Participants: Sikululekile Hlatshwayo
Series Code: 13GYC
Program Code: 13GYC000006
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00:22 Rejoice, ye pure in heart!
00:26 Rejoice, give thanks, and sing 00:31 Your festal banner wave on high 00:35 The cross of Christ your King 00:40 Rejoice! Rejoice! 00:44 Rejoice, give thanks and sing! 00:49 With voice as full and strong 00:54 As ocean's surging praise 00:58 Send forth the sturdy hymns of old 01:03 The psalms of ancient days 01:07 Rejoice! Rejoice! 01:11 Rejoice, give thanks and sing! 01:16 With all the angel choirs 01:21 With all the saints on earth 01:25 Pour out the strains of joy and bliss 01:29 True rapture, noblest mirth 01:34 Rejoice! Rejoice! 01:38 Rejoice, give thanks and sing! 01:43 Yes, on through life's long path 01:47 Still chanting as ye go 01:52 From youth to age, by night and day 01:56 In gladness and in woe 02:01 Rejoice! Rejoice! 02:05 Rejoice, give thanks and sing! 02:10 Praise Him Who reigns on high 02:14 The Lord Whom we adore 02:19 The Father, Son and Holy Ghost 02:23 One God forevermore 02:28 Rejoice! Rejoice! 02:33 Rejoice, give thanks and sing! 02:42 Yeah, will you join us 02:43 to sing our theme song, "The stage." 02:58 The stage has been set All creation looks on 03:05 Two kingdoms are warring between right and wrong 03:12 The choices you make have a very high cost 03:18 Eternity's won, or eternity's lost 03:25 Before men and angles which side will you choose? 03:32 The Savior is waiting there's no time to lose 03:39 Before men and angles each soul plays a part 03:46 For you are the world 03:49 And the stage is your heart 03:55 Invisible forces are vying to win 04:01 Is God in your heart, or is darkness and sin? 04:08 For greater than angles above God's own voice 04:14 The power that's strongest of all is your choice 04:21 Before men and angles which side will you choose? 04:28 The Savior is waiting there's no time to lose 04:35 Before men and angles each soul plays a part 04:41 For you are the world and the stage is your heart 04:49 It's God's reputation in question today 04:56 It's His vindication for which you should pray 05:03 His glory is shown through the universe wide 05:09 When you let Him into your heart to reside 05:16 Before men and angles which side will you choose? 05:23 The Savior is waiting there's no time to lose 05:30 Before men and angles each soul plays a part 05:37 For you are the world 05:40 and the stage is your heart 05:54 Good morning, GYC. 05:56 Good morning. 05:58 Are you awake? 05:59 Yes. 06:00 Are you ready to be fed this morning? 06:01 Yes. 06:03 All right, that's good to hear 06:05 because we are going to hear a wonderful message 06:07 from Sikhululekile this morning. 06:09 And the verse she asked me 06:11 to share with you is from Hebrews 12:4, 06:17 it says, "Ye have not resisted 06:20 yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." 06:25 Please bow your heads with me in prayer 06:27 as we pray for God's Sprit. 06:31 Father in heaven, we come here before you 06:35 humbled to be in Your presence this morning. 06:39 We want to be blessed Lord, 06:42 and I pray that You will touch each heart here. 06:45 Please, help us to be receptive to the message of the morning. 06:50 I pray that You will touch Sikhululekile's lips. 06:53 Please give her the words she has to speak. 06:56 Give her clarity of thought. 06:58 Help her to be able to let Your Sprit 07:02 be pouring through her this morning, Lord. 07:06 I pray that You will empower each one of us, 07:11 to live lives that are honoring and glorifying to Your name 07:17 and I pray all these things in the name of Jesus, amen. 07:22 And now we are going to enjoy a special music. 13:31 Good morning, GYC. 13:33 Good morning. 13:36 Did you have good night of rest? 13:37 Amen. 13:38 Sufficient? 13:39 Amen. 13:41 There was no amen to that. 13:43 It was like sufficient? Amen. 13:45 Amen. No, not really okay. 13:48 Well, I'm-- 13:51 I'm excited for the message that we'll share this morning. 13:55 I'm excited with apprehension. 13:59 And the reason I'm excited with apprehension 14:01 is because this is the message 14:03 I struggled with the most in preparing. 14:07 So the apprehension is on the struggle part 14:10 and the excitement is on the struggle part 14:12 so it's both. 14:15 Why I struggle with it-- 14:17 the title of the message this morning is, 14:21 "Can God trust you, me death before dishonor." 14:28 I'll read to you a quote from Message to Young People, 14:35 page 80 paragraph 2, "Choose poverty, reproach, 14:42 separation from friends, or any suffering, 14:47 rather than to defile the soul with sin. 14:51 Death before dishonor 14:53 or the transgression of God's law, 14:56 should be the motto of every Christian." 15:01 And I wrestled with this because I thought 15:05 there was no way I can present this. 15:08 If this isn't my motto 15:11 and I didn't know if that was a challenge 15:13 I was willing to accept. 15:16 So I'm excited with apprehension 15:18 and I invite you to join me in my apprehensive excitement. 15:23 And we'll begin with the word of prayer 15:25 and dive into the Word of God. 15:26 Bow your heads with me. 15:30 Loving Father, we know that 15:31 You're softly and tenderly calling us to Your side 15:35 but You're a holy God 15:37 and sin can not coexist with You, 15:40 so You want to cleanse us of sin 15:42 so that we can be in Your presence. 15:46 This is our prayer that we would make this commitment 15:49 as we spend time in Your word this morning. 15:51 We ask for the presence 15:53 of the Holy Sprit to bring convection, 15:55 to help us to make that decision, 15:58 clear our minds of the distractions 16:00 that may be we may be experiencing, help us to think 16:06 because some of us are tired already 16:10 at the end of this may be see Jesus more clearly, 16:13 we pray these things in Your name, amen. 16:16 You take your Bibles and turn with me 16:18 to 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel Chapter 13. 16:28 First Samuel Chapter 13 16:33 and we'll read from verse 1 it says, 16:35 1 Samuel 13:1 it says, "Saul reigned one year 16:40 and when he had reigned two years over Israel, 16:43 Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel 16:45 whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash" 16:48 I don't know its Michmash or Mich-mash in that place, 16:52 "And in mount Bethel, and a thousand 16:55 were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin 16:57 and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent." 17:00 So Saul had been two years as king 17:04 and what he decided to do was to call 3,000 of the men 17:10 before this in the chapter that comes prior to this 17:16 the Holy Sprit had come upon Saul 17:18 because there were people who were in trouble 17:20 and they needed help and Saul was inspired by the Holy Sprit 17:24 to motivate the people to go out and fight. 17:27 He rallied the armies together they got 330,000 people 17:31 300,000 from Israel and 30,000 from Judah 17:33 and they came together 17:34 and they fought the battle of the Lord 17:36 and the Lord triumphed through them. 17:38 They were so excited, 17:40 super excited they said who didn't want Saul as a king? 17:44 Clearly God is working through him. 17:47 After they assemble at Gilgal and Samuel 17:51 they had a reinstated ceremony and they dedicated Saul 17:55 and afterwards Saul just burst the people 18:00 and he called just 3,000 to stay in his service. 18:06 But they hadn't finished fighting 18:08 the battles of the Lord. 18:09 So it was little preliminary for Saul to have 18:13 disperse the people, his army. 18:16 And so now they find themselves 18:18 Saul has 2,000 men under his watch 18:21 and his son Jonathan has 1,000 men under his watch. 18:25 Which by the way Jonathan is my favorite Bible character 18:29 next to Jesus-- after Jesus 18:30 not next to after, Jesus is my number one, okay. 18:35 I'm a super emotional person not because I'm a girl 18:39 because there are men who are emotional too. 18:42 It's just me as a person I'm emotional. 18:45 And when I was reading through the Desire of Ages 18:49 and I got to the last chapters, 18:51 my friends were attested that it took me like almost a year 18:54 to finish the last few chapters of Desire of Ages 18:57 because I was like I don't want Jesus to die. 18:59 Like, it was so crazy, I'm like I know the story He does 19:01 but like just going through the experience, 19:03 I'm like but if I just keep-- 19:05 If I read slow I'll just read one paragraph a day 19:10 and I cried like a lot, 19:12 you know, during that time in my devotions. 19:15 One other person who made me cry 19:17 as I was having devotions was Jonathan. 19:19 I cried every single time I read about when he dies 19:23 I weep like I lost a relative-- 19:26 like seriously it's like so deep for me. 19:28 You know, because I love Jonathan. 19:30 Here is one of the reasons why I love Jonathan. 19:33 In verse 3, it says, 19:37 "And Jonathan smote the garrison 19:40 of the Philistines that was in Geba, 19:42 and the Philistines heard of it. 19:45 And Saul blew the trumpet 19:46 throughout all the land, saying, 'Let the Hebrews hear.'" 19:52 So the army has been dispersed Jonathan has just 1,000 men 19:58 and they go and they start an attack. 20:03 And this is why I love Jonathan. 20:04 Jonathan is a man of action, 20:07 he is not the kind of guy who sits back 20:09 and he is like man, I wish people would just fight. 20:11 No, he gets up and he is like, let's go fight. 20:16 And this is not just picking nitty gritty battles 20:18 just fighting for the sake of fighting right 20:20 like these are battles that need to be fought. 20:23 Jonathan says let's go and do it. 20:25 Actually when you read the next chapter 20:27 it's not with 1,000 men that he goes to fight 20:30 he just takes his armor bearer and the two of them together 20:33 they say, you know what? 20:35 We need to go and let's pray 20:38 and see if God would prosper us in this mission. 20:42 So they pray and they say, you know, God will give the sign 20:45 if He answers this way we'll do this, 20:47 if He will answer that way we'll do this. 20:48 And they go the two of them 20:53 and put themselves out there and they say, Lord, use us 20:58 in whatever way You wish. 21:03 You know it's so easy to complain, super easy. 21:07 We are all complain in here 21:08 because we are Israelites, yeah, spiritual Israel. 21:10 We have the same problem 21:11 as the real Israelites had complainers, 21:13 murmuring, murmuring, murmuring, 21:14 oh, ha, I wish I would I see would-- 21:17 If only the church would-- 21:21 We are good at it 21:23 because it's so easy to find faults, isn't it. 21:28 But it's hard to be the person who gets up 21:30 and says I'm not just gonna fault find. 21:34 God, can You use me to help solve this problem? 21:38 And you know what Jonathan and his armor bearer 21:40 when they go in the next chapter, 21:42 Jonathan says let's go protest 21:46 because God can save by many or by few. 21:51 Amen. 21:53 And so some times we sit here and we're waiting 21:55 for there to be 5,000 of us to go on outreach. 21:58 And you guys, how about 21:59 when there is two of you at your church. 22:04 How about when there are few of us? 22:09 We stop doing God's work 22:10 because they're just like a handful of us. 22:13 Oh, well, God can't do powerful things 22:15 because it's just me. 22:19 Jonathan was a man of action. 22:20 He was a minute man. 22:24 And that's why I cried when he died. 22:25 I'm like Jonathan, he's so cool. 22:28 But Jonathan gets up and because of his action 22:32 because he gets up and does something, 22:34 Saul is forced to get up and do something as well. 22:38 You know, I have never met a pastor in my life, 22:41 I've never met or seen or heard of a pastor 22:44 who gets mad at the church member 22:46 who is doing evangelism. 22:49 I have never seen it in my whole entire life 22:52 which is so long. 22:56 But I've have never seen it, never heard of it. 22:59 I don't care, you know, people say 23:00 oh, you know some people are liberal, 23:02 some people are conservative. 23:04 Across the board because you know what happens 23:06 when you get up and do evangelism at your home church 23:09 whose baptisms do those count as? 23:13 Those are your pastor's baptism, 23:14 you know, it's not a numbers game. 23:18 I'm saying there is no way your pastor will be made at you 23:21 because you're baptizing 15 people every year. 23:24 This member is so annoying, my church is growing. 23:29 No, it won't happen. 23:32 But we sit in the pews at church and we complain 23:35 oh, man, I wish pastor will preach better sermons. 23:38 How about we give good Bible studies? 23:40 Amen. Amen. 23:42 You know, I remember 23:43 when I moved to a new part of town 23:46 I was living in the Boston area 23:49 and I moved to a new apartment with new a roommate 23:52 and I was walking around the neighborhood 23:55 I notice a church that was few blocks from my apartment. 23:58 So I thought, you know. 23:59 I should visit the church Wednesday night 24:00 I'm not doing anything go to prayer meeting 24:02 so I went to the church for prayer meeting. 24:04 As I was approaching the building 24:05 I noticed that the sign wasn't in English. 24:07 It said-- 24:12 something like this so it was French. 24:14 And I though okay well, you know, 24:15 I took French in college I think I'll manage. 24:18 As I approached the door 24:20 there was a group of ladies standing outside looked like, 24:22 you know, Dorcas society and-- do the still have Dorcas? 24:26 Women's ministry, women's ministry 24:27 and they were talking outside the building 24:29 and I thought oh man, like how I'm gonna-- 24:32 I wonder if they'll say high to me. 24:33 And I walked and I approached and the closer I got 24:36 I could see they look at me and then-- 24:40 I got so mad. 24:43 I had to go around them to go into the building 24:46 and I thought are you serious right now, 24:48 don't I look like a visitor? 24:50 You didn't greet me, busy gossiping. 24:53 I was assuming they were probably gossiping. 24:56 And I walked into the church 24:58 and those few people milling around in the lobby 25:01 and I thought may be I didn't look 25:03 like a visitor before, okay. 25:05 So I'm gonna put on my lost face like 25:09 I have no idea where I am going. 25:12 I put on my lost face 25:14 and I could see there's the sanctuary 25:16 but I'm just gonna walk around here, 25:18 you know, so I look lost and someone talks to me 25:21 and nobody talked to me. 25:24 And I got even more furious. 25:26 This church is so unfriendly. 25:30 And so I finally went into the sanctuary 25:32 and they started the prayer meeting. 25:34 You know, sometimes, most times 25:36 prayer meeting are not really prayer meetings 25:38 because we don't really pray until the end, 25:40 when we're praying to leave. 25:41 But got in there and you know, the speaker started speaking 25:45 and I thought surly he will tell that I'm a guest 25:50 and it turned out that it wasn't a French church 25:52 it was a Haitian church so they were speaking Creole 25:55 and I sat there and I thought okay, 25:57 I understand one or two words 25:58 and I'm straining to try and comprehend 26:00 what this person is saying and I thought surely 26:03 I looked confused in this moment 26:05 may be the speaker will recognize me 26:07 as a guest and nothing. 26:12 So by the time we were having our prayer 26:14 they partnered us up by this time 26:18 you know in my heart I was just like Lord, 26:20 send firing and brimstone here, understood. 26:25 The most unfriendly experience I have ever had 26:27 in an Adventist church and this doesn't 26:29 generally happen to me. 26:30 So this was an anomaly. 26:32 But this happened as lesson to me 26:34 because as I left and I walked home 26:36 I was talking to God about it. 26:38 Man, the state of our churches 26:39 now a days I can't believe people don't even talk, 26:41 walk in the building people ignoring, 26:43 gossiping outside the door, walk in the-- 26:45 nobody translates for you anymore I was so mad. 26:51 And in that moment the Lord spoke to me 26:52 He said Siku, 26:56 why didn't you talk to anyone? 26:59 I said, Lord, I'm a visitor. 27:01 Nobody talked to me, poor me. 27:07 And He said, how are you a visitor? 27:10 This is not an audible voice by the way, right, okay. 27:13 How is that you are a visitor 27:16 but you are a Seventh-day Adventist 27:19 and the Adventist church is your home. 27:25 So rather then complaining 27:26 that oh, the Adventist church is so unfriendly, 27:32 why don't you be part of the solution? 27:36 Make that church your home, 27:38 go there and be friendly to people. 27:41 So from that day I made a commitment to God, 27:43 I said you know what, wherever I go for church 27:46 I'm not gonna wait for someone to welcome me 27:48 as a guest into the no, I'm at home. 27:52 As soon I go over there welcome and they are like oh, thank you. 27:58 Because this my church, this is our church, 28:02 just take ownership of this church, 28:04 it's a trust that God has give to us. 28:08 So rather than sitting around 28:09 complaining about all things that are wrong 28:11 may be we can be part of the solution. 28:14 Let's learn something from the life of Jonathan. 28:19 And Jonathan I can't believe 28:22 he is actually Saul's son because Saul-- 28:26 Let's keep reading okay. 28:30 Verse 4, "And all Israel heard 28:32 say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines," 28:36 and Jonathan didn't stand up like 28:38 wait, wait, wait it wasn't Saul it was me, no. 28:41 "And that Israel also was had in abomination 28:43 with the Philistines. 28:44 And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal." 28:50 You know, sometimes I say Philistines 28:51 sometimes I say Phili-stines that's my confusion, 28:54 you know, because I have been here too long 28:56 I forget which I'm using. 28:59 "The Philistines gathered themselves together 29:02 to fight with Israel," 29:04 now listen to the numbers, "thirty thousand chariots, 29:10 six thousand horsemen, and people," how many? 29:17 "The sand which is on the seashore in multitude." 29:22 Now and God promised Abraham lots and lots of decadence. 29:27 What were they gonna be like? Stars of heaven. 29:34 These people were like sand which is by the seashore 29:38 i.e., you can't count them. 29:42 So when the children of Israel looked out 29:44 at this force that was coming against them, 29:46 they looked out at the enemy they couldn't even number 29:51 how many people were coming. 29:53 So remember I said when they fought earlier 29:56 they were 300,000 of them of the children of Israel. 29:59 So if this is sand of the sea 30:02 sea that means 300,000 is a drop in the bucket, right, 30:06 because you can count 300,000. 30:09 There were gazillions of people massive. 30:16 And not surprisingly the Israelites were intimidated. 30:22 Verse, where I'm I there, no. 30:26 Verse 5, oh, no 6, "When the men of Israel saw 30:31 that they people were in a strait, 30:33 for the people were distressed," 30:35 the people did what? 30:37 "They hit themselves." 30:39 They were so intimidated by the enemy 30:42 that they went into hiding. 30:46 You know, Ellen White says that in Patriarchs And Prophets 30:51 in the chapter about David as a fugitive 30:56 she says that every failure on the part of God's people 31:01 is due to a lack of faith. 31:06 Every failure on the part of throne of God 31:09 is due to a lack of faith. 31:11 Every failure. 31:13 Because the throne of Israel, 31:15 I don't know what happened in this moment 31:17 hello, God had just won a victory through you guys 31:20 and then this happens all the time, 31:23 God does some thing God's people forget 31:26 we're are so scared. 31:27 So here is the enemy and they got intimidated 31:30 as they look at this massive enemy that was coming at them 31:33 and they started hiding and as the week progressed 31:37 because they were supposed to wait for seven days 31:39 for Samuel to come and give the sacrifice 31:42 and make the offering and then Samuel had told Saul 31:45 at that time that he would give him instruction on what do. 31:48 But as they waited those seven days 31:50 they got more and more discouraged 31:52 because that the longer that they wait 31:55 the fewer they became because more people kept leaving 31:57 and you know, more people leave so you become smaller number 32:00 and then you are like well we are now smaller 32:01 and then you leave and that and it just got worst 32:04 and worst and worst as the week progressed. 32:09 And from what the Bible tells us it mentions nothing 32:12 about what Saul did about it. 32:15 He was sitting there waiting for Samuel to come. 32:19 Samuel, Samuel. 32:24 Samuel, where is he? 32:25 And he was just waiting and waiting and waiting 32:27 and waiting and waiting for Samuel to come 32:28 and Samuel just didn't seem to be coming. 32:32 And so he gets to a place where in verse 8-- 32:37 7, let's start with 7 "And some of the Hebrews 32:39 went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. 32:42 As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, 32:45 and all the people followed him trembling." 32:46 So whoever stayed behind were scared anyway, 32:49 "And he tarried seven days, 32:51 according to the set time that Samuel had appointed 32:53 but Samuel came not to Gilgal 32:55 and the people were scattered from him." 32:59 They waited and now Saul found himself in a dilemma 33:05 because here is the enemy 33:06 it's been seven days and we are supposed to fight 33:09 but Samuel hasn't come. 33:11 We're supposed to make a sacrifice 33:13 before we go and fight 33:14 but Samuel isn't here to make the sacrifice 33:17 and the people are leaving and they are discouraged 33:21 but maybe if Samuel did made the sacrifice 33:23 then they would feel encouraged and then we could fight. 33:27 And so he is kind of standing at crossroads, right, 33:29 and all eyes are on him. 33:32 Because he is the leader, all eyes are on Saul. 33:37 What is Saul gonna do? 33:41 What do you doing when you come to crisis 33:44 you are like between a rock and a hard place? 33:48 What is he gonna do? 33:53 Turn with me to 1 Timothy Chapter 2. 34:02 First Timothy Chapter 2, 34:06 I told you yesterday my favorite passage 34:08 in the Bible is Genesis Chapter 3, 34:13 this we're gonna read from 1 Timothy Chapter 2, 34:17 when we looked at Genesis 3, 34:19 we learnt that Eve started talking with the serpent 34:25 which she shouldn't have been doing 34:26 because she was walking around the tree 34:28 which she shouldn't have been doing, without her husband 34:29 which she should have been doing 34:31 and they start having a conversation 34:33 and she get's to the point where she's holding, 34:36 she is got the fruit looking at it thinking, 34:41 I actually think that this fruit is good for me. 34:44 Remember that from yesterday? Yeah, yes, okay. 34:47 She is thinking I actually think that this fruit is good for me. 34:53 We read that in scripture. 34:55 Now in 1 Timothy 2:14, 35:04 tells us that "And Adam was not deceived 35:08 but the woman being deceived was the transgression." 35:12 This is what I like to take from this text. 35:16 Bible says that Eve was deceived. 35:20 You know, some people get mad at 35:21 even though Eve brought sin into the world. 35:23 She was deceived give her a break, you know. 35:26 I was just kidding, sin is sin. 35:29 But the Bible says that 35:30 Adam on the other hand was not deceived. 35:35 Now what does it mean to be deceived? 35:37 Eve actually got to the point where she thought, 35:40 she actually thought that this thing 35:42 that God has said was not good for her 35:44 was actually good for her, right. 35:46 She looked at the fruit, she though it was good for food 35:48 plus desirable to make one wise. 35:50 But the Bible says that Adam did not have that experience. 35:54 He was not deceived. 35:56 He didn't look at the fruit and think, 35:58 oh, I think this is actually good. 35:59 No, he knew full well that Eve has just sinned. 36:05 He knew full well that what she did 36:06 was gonna cause death but he looked at Eve. 36:11 And yesterday I learnt a statement 36:12 there is a good story without a women in it, 36:14 something like that again the testimony. 36:17 He looked at his wife, 36:21 looked at Eve and he thought Eve, my precious gift from God 36:26 and she was straight from the hand of God 36:29 probably most beautiful woman that has ever graced the planet. 36:35 And he looked at her and he thought 36:36 what would my life be with her and he remembered that time 36:38 when he had a life without Eve 36:42 and he couldn't imagine life without her perhaps. 36:49 But now he is standing at a crossroads right, 36:51 he is in a dilemma. 36:53 What are you gonna do Adam as the leader of your home? 37:00 He is between a rock and a hard place, 37:02 his love for his wife and his love for God. 37:10 And through the reasoning process that he went through 37:15 we known what happened in the end 37:16 the Bible tells us that 37:17 Eve gave to her husband also with her and he did eat. 37:23 So even though he wasn't deceived he still ate. 37:32 We have a problem, 37:35 we have a problem that comes all the way down from Adam. 37:38 And sometimes we know 37:40 that its wrong and we do it anyway. 37:47 Had a look at that chocolate cake its all moist 37:53 I know it's 11:30 so I should be sleeping anyway 37:57 but because is stayed up so late I'm hungry again 38:01 and tying to seem to eat moist chocolate cake. 38:08 You know, it's bad for my teeth, 38:11 I know it will depress my immune system, 38:15 I know its unnecessary calories 38:21 but I'm between a rock and a hard place. 38:25 Okay, we know that it's wrong 38:30 but we do it any way. 38:34 We have a problem, big problem, 38:40 I know that I shouldn't date him 38:47 but no Adventist in my, no single men in my church, 38:55 well, what I had to do, besides he's a nice guy. 39:03 We know it's wrong but we do it anyway. 39:07 And you know how we reason it, while God will understand, 39:11 I mean love is of God 39:17 and we rationalize and go through this whole process 39:21 and Adam had that experience he is standing there, 39:23 there's Eve he knows what she did is wrong, 39:25 he knows that to eat that fruit is wrong 39:28 and yet she was Eve and she ate the fruit. 39:33 Turn with me to Matthew-- 39:40 Chapter 4. 39:49 We'll look at 39:50 my number one favorite character in the Bible and in my life. 39:56 Matthew Chapter 4. 39:59 We looked at the First Temptation yesterday 40:02 and you know thinking about the Great Controversy 40:05 in the wilderness after Jesus was baptized 40:08 and this confrontation between Jesus and Satan, 40:14 you know, epic especially thinking 40:16 Great Controversy, controversy-- 40:18 like crazy, right. 40:20 So we looked at yesterday the First Temptation, 40:24 today we'll look at the second one 40:25 as it's recorded in Matthew Chapter 4. 40:28 In the first one, Satan comes to him 40:31 and says look at your situation, 40:33 how can you trust God's word given your circumstances? 40:36 And He said I trust God's word more than my necessary food 40:41 and then thereafter Satan's like oh, I get you here. 40:46 Change of tactics. 40:50 Verse 5, "The devil taketh Him up into the holy city, 40:54 setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple. 40:57 And saith unto Him, if Thy be the Son of God, 41:03 cast Thyself down, for it is written, 41:09 He shall give His angels charge over the-- 41:12 concerning Thee, and in their hands 41:15 they shall bear thee up, 41:16 lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." 41:20 And the devil is thinking I got you. 41:24 You want to use scripture, I can use scripture too. 41:30 Which incidentally, you know, 41:34 we should be careful just believing things 41:37 because people say it's in the Bible. 41:41 So just because I said, Ellen White said 41:44 that every failure on the part of God's people 41:46 is due to their lack of faith. 41:47 Are you guys gonna check me on that? 41:49 What if I am lying to you? 41:50 I'm not but what if I am? 41:55 You know, when Paul, 41:57 Paul who is like super evangelist, 41:59 super theologian, 42:01 when Paul went to preach to the Bereans, 42:03 they searched the scriptures to check Paul. 42:06 Amen. 42:08 If they searched the scriptures to check Paul, 42:10 what about you checking me? 42:11 Amen. 42:13 Doesn't matter who says it, is it scriptural? 42:18 Is it in the Bible? 42:20 I want to know for myself and you know what? 42:22 I love this about God, He's no respecter of persons. 42:25 If we have a heart that wants to understand His word, 42:28 He will send the Holy Spirit to give us understanding. 42:32 He's not gonna look at you and tell, oh, what, 42:34 oh, you're a biochemist, I'm sorry, 42:35 I don't speak to biochemists. 42:37 I only speak to religion majors. 42:40 He's not like that. 42:42 If you have a heart that wants to understand in order to obey, 42:46 He will show you what is truth. 42:49 And I love that about God. 42:52 Let's search the Bible for ourselves, 42:55 understand for ourselves what the Word of God says. 42:59 You know and it's really discouraging 43:01 because in this age we have all these resources. 43:07 Bible in various languages, I brought my phone up here, 43:10 I have the Bible in English, I'm learning Greek 43:15 so I have two Greek Bibles on my phone. 43:20 I still don't understand what they say but I have them. 43:26 The Spirit of Prophecy and I'm so glad for that 43:29 E. G. White writings app, 43:31 we have all of it at our fingertips. 43:34 We have all of these resources yet we don't touch them. 43:38 We're like there's a theological issue in the church, 43:42 oh, what did the theologian say? 43:44 No! 43:45 We have the same Bible that they're studying. 43:49 We have the same Spirit of Prophecy. 43:53 We just study God's word 43:56 to make sure that what we're hearing from the pulpit 43:59 is what God is saying in the Bible. 44:04 The devil came to Jesus with scripture 44:07 and he was trying to use scripture 44:08 to make Christ stumble. 44:11 And I fear for a church 44:13 that does not study the Word of God. 44:14 I fear for us if we don't study God's word. 44:21 And the devil said, oh, didn't God say? 44:24 And what was enticing about it was 44:27 what he said it looked like faith. 44:33 Throw yourself from the building. 44:35 Didn't God say He's gonna protect you? 44:41 It looked like faith, it looked like trusting God, 44:44 trusting God that while I'm on my way down somehow, 44:49 and I will not fall. 44:51 It looks so like faith. 44:57 It may have looked like faith to Adam. 45:00 God is so good. He is so living. 45:03 There is no way He could really mean that people will die, 45:08 that Eve the one He gave to me, 45:10 that I loved, how could he mean that-- 45:13 it may have looked like faith, 45:15 like as if you're actually trusting God's character. 45:21 But then Jesus responded. 45:24 Verse 7, "Jesus said unto him, 45:29 It is written again, 45:32 Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." 45:37 And I love that Jesus went back to scripture 45:40 because sometimes you know people come with, 45:42 say like, oh, I'll give you scripture 45:44 so you feel like oh, I should change tactics. 45:47 No, the Bible is sufficient. 45:51 It's its own expositor. 45:56 So Jesus came back with scripture again 45:58 and He said no, it is written. 46:00 So I know what you're telling me is not true 46:02 because the Bible says don't tempt God. 46:06 Don't put yourself in a situation 46:07 where God hasn't called you to go. 46:13 I'm sorry to keep using the dating example 46:15 but you know it's my age 46:17 so you know I'll date him and convert him, 46:22 I flirt to convert, date to evangelism. 46:24 You know... 46:30 putting us, giving ourselves evangelism 46:33 God has never prescribed. 46:39 Jesus said-- 46:44 it may look like faith, 46:46 it may look like trust in God, 46:49 but truly trust in God leads to obedience. 46:55 Trust in God leads to obeying God. 46:58 That is what real trust looks like 47:01 and everything else is a counterfeit. 47:06 Let's turn back to 1 Samuel Chapter 13. 47:21 We left Saul standing at the precipice 47:24 of this colossal decision all eyes are on him, 47:28 all of Israel is looking at him, 47:30 probably the enemy is looking at him 47:31 as the leader of the Israelites. 47:32 What is he gonna do? 47:36 And the Word of God says in verse 9, 47:37 "And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, 47:41 and peace offerings. 47:43 And he offered the burnt offering. 47:46 And it came to pass, 47:48 that as soon as he had made an end of offering 47:51 the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came, 47:56 and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him." 47:59 And you think he was penitent. 48:00 I'm so sorry, I thought I just it was an emergency 48:04 I just really had to, you would think, 48:06 no, "Samuel said, what hast thou done?" 48:10 What did you do? 48:11 "And Saul said, because I saw 48:15 that the people were scattered from me, 48:17 and that thou camest not within the days appointed," 48:20 It's your fault, 48:22 "and that the Philistines gathered themselves together 48:25 at Michmash," 48:26 the situation just demanded some kind of action. 48:29 "Therefore I said, The Philistines will come down 48:32 now upon me to Gilgal, 48:33 and I have not made supplication unto the Lord," 48:36 I needed to, there needed to be some kind of an offering. 48:41 He said "I forced myself therefore." 48:48 I had to force myself to do this. 48:52 "And I offered a burnt offering." 48:54 I had no choice. 48:59 He doesn't apologize. 49:03 He defends himself. 49:06 I forced myself therefore to do this. 49:12 "And Samuel said to Saul, 49:13 Thou hast done foolishly 49:17 thou hast not kept the commandment 49:18 of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee 49:21 for now would the Lord have established 49:23 thy kingdom upon Israel forever." 49:30 That moment as Saul was standing there 49:33 with this choice to make 49:35 he didn't realize what was on the line. 49:41 He didn't realize that in this one decision 49:43 he was going to determine the fate of his reign 49:50 and whether his descendants 49:51 were going to sit on the throne or not. 49:54 He didn't realize what was stacking that moment. 49:58 And I don't know if Adam realized 49:59 what was that staketh in that moment for him. 50:03 I don't know if you realize that that how many years down 50:06 we would be sitting here 50:07 you know suffering that all of this sin 50:10 and pain would result from that one decision. 50:13 I don't know if you realize 50:14 what the weight of that decision was. 50:19 I'm glad Christ did. 50:25 I'm going to read a quote to you from Patriarchs and Prophets. 50:34 This is page 621 paragraph 5. 50:38 She says "We do not know 50:40 what great interests may be at stake in the proving of God. 50:45 There is no safety except in strict obedience 50:51 to the word of God. 50:53 All His promises are made upon 50:55 condition of faith and obedience, 50:57 and a failure to comply with His commands 50:59 cuts off the fulfillment to us 51:01 of the rich provisions of the Scriptures." 51:04 She is saying that there are things 51:05 that God wants to do for us 51:06 that He cannot do for us because we are disobedient. 51:10 That we close the doors to certain blessings, 51:12 that we close the door to certain experiences 51:14 because we are choosing to walk in the opposite direction 51:16 and God says I can't bless you there 51:19 don't go there. 51:23 "We should not follow impulse, nor rely on the judgment of men, 51:30 we should look to the revealed will of God 51:32 and walk according to His definite commandment, 51:35 no matter what circumstances may surround us. 51:39 God will take care of the results." 51:42 And that's were the trust is and I struggled so much 51:45 with this message until I read that statement. 51:49 Matter of fact I was in a conversation with a friend 51:51 she was asking how preparations were going for the messages 51:54 and I told said, you know, 51:55 I'm really having a hard time with this message. 51:57 And she said may be the focus is little be it off. 52:02 And so I started praying about it more 52:05 and then the realization hit me 52:07 and after that I started seeing it everywhere 52:09 like Jeffery was saying. 52:14 That what God needs from us 52:17 the part that we play in this whole big drama 52:21 is to trust Him. 52:25 Did you get that? 52:26 Okay, so God is huge and He is powerful, 52:31 so powerful that He is omnipotent, 52:34 super powerful right and He-- 52:37 we can trust Him because not only is He powerful 52:40 but He has a character of love, 52:42 He wants to bless us. 52:45 But when I started thinking about this idea 52:47 of can God trust me 52:49 I thought there is no way God can trust me. 52:51 A, look at my character, I'm a mess. 52:55 B, I'm so week. How could God trust me? 53:01 How could He trust me to obey Him I'm so incapable. 53:05 And then I realized that no what God wants to trust us to do 53:12 He wants us to trust us to trust Him. 53:17 To say I trust you so much that I obey you 53:21 because I trust that you will take care of the consequences. 53:29 "God will take care of the results, 53:32 by faithfulness to His word we may in time of trial 53:37 prove before men and angels that the Lord can trust us 53:43 in difficult places to carry out His will, 53:45 honor His name, and bless His people." 53:52 Men and angles are looking on 53:54 and in that moment that was in a chapter 53:56 that Ellen White writes about this encounter 53:58 we are talking about with Saul. 54:02 She says that in that moment as Saul was standing there 54:05 with this decision to make 54:07 he didn't realize that men and angles were watching him. 54:14 He didn't realize what was at stake. 54:18 And in every decision that we are called to make 54:23 we have an opportunity to prove before men and angles 54:29 that God can trust us. 54:32 But not trust us because we are super powerful 54:36 and we like so amazing 54:40 but that God can trust us to trust Him 54:46 because trust results in obedience. 54:52 So one of my favorite hymns is trust and obey. 54:55 There is no other way to be happy in Jesus 54:58 but to trust and obey. 55:01 Because when you just obey, it gets hard. 55:05 But when you trust, and because you trust you obey, 55:12 you're happy in Jesus. 55:19 Yesterday we talked a lot about the trusting God part 55:24 so I think we have an idea 55:26 at least a general picture of what we're talking 55:28 about when we say trust God. 55:33 And today I am saying trust God so much that you obey Him. 55:39 And through that act of obedience 55:42 men and angels look on 55:47 and it brings honor and glory to His name. 55:49 It brings blessing to His people. 55:53 My question this morning, 55:58 will you trust and obey? 56:01 Will you obey because you trust? 56:05 He's already proved that He's worthy of your trust. 56:09 Will you join me this morning in a commitment 56:11 as we bow our heads for prayer to obey Him? 56:15 Let's pray. 56:19 Our loving Father, we know that time is short 56:22 and Your coming is soon. 56:25 And that this great cosmic conflict 56:29 called the great controversy 56:32 is going to be wrapping up soon 56:35 and what's at stake is Your character. 56:40 And can we be in argument in favor of Your character? 56:44 And this morning you're asking 56:46 if you can trust us to trust you? 56:51 Lord, when we come to the crossroads 56:52 and we come to those decisions 56:54 whatever they are in our academics 56:56 and in our relationships, in our workplaces, 56:59 whatever decisions that we come to, 57:00 we come to crossroads and it feels like 57:02 we hit in a rock in a hard place whether it's between our desires 57:05 and Your will or it's between the society ones and Your will. 57:07 Whatever those decisions are, 57:09 Lord, we pray that You would help us to remember 57:12 that You're worthy of our trust 57:15 and that we would exercise the kind of trust 57:18 that leads to obedience. 57:20 Not the presumptuous kind that looks good on the outside 57:24 but is devoid of the obedience 57:27 that comes from a true trust in You. 57:30 Lord, we pray that 57:33 You'll make this a reality in our lives 57:35 because we cannot do it of ourselves 57:37 and that's why we thank You for Jesus 57:39 will accomplish this in our behalf. 57:44 We ask that You would appropriate his life to ours 57:46 and You will make us live holy just as He did. 57:49 This is our request because this is our desire 57:52 and we pray in Your name, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17