Participants: Sikululekile Hlatshwayo
Series Code: 13GYC
Program Code: 13GYC000009
|
18:05 And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai."
18:10 Unfortunately, in all the stories 18:11 that I have shared from the Bible 18:13 the women are a bad influence. 18:15 It's not always like that. 18:17 I don't think. 18:19 And we don't have to be a bad influence right, women? 18:21 Amen. Amen. 18:23 Amen, okay, but unfortunately in the situation, 18:27 God had given a promise to Abram and Sarai 18:31 and she says, okay you know what, 18:33 God give us this promise 18:34 but clearly he is not fulfilling it through me. 18:38 So maybe there is something we can do to help God out. 18:42 Maybe there is something we can contribute 18:45 in the fulfillment of the Word of God. 18:47 Maybe, maybe we can bring something to the table 18:51 in this situation. 18:53 And sadly Abram listened to his wife. 18:56 I've heard from my married friends 18:58 that husbands should always listen to their wives 19:00 because they're always right. 19:03 The Bible says no. 19:04 So I don't know, I'd say that I'm not married. 19:07 So I have no, no-- 19:13 It won't effect my life negatively. 19:15 That's what I'm trying to say. 19:19 Abram listens to his wife and he goes into the maid 19:24 and they have a child and his name is Ishmael. 19:27 Chapter 17:15, God comes to Abram again 19:32 and He's reiterating the promise 19:35 that He'd already given him earlier 19:38 and in verse 15 "God said to Abraham, 19:41 As for Sarai thy wife, 19:42 thou shalt not call her name Sarai, 19:44 but Sarah shall her name be. 19:46 And I will bless her, 19:48 and give thee a son also of her yea, I will bless her, 19:52 and she shall be a mother of nations, 19:54 kings of people shall be of her." 19:56 God had already initially given the blessing 19:59 that I'm gonna make you a great nation. 20:01 And he said okay, that's nice and then he said well, 20:05 we don't have any kids how about my servant Elias 20:07 and God said no. 20:08 I'm going to bless you with a nation coming from you Abram 20:12 and then they waited and they said well, 20:14 you know this blessing isn't coming 20:15 so maybe we can do something else 20:17 like and then he says in verse 17. 20:22 "Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, 20:26 and said in his heart, 20:28 Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? 20:32 And shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?" 20:36 So Abraham tries to reason with God and he says 20:39 "O that Ishmael might live before thee" 20:43 And God said no you don't understand, 20:46 when I said I was gonna bless you Abraham, 20:50 I meant you corporately you and your wife are one flesh. 20:55 So I didn't mean I'm gonna bless you 20:57 through some other women. 20:59 It should be understood 21:00 because you know that God created man 21:02 to have one woman. 21:04 So it should be understood and all this time 21:06 you're still struggling with this and he says no 21:08 I'm gonna give you an heir through your wife Sarah. 21:16 You see when God gives a promise sometimes 21:19 we try in our own strength to fulfill that promise. 21:24 Whereas God is capable 21:27 of fulfilling the promises that He gives. 21:31 So in Genesis 12 let's go there 21:32 and read the promise that God gave to Abraham. 21:40 Verse 1, it says, "And the Lord had said unto Abram, 21:44 Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, 21:47 and from thy father's house, 21:48 unto a land that I will show thee. 21:51 And I will make of thee a great nation, 21:53 I will bless thee, I will make thy name great; 21:56 and thou shalt be a blessing, 21:57 I will bless them that bless thee, 21:58 and curse them that curseth thee 22:00 and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 22:05 So Abram departed, 22:07 as the Lord had spoken unto him, 22:09 and Lot went with him and Abram was 75 years old 22:11 when he departed out of Haran." 22:13 God gives this promise, right, 22:14 and He says, "Okay here is the deal Abram, 22:18 I'm calling you out to become the father of many nations. 22:23 And here is how it's gonna down, 22:24 I'm gonna bless you. 22:26 I will make thy name great. 22:28 I will do this for you. I will do this. 22:30 And here is what I want you to do. 22:32 Here is your part of the deal. 22:34 You obey Me." 22:41 God said, I will be responsible for your future. 22:45 I will be responsible for what happens in your life 22:47 all that I want for you to do is to obey me 22:50 because you trust me. 22:52 And so in Hebrews 11 when he talks about Abram 22:55 as a father of faith and he says, 22:57 "By faith that Abraham went out from his hometown 23:00 and he sojourned in the land of promise 23:02 as if he was a stranger." 23:05 By faith he obeyed what God was asking him to do 23:07 even though he had no clue 23:09 where he was going to be living. 23:10 Even though, even though God had promised him these things, 23:12 and he wasn't seeing the results of it 23:14 right here and then, 23:15 but he did it by faith because, why? 23:17 Because he trusted God. 23:19 So God says to him "Abraham, look, here is the deal, 23:23 I'm gonna bless you all you have to do is obey Me. 23:29 And obey Me because you trust Me." 23:35 And this concept of God being the one 23:37 who determines our lives and who determines our future, 23:41 it's a hard thing for a lot of us. 23:43 Because you know, we have plans for our lives. 23:47 We have, we have the cookie cutter thing 23:52 that we want to accomplish. 23:54 And sometimes it's kind of hard to surrender that to God 23:57 and say okay, you know what, Lord, all I need to do, 24:00 all you're asking me to do is to trust and obey You. 24:02 Everything else I leave in Your hands. 24:07 That may sound a little extreme but I mean it. 24:11 I mean it because it's in the Bible. 24:18 So my plan is to go to medical school 24:23 and be a rich doctorate. 24:25 But maybe God says 24:26 that's not how I want to use you in My work. 24:32 Maybe God wants you to go be a janitor 24:34 in a conference office. 24:40 So everybody needs to be a lawyer or doctor-- 24:45 I keep picking on doctor because Adventists, 24:47 everyone becomes a doctor, you know what, 24:48 no lawyers, engineers, we need more of those people. 24:52 But, you know, okay I want to be a doctor 24:53 or maybe a lawyer 24:56 and God says, no, I want you to be a mechanic. 25:00 Look, I have gifted your hands, you have skills. 25:02 I was complaining to a friend of mine 25:05 that a lot of times when we talk about Adventist 25:08 in the professional world doing amazing things for God. 25:12 It's like, where are the mechanics. 25:15 Where are they? 25:16 Where are the mechanics who are so excellent 25:19 in the "mechanicazizationing" 25:22 that people run to their mechanic place. 25:27 I'm a girl, okay. 25:31 Bad excuse, I know. 25:33 But where are they? 25:35 Where are the people who are excellent 25:37 in whatever trade they pick up. 25:42 And sometimes I think we're living mediocre lives 25:44 because we are following somebody else's dream 25:46 for our life. 25:48 We're following what society says we should do. 25:51 And not what God said and so God says Abraham, 25:56 it doesn't make sense to anybody else. 25:58 I'm going to ask you to leave your family behind, 26:01 I'm going to ask you to leave all your extended family, 26:03 your relative, I'm going to ask you leave everything 26:05 that is comfortable about your life 26:07 and you're gonna go wander in a wilderness, for what? 26:10 For a promise that you're not even going to see 26:11 the fulfillment off in your day. 26:15 But Abraham trusted God 26:20 and because he trusted God he obeyed. 26:24 Now turn with me to Ezekiel 28... 26:32 Ezekiel 28... 26:39 and we'll start in verse 12, 26:42 Ezekiel 28:12 reads "Son of man, 26:45 take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, 26:47 and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God, 26:51 Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, 26:53 and perfect in beauty. 26:55 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God, 26:57 every precious stone was thy covering." 26:59 And the he lists the stones. 27:02 "In the middle of day he starts the workmanship of thy tabrets 27:04 and of thy pipes was prepared in thee 27:06 in the day that thou wast created." 27:08 Verse 14 "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth." 27:12 And t his is the part that I like us to focus on. 27:15 "God says, and I have set thee so." 27:21 God says to Lucifer 27:23 you are this anointed cherub that covers 27:26 and that is the place that I gave you. 27:30 That is the role that I gave you. 27:32 That is your purpose-- 27:34 That's, that's My plan for you life. 27:40 Well, let's turn to Isaiah 14 27:41 and some of you know where this is going, 27:46 Isaiah 14... 27:54 verse 12 says, 27:58 "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, 28:01 son of the morning, 28:03 how art thou cut down to the ground, 28:05 which didst weaken the nations." 28:07 And this is what was going on in Lucifer's heart. 28:09 "For thou hast said in thine heart, 28:12 I will ascend into heaven, 28:14 I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, 28:16 I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, 28:19 in the sides of the north, 28:20 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, 28:22 I will be like the Most High." 28:28 In his heart he said, "Okay, 28:30 this is the position you've given to me 28:32 but this is what I want to do with my life." 28:36 This is what I want to become covering cherub, 28:40 I want to be something else. 28:46 And we have the same problem. 28:54 We have the same problem. 28:56 This is my plan for my life. 28:59 And even though God has said something else, 29:02 even though it may be God is calling me to something else, 29:06 no, I want to make something of myself 29:11 rather than trusting that God will be the one who makes me. 29:16 You know, I just need to share this quotation. 29:21 This is gonna be paraphrased quotation 29:23 because I didn't search it out before coming up here. 29:26 It's in Adventist home 29:29 and Ellen White is talking to parents 29:31 and she says, you know, we have this great commission, 29:35 we have a gospel to preach to the world. 29:38 Jesus is coming soon, amen. 29:40 Amen. 29:41 We have the Three Angels' Messages, 29:42 this precious trust that God has given to us as a movement. 29:48 And then she said, in light of this, 29:50 in light of the gospel commission 29:52 that God has given to us, 29:53 in light of this fact, 29:57 how can we educate our children 30:00 for lives of respectable conventionality? 30:06 Do you understand what she is saying? 30:08 She's saying if your only goal is to get a job, 30:12 get married and that's it, you've arrived. 30:15 She's like how can we do that as God's people? 30:19 Knowing what we know. 30:22 How can that be our goal in life? 30:24 How can that be the end all and the be all. 30:26 Yes, now, you know, I'm a great Christian. 30:28 And I read an article, it was not by a Seventh-day Adventist 30:32 and I was surprised to read this but in this-- 30:36 It was a blog actually and this guy was saying, 30:39 he was saying, you know, we're not raising-- 30:43 How do you say? 30:44 He said we're not raising Christians, 30:46 we're raising good citizens. 30:49 He said we're raising kids not to trust God, 30:53 obey him, depend upon him, 30:55 we're raising kids who will do right, do the right thing. 31:01 Who will pay their taxes? 31:04 We're raising kids who'll be nice to their neighbors 31:06 and take them cookies or vegan cookies, 31:10 the peanut butter kind. 31:15 He said, we're not raising Christians. 31:18 And I read that and I thought, my. 31:26 We have the same problem in our church. 31:31 We're not raising Christians, we're raising good citizens, 31:37 who'll do "the right thing." 31:41 And then we grow up as kids 31:42 and that's my only goal in life. 31:47 Look, there is a purpose that is higher 31:49 than just respectable conventionality. 31:54 There can be more to life than just that. 31:57 More to life than that. 32:01 But it means that we got to trust God. 32:04 It means that I got to say, Lord, 32:06 I'm willing to do whatever it is that you ask me to do. 32:09 Go wherever it is that you ask me to go. 32:12 My life is in Your hands and I want to challenge parents 32:18 let's raise Christians, amen. 32:20 Amen. 32:21 Let's raise Seventh-day Adventist Christians 32:24 who have a gospel to preach. 32:27 So as they grow up they realize that 32:29 I'm not going to be here forever. 32:30 I'm not planning to be here forever. 32:32 I will be as long as I have to be here 32:34 but that's not my purpose in life, 32:36 is not to be comfortable. 32:43 We need to be converted. 32:49 So turn with me to Genesis 1 32:55 and we're gonna read verse 1. 32:58 We're actually gonna read it not because you don't know it 33:02 but we're just gonna read it together. 33:04 Sometimes it good to read something you've heard or said 33:06 over and over again. 33:07 The Bible says in Genesis 1:1 33:11 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." 33:19 Bible tells us in the beginning God, 33:27 no explanation for how he came about, 33:29 no teleological or cosmological, 33:33 ontological, all the articles, arguments about why we believe. 33:38 It just says, it just presents him. 33:39 In the beginning God 33:43 and then the first thing it tells about God, 33:46 is that in the beginning God created. 33:51 So the first thing that we learn about God in this book 33:53 which is all about telling us about God 33:56 and how we can reconnect with Him. 33:57 It says, in the beginning God created. 33:59 So here is the story, right? 34:01 God, okay. 34:09 Created. You get it? 34:14 No? Don't make me run again, okay. 34:17 God created. 34:22 There is God and then there is everything else 34:26 in the entire universe that is created. 34:32 You guys get it? 34:33 Yeah, okay. 34:35 This is important because in the beginning God created 34:42 and no matter what creator does, 34:45 created will never be God. 34:47 Amen. 34:48 There is no way we can we can be God. 34:50 Impossible, because we weren't' in the beginning. 34:54 No, too late. 35:00 So in my favorite passage in the Bible in Genesis 3, 35:05 when Lucifer says to Eve, 35:08 you know the reason why God is withholding this from you 35:10 is because he knows that in the day you eat their off 35:12 you shall be as God's. 35:15 He's saying, look, 35:16 I know that God has given you a specific place, 35:19 a role, purpose, 35:23 but are you sure that the place 35:28 that God has given to you is a right place for you? 35:30 I mean, shouldn't you have a say? 35:33 I mean, like maybe you could be something else. 35:40 So you start to see that in the universe 35:44 there is God and there is everything else created 35:47 and when God creates, 35:48 He sets things in a certain place. 35:50 He gives things a certain role. 35:53 And we're happiest when we're living in accordance 35:56 with the role that God has given to us. 35:59 And I struggled with that concept, 36:02 because I'm all about independence, you know. 36:05 I went to a women's college which boasts some 36:10 well-known alumni, Hillary Clinton, 36:14 Madeleine Albright, Chiang Kai-shek's wife. 36:25 And it's all about like freedom. 36:27 I can do it. I got this. 36:31 D-I-Y, 'Do It Yourself'. 36:39 You don't need anybody else. 36:41 And I think maybe it's because I came to America 36:44 and just got more deeply ingrained in me. 36:46 This society has a serious independence problem. 36:52 I can do it myself, I don't need anybody else. 36:55 I got this. 36:57 I don't need you help, I can do it. 37:00 And it's only when you get 37:02 to the very, very, very, very extreme 37:05 maybe you'll accept help. 37:07 And even then sometimes people don't accept help. 37:11 I have never seen a society so lonely, 37:18 surrounded by people and yet unable to connect. 37:23 And we can't connect, why? 37:25 Because I got this, I got my own space, 37:28 I'm in charge of this area, I will handle this stuff, 37:31 you handle your own business, I will handle my business, 37:33 we're happy. 37:37 It happens in the church, 37:39 instead of the church being a community of people 37:41 who come together, bear one another's burdens, 37:44 church becomes a place where you come to act upfront. 37:48 Look good in front of the pulpit, 37:51 sing a really nice song 37:54 and the very purpose of church lost. 37:58 We're supposed to be family, community. 38:02 You know that's one thing I appreciate when I come to GYC 38:05 I get that sense, you know, we're praying for each other, 38:08 you meet people in the corridor and let's pray together 38:11 and I'm like, why can't we just have this everywhere? 38:15 This is what it should be like. 38:19 Because I want to suggest to you that what the Bible-- 38:26 The model the Bible has is not one of independence. 38:31 Neither is it one of co-dependence. 38:33 Now you've seen those people 38:34 in codependent relationships, right? 38:37 Like, you can't see him without seeing her. 38:40 It's like they're attached to their hip. 38:42 Am I the only one? 38:45 Yeah, I guess I'm the only one. 38:46 Okay... 38:51 Where-- It's like they have no individuality. 38:59 No personal sense of, this is my purpose in my life. 39:02 I will do anything he says or he'll do anything she says. 39:06 Ellen White says, before you're getting married 39:09 you better know what God has called you to do. 39:11 You better know who you are, your purpose in life 39:16 and then you don't give that up just to be with somebody. 39:21 But the problem is we're getting into relationships 39:24 before we have a relationship with God. 39:27 Before we know Him, 39:28 before we know His will for or lives. 39:33 So I don't know, people talk about, 39:34 you know, there is an age, 39:35 oh, she is too young, too old. 39:38 I'm like nobody should be-- 39:39 As Adventist nobody should be getting-- 39:42 is that the right word to use, no that's not right word. 39:44 Nobody should be getting connected 39:46 in an intimate relationship for the purpose of marriage 39:50 until, unless they have relationship with Jesus first. 39:56 Amen. 39:58 And that's how codependence happens. 40:00 And I want to suggest you 40:01 that the Bible's model is not independence. 40:06 Like I don't need you and it's not co-dependence, 40:09 I can't live without you, my life is so empty, 40:11 I fall to pieces every time you walk out the room. 40:13 No, the Bible's model, 40:18 the Bible's model is interdependence. 40:24 Interdependence, turn with me to Philippians 2. 40:31 Philippians 2 40:39 and we'll read from verse 12. 40:43 Paul says, "Wherefore, my beloved, 40:46 as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, 40:49 but now much more in my absence." 40:52 And then he says, "Workout your own salvation 40:54 with fear and trembling." 40:57 And the question becomes, 40:58 I mean, we don't believe in righteousness by work 41:01 so what is he talking about, 41:03 workout your own salvation with fear and trembling? 41:07 And lot of times this is what I've heard, people then say, 41:09 oh, well, but look at verse 13. 41:11 "For it is God which worketh in you 41:13 both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 41:15 So you see, workout your salvation, 41:17 it does not really mean workout your salvation. 41:19 It means that let God workout your salvation. 41:24 I mean, okay. 41:27 But what I'm reading here is Paul says, 41:31 "Workout your own salvation." Why? 41:34 Because God is working in you. 41:40 That means you have a role to play 41:44 and let's not run away from that. 41:47 We have a part to play in this thing. 41:49 There is a work that God is calling us to do. 41:53 Workout your own salvation with fear and trembling, 41:56 take it seriously. 41:58 Because God is taking His part seriously, 42:01 He took it so seriously, 42:02 He took it all the way to the cross. 42:04 Now you have a role to play too. 42:11 And we've been talking about it already. 42:16 So as He said with Abraham, 42:20 "Abraham, I want to do this for you. 42:24 This is what I have for your life. 42:28 I just need you to trust Me because you trust Me, 42:33 I want you to obey." 42:36 Abraham gets caught up, trying to do God's part 42:41 and God says, I never asked to you to make the nation. 42:44 I will make a nation of you. I never asked you to do that. 42:48 I asked you to trust me 42:50 and because you trust Me, obey Me. 42:53 That's what I have asked you to do. 42:54 That is the work that I want for you to do. 43:00 We get caught up trying to do God's work 43:04 and so this idea of interdependence means 43:08 that everyone has a role to play. 43:12 I have a role to play, God has a role to play. 43:15 And in my salvation, 43:18 I have a role to play, God has a role to play. 43:24 I'll read a quote for you from Spirit of Prophecy. 43:31 This is from Acts of the Apostles, page 482. 43:35 She is commenting on this very text. 43:38 She says, "The work of gaining salvation 43:39 is one of co-partnership. 43:43 A joint operation 43:46 there is to be cooperation between God 43:49 and the repentance sinner." 43:52 Now I'm not preaching righteousness by works. 43:55 Please don't misquote me. 43:59 I'm talking about there is work for us to do 44:02 which is a work of trusting God. 44:04 We're to cooperate with Him in the work 44:06 that that He wants to do in us. 44:12 We have a role to play. 44:17 And so we went to Genesis 1 it said, in the beginning, 44:21 God created. 44:25 And ever since sin came, 44:28 created has been trying to be God. 44:36 Impossible and not even a good idea. 44:40 Now here is the thing, you know, 44:41 when we talk about interdependence, 44:43 it's not a conversation about equality, okay. 44:49 It's not I put in 50% you put in 50%. 44:54 Here's what I mean. 44:56 God has this role to play, 44:58 He's got this part and I got my part to play. 45:00 And I am suggesting and my part to play is to trust and obey. 45:04 And God has His-- Sorry, God has His part to play 45:07 and imagine if God was like, 45:10 okay, Sikhu, let's do this fifty-fifty. 45:13 Right, because I mean, 45:14 I'm just carrying a heavy load here on my part, 45:18 so you know, one of the things that I do as God is 45:20 I number the hairs on people's heads, okay. 45:24 I'm not going to ask you to number the hairs 45:26 on everybody's head because that's a big job. 45:29 But could you just number the hairs on Sikhu's head? 45:33 And then could you decipher 45:35 which ones were planted on her head 45:39 and which ones grew out of her scull? 45:45 You would have a hard time. 45:51 You know we sometimes think oh, well, you know, 45:53 I'm putting 50%, other person puts in 50% 45:56 but that's not how interdependence works 45:57 because when you have different roles 45:59 you have different capabilities. 46:02 And your capabilities are geared 46:03 towards the role that you have and that's okay. 46:08 And because I'm not the same as you, 46:10 you can do things that I can't do. 46:12 That's why we need each other. 46:19 And so in human to human interaction 46:25 we're called to bare one another's burdens, 46:28 to depend on one another. 46:30 In order to do that right, 46:33 we have to have a sense of our own identity. 46:36 And I want to make this distinction as well. 46:42 You know, there is independence of thought 46:44 and then there is independence of living, okay. 46:46 Independence of thought is 46:47 being able to think for yourself, okay. 46:51 That's being able to look at a situation 46:53 and think through the situation 46:56 and make an assessment, make a decision, okay. 46:59 It manifest itself sometimes it's commonsense, okay. 47:03 You know, just being able 47:05 to process things for yourself and-- 47:07 How many of you go to secular universities here? 47:09 Show your hands. 47:11 Okay, all right. 47:13 I feel bad for you. 47:16 Because I mean, I went to a secular university. 47:20 And by the way if you've have never read the book Education, 47:22 you need to read it. 47:25 Because when I read that it was after I finished college 47:28 and I thought I had been mis-educated all my life. 47:34 Because in school they teach you to sit there and listen 47:39 but there is no action that follows it. 47:42 So they teach you to think but there is no do that follows. 47:46 Or they teach you to do without thinking. 47:52 Whereas true education is the power to think and to do 47:58 and so we need to be reeducated a lot of us. 48:02 So we can think and do. 48:05 So we can be capable of having independent thought. 48:10 And God is counting on that. 48:11 You know, when Ellen White talks about 48:12 what salvation looks like she says, 48:14 you know, we put our will on the side of God. 48:16 If we ain't got no will 48:18 to put on the side of God you're in trouble. 48:25 The power to think and to do, independent thought, 48:30 but then there's a independent living 48:32 where I don't think I need the other person. 48:38 Now let's go to Exodus 20 and we're winding down. 48:47 Exodus 20:8, it reads, 48:56 "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." 49:00 And then he says, "Six days shalt thou labour, 49:04 and do all thy work." 49:06 Did you hear it? 49:08 Six days shall thou labor and do all thy work. 49:12 I eat, I want to do something. 49:15 Well, remembering the Sabbath is not about 49:17 oh, well, you know, I don't anything. 49:18 He's is like, I want you to do something 49:20 for six days labor and do all thy work. 49:23 And He says, "But the seventh day 49:25 is the sabbath of the Lord thy God." 49:28 And then He tells us not to do any work in that day." 49:30 And this is why in verse 11, "For in six day 49:34 the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is 49:38 and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord 49:41 blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." 49:45 And so he says, Sabbath, the experience of Sabbath 49:51 is to remind you that in six days 49:54 God created everything. 49:56 That in six days God created. 50:00 And whenever you come to the Sabbath 50:02 you need to remember this that God created. 50:05 And so when you're resting from your work 50:07 you're realizing that even though I can do stuff 50:10 whatever I do will never get me over there. 50:14 No mater what I do, I will be never be God. 50:19 I want you to remember that. 50:22 I want to propose as well that the Sabbath reminds us that 50:26 I need to do something. 50:30 I need to put my trust in Him. 50:33 I need to depend on Him. 50:36 I need to rely on Him. 50:41 So that the Sabbath there's a memorial in creation 50:44 becomes a barrier, 50:52 it prevents us from falling into apostasy. 50:58 You know, Ellen White says, how-- 50:59 If God's people had kept the Sabbath 51:02 they would never have an infidel. 51:08 That the Sabbath is supposed to be that kind of experience 51:11 and so how do we remember the Sabbath day 51:13 not just on Saturday, 51:17 how do we remember the Sabbath day throughout the week? 51:21 Here is how we remember 51:22 the Sabbath day throughout the week. 51:24 God, I'm dependent upon You. 51:29 I rely on You. 51:31 I realize You're the creator, 51:32 You're the sustainer of the universe. 51:36 And that every breath that I take is a gift from You. 51:40 I realize that and I chose to place my trust in You. 51:46 And because I trust You, I will obey You. 51:50 And that's every single day of the week 51:53 we remember the principle of the Sabbath. 51:58 That God is creator, we're not, 52:02 His role is to be creator, our role is to trust and obey. 52:10 And that becomes the life of the Christian. 52:12 Are you following me? Is anyone completely lost? 52:16 Okay. 52:19 I'm going to make an appeal. 52:22 It's not a stand up and come forward kind of an appeal. 52:26 But my appeal is this, 52:35 maybe people in here 52:36 who have their own plans with their lives 52:40 and you've been here at GYC 52:43 and it's become abundantly clear to you 52:47 that maybe God is calling you to something else. 52:52 That maybe that life of respectable conventionality 52:57 that was the goal, maybe that ought not to be the goal. 53:04 That maybe someone in here who has already had that thought 53:07 because you've been listening to the messages, 53:09 you've been listening to the something is happening 53:10 and you're like, God is calling me to do something. 53:15 And maybe you don't even know what yet, 53:19 but you want to say in your heart today 53:23 you want to say I will obey, because I trust You. 53:28 That I'm not the one who makes my life, 53:30 what I want my life to be, 53:31 that I put my life in your hands. 53:35 And then God, whatever you want to do with me do it. 53:39 There is a song that I used to hate, a hymn, I used to hate. 53:44 I love hymns in general but this one I didn't like. 53:48 It's called, "I will go where you want me to go" 53:52 And every time we'd sing that in church I would get so mad. 53:57 I will get angry and I will look at everyone around me 54:01 and I will be like, are you serious? 54:03 That's in my heart, I didn't say it. 54:04 But I'm thinking, are you serious right. 54:05 You will really go where he wants you to? 54:07 What if he wants you to go somewhere you wanted to go? 54:11 And that was my problem with the song I was like, 54:13 well, I will go where you want me to go 54:15 if it's somewhere I want to go. 54:18 Like why couldn't they just add that little adage, you know. 54:21 "I will go where you want me to go, 54:23 if it's where I want to go." 54:28 But it's a kind of life that says, 54:30 I will go where you want me to go. 54:32 I will say what you want me to say. 54:35 I will be what you want to be to be. 54:38 And the role that you have selected for me-- 54:40 See, when we get to heaven 54:41 God has a purpose for our lives there too. 54:43 And this thing of rebelling against 54:45 oh, well, I don't want to do just like it. 54:47 I'm gonna get there because you will be unhappy in heaven. 54:50 You'll still be rebelling same thing that Lucifer did. 54:56 Well, God is calling us to do 54:58 and that I hope that we had a strong enough foundation 55:01 on the trust and obey part, 55:03 that you'll understand this is not a legalistic kind of thing. 55:09 We're saying if you want to say 55:12 that I'm actually worthy of your trust. 55:14 And in this controversy where Satan is claiming that, 55:18 you know, my character is not worthy of trust 55:20 because I'm selfish and-- 55:21 but if you want to be one of those arguments 55:23 that says, you know what, no. 55:25 God is worthy of my trust and because I trust Him so much 55:28 I will put my life in His hands. 55:30 I will go, say, do whatever He wants for me to go 55:36 wherever and whatever He wants me to go, say, do. 55:44 If that's you, I invite you to raise your hand 55:47 because this is between you and God. 55:51 And God is seeing those hands. 55:54 This is saying, I haven't been doing this, I want to do this. 55:58 It is saying, I have not being doing-- 56:00 This is saying I haven't been doing this, 56:01 I want to do this now. 56:04 This is what I want to do with my life. 56:05 I want to put my life in your hands. 56:08 And whatever you ask me to do, 56:10 even if it looks uncomfortable I will do it. 56:15 Let's bow our heads as we pray. 56:18 Father, you see the hands that are raised 56:22 and I know Lord, that we all struggle with this 56:24 because we have our own plans for our lives. 56:27 We have the way society has told us to think, 56:29 we have the way we've been raised, 56:30 we have all these goals that we have 56:32 and sometimes it's hard to just let go and trust You. 56:39 But Father, in the Sabbath experience 56:41 we see that You're God and You created us. 56:47 That Your role is to make of us what you see fit. 56:52 And we just need to surrender 56:53 and put ourselves into Your hands. 56:56 Father, we pray that our experience 56:58 on a day to day basis will be this kind of an experience. 57:02 Not so people can see and praise, 57:08 but because we love You. 57:11 We want to pray especially for these hands that are raised 57:14 that you'd make it abundantly clear 57:17 what Your will is for their lives. 57:19 That You'd send the Holy Spirit even this weekend 57:21 especially on this Sabbath day to speak to their hearts, 57:25 to show them what it is You're calling them to. 57:29 And Father, we thank You, we thank You 57:32 that even though You're a God and You're so great 57:38 that You chose to condescend to minister to us. 57:45 In surrender, Lord, we pray these things 57:47 in name of Jesus, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17