meet them and so please bless lord as we submit to you we draw near to you we trust you will draw near to us we want to be reconciled with you and have you living inside christ in us the hope of glory is our prayer and we pray

Channel: Doug Batchelor

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Id: cLyfnuswMdM

Length: 133min 25sec (8005 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 12 2020