Participants: Pr. Dwight Nelson
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP081316A
|
00:00 ♪♪
00:08 >> Good morning, PMC. We're happy to see you this morning on this Sabbath morning. 00:14 Let's stand together for prayer. 00:25 Dear Lord, we come to You with humble hearts. 00:29 Thank You for this opportunity that we can come together and 00:32 worship You and praise Your name. 00:35 Thank You for loving us so much. Thank You for the blessings in our lives, and thank You for 00:41 this opportunity of a new school year. We love You, and please bless 00:46 us. Amen. >> Amen. 00:50 >> Remain standing. Thank you so much. Or up and down if you want to 00:55 exercise. 00:58 So, the first song is a celebration that we together 01:02 will start this year singing, and we will conclude this song 01:07 in the New Jerusalem when it returns down here on Earth. 01:12 Keep that in mind as we sing to a very beautiful hymn tune that you all know -- the words 01:18 "For the Music of Creation." [ "For the Music of Creation" plays ] 01:32 [ Congregation sings ] 02:21 [ Hymn continues ] 04:08 >> You may be seated. So, this Thursday, we came back 04:13 to Andrews, all the faculty, and we met for the Faculty Institute 04:17 and were greeted by Stephen and Susan Zork with a wonderful 04:20 worship. 04:22 And as is customary for Stephen, he pulled out many new hymns for us to sing to some common tunes. 04:30 And one really struck me in the heart, and we're gonna sing it now. 04:33 I asked him if we could sing it again today. Make this your testimony. 04:37 Really think on these words. And if it resonates with your soul, sing it to God. 04:44 [ Congregation sings "As a Fire 04:46 Is Meant for Burning" ] 07:39 [ "God, You Spin the Whirling Planets" plays ] 07:55 [ Congregation sings ] 09:52 [ Song ends ] 09:58 [ "Open My Eyes, That I May See" plays ] 13:30 [ Song ends ] 13:33 >> Hello, boys and girls. Welcome. Do you guys know what I am? 13:40 >> Scientist. >> A scientist. I am a scienti-- I'm a special 13:45 one called a chemist. And my name is Dr. Ryan Hayes, PhD, Department of Chemistry, 13:51 Associate Professor. Or you can just call me "Dr. Bubbles." 13:58 >> Bubbles? [ Children speaking indistinctly ] 14:01 >> Yeah, I'm not gonna make bubbles today, but we are gonna learn some important lessons and 14:05 some important chemistry. Do you guys like running experiments? 14:07 >> Yes! >> Yeah! We're gonna run you one here 14:09 today. We're gonna learn something about how God works right here. 14:14 I got to ask this question. I think I know the answer, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. 14:18 Have you done anything bad before? [ Inhales sharply ] 14:22 Oh, and some are brave, yes. Yeah, so, how do we know that we're doing something bad? 14:27 >> [ Speaks indistinctly ] >> [ Chuckling ] When it explodes. 14:30 >> When you get caught. >> When you get caught, yeah. That's how we know. 14:34 No, is there -- Your parents catch you. But how do your parents know 14:39 when you've done something bad? How do they know? >> They have their parents' 14:45 sense -- >> They're superheroes! >> Oh, they have parental sense 14:47 of superpowers. I agree. [ Laughter ] 14:50 This is true -- two words that have never been spoken. But, you know, I got to let you 14:54 in on a secret -- the way that we know, as parents, what's right and what's wrong and 14:59 what's bad and what's good is we look to God's Word, and, more specifically, we look at the 15:04 Ten Commandments. So I'm always trying to teach my kids the Ten Commandments, 15:07 because if you break one of God's laws, we call that -- Does anybody know? 15:13 >> Sin. >> Sin. And I actually got some in a 15:17 bottle right here! Yeah, we won't run with that one at all. 15:24 But when you do something bad, it's like putting a stain into your record, into who you are, 15:31 and you're not feeling too good. But, you know, every one of you are different -- some of you are 15:34 tall, some of you are short. 15:36 And I'm gonna represent you, the kids here, with these different 15:40 glasses that have what looks like water in there. 15:44 Some of you are nice and round. Some have taller necks there, 15:49 rounder at the bottom, okay? Some of you have this nice shape 15:53 here. We have another round one. 15:55 Maybe some of you are nice and tall. 15:58 You're all different, right? You look different -- tall, 16:02 short. But you know what? 16:03 You are all the same because you are going to start maybe doing 16:08 things that -- we hope not, but we all do this -- we break God's 16:13 law. And sin gets into our lives here 16:18 and starts to darken our lives here -- well, hopefully, 16:22 eventually, get dark in here. [ Inhales sharply ] 16:25 Don't worry. It will. Oh, there it goes! 16:27 And sin gets into your life and starts to stain your life. 16:32 Don't worry -- there's lots of sin, unfortunately. 16:36 And we start to dark-- And, you know, maybe it was you didn't 16:41 listen to your mom and dad. That's a commandment, you know, 16:43 "Honor your father and your mother." 16:46 And maybe -- What are some other -- Does anyone know some 16:50 of the other commandments? >> [ Speaks indistinctly ] 16:53 >> "Thou shall not... kill," yeah. 16:57 And Jesus said something about, even if you get mad at your 17:00 brother, that's like the same thing. 17:02 Yes. >> [ Speaks indistinctly ] 17:04 >> Do not lie. That one's a hard one. 17:07 Teasing and lying with each other, and we get stains in our 17:11 lives. You know, and it doesn't matter 17:14 if you're tall and skinny. You, too, can start to get 17:18 stains in your life here. And I should've had more stains 17:22 in there, but we'll let that go down there, okay? 17:25 And it doesn't matter who you are, what your shape is, what 17:29 you've done, or what sin it is. We often say, "Well, I didn't 17:33 lie like you did. I maybe said a bad word. 17:37 That's not as bad." But you know what? 17:39 To God, it's all the same. It's still a stain on who you 17:42 are. And you become colored -- Now, 17:45 you say, "Oh, that looks so pretty. 17:47 That's so pretty blue. That sin is so neat. 17:51 All my friends, you know, are doing -- They're disobeying 17:54 their parents, and they don't get in trouble. 17:58 They've lied, and they don't really get in trouble. 18:01 And, you know, nothing bothers them, so maybe that sin is 18:04 something we should just -- it's okay to play with." 18:07 And I'm wondering if... Yeah, we may need to put a bunch 18:11 in there. And I have backup sin if we need 18:14 it, too. [ Laughter ] 18:18 Yeah, it's going. It's going there. 18:19 We might need a little bit more, and I'll just keep telling a 18:22 little bit more here as we put some in here. 18:25 But sin can get in your life. Does anybody know, though, how 18:28 you are to get rid of the sin in your life? 18:31 >> [ Speaks indistinctly ] 18:34 >> Oh, who wants to answer there? I think we got -- How do you get 18:36 rid of sin in your life? Oh, I heard Jesu-- Yeah, what? >> [ Speaks indistinctly ] 18:42 >> You dump the water out. Ha ha! [ Laughter ] 18:46 What's that? 18:48 >> By being good? >> By being good. 18:51 Those are really interesting ways to try to get sin out of 18:53 your life. What do you think over there, 18:55 young lady? >> [ Speaks indistinctly ] 19:00 >> Wow! I don't know if you heard 19:03 that -- if you dump the water out into someone else's cup. 19:06 That is profound. [ Laughter ] 19:10 This is ama-- You guys should do this at home. 19:12 [ Laughter ] Well, I got to let you in on a 19:16 little secret -- there's only one way to get rid of the stain, 19:20 the sin, the bad things in your life, and we got to know what 19:23 that is because someday -- Oh, you think you know? 19:25 >> Pray. >> We pray. 19:27 Okay, but we got to pray something specific. 19:29 >> Put a chemical in it. >> You put a chemical in there. 19:31 You're getting closer, but that's not -- What do you think? 19:34 >> We ask God to forgive us. >> You ask God to forgive you. 19:37 That's right. And I actually -- I have that 19:40 forgiveness in a bottle right here. 19:42 Look at that little bottle! I have in here the power of 19:47 Jesus. In fact, it's Vitamin C -- 19:49 "Vitamin Christ." And I'm just gonna take a little 19:53 bit of that, and let's see if it's powerful enough to get rid 19:56 of the stain in one of these persons' lives. 20:01 And we mix it around... >> Whoa! 20:04 >> ...and it's all clear. Wow! 20:08 Did it matter what the sin was? >> No. 20:10 >> Nope. >> It's magic. 20:13 >> No, it's not magic. It's chemistry. 20:16 [ Laughter ] Thank you for saying that. 20:22 What about this person? They were a little bit bigger. 20:24 Did the sin matter? No, it's gone there, too. 20:28 And this person, well, they had a different type of sin. 20:30 Did it matter? No, see, Jesus -- that's why He 20:33 came and died, because Jesus is the special magic, the 20:39 chemistry -- however you want to explain it -- that will come and 20:42 take away the sin of the world. It doesn't matter who you are. 20:46 Sin is sin. Yeah, this one doesn't -- well, 20:50 doesn't have too much blue in it, but, you know, it's still 20:54 sin. And God wants to get rid of that 20:56 in there, too. And it's all gone. 20:58 >> [ Speaks indistinctly ] >> There's a little blue on top? 21:00 [ Whispering ] It'll go away, trust me. 21:02 It will go away. [ Normal voice ] Now, hey, 21:04 here's the big sin problem right here. 21:07 Couldn't I just put that back in and the sin can go back and 21:10 these people right here would be sinful again? 21:14 This is why we're all coming to church and why we're so excited 21:17 and why, as Adventists here, we know that, someday, Jesus is 21:20 just gonna get rid of the whole sin problem, okay? 21:24 And the whole sin problem is just gonna go away. 21:28 And that's why I got a lid on this so we can just get rid of 21:33 the sin problem -- the source of it. 21:35 >> Whoa! [ Applause ] 21:43 Okay. Now, I heard this is PMC. 21:46 It's a big church, lots of people, and I heard that you got 21:50 to go big or go home. And so, actually, I got 21:54 something bigger here. [ Grunts ] 21:59 >> Whoa! >> Whew! 22:04 Do you think this little bottle can take care of all of that? 22:08 >> Yes! >> You guys are learning to have 22:11 faith there. You bet. 22:14 Oh, I hope so. I'm gonna just dump it out. 22:17 Jesus poured out His whole life for you and for me and for the 22:21 whole world. And let's see -- And lift with 22:24 the legs, not with the back. [ Straining ] This is pretty 22:27 heavy. Let's see if we can get rid of 22:29 it. [ Normal voice ] Is it going 22:32 away? >> Yes! 22:33 >> Yeah? There it goes! 22:37 Don't worry -- I have some backup Jesus if it's not enough. 22:40 [ Laughter ] >> [ Speaking indistinctly ] 22:44 >> It's gone. That's gone away. There'll be a little bit in 22:46 there. Don't look too closely. 22:50 There'll be some scars that might remain. 22:54 Hey, this was really cool. We learned something amazing. 22:57 It doesn't matter what the sin is. 22:58 Jesus can get rid of it. And you guys can see it? 23:00 It doesn't matter who you are. Jesus can get rid of your sin. 23:03 You have to ask, you have to repent -- trust that Jesus can 23:05 take care of it. 23:07 You guys have been great listeners. Let's have a prayer to end our 23:11 story time. Dear God in heaven, thank You for making this amazing world -- 23:15 the only world that we know of that has water everywhere on top of it. 23:19 And we have so much inside of us, Lord. It reminds us that You want to 23:22 do something big in our life and in this world. You want to get rid of the sin 23:27 in this world so that we can go home with You someday -- so we go big, so we can go home with 23:32 You. Lord, bless these children so they'll learn about Your power, 23:36 Your law, and how You can get rid of the sin in their life. Bless them now, in Jesus' name. 23:40 Amen. 23:43 >> In your bulletins, on page six, we have our Scripture reading. 23:50 Let's read responsively. I'll read the light print, and join me in the bold print on 23:58 page six of your bulletin. John 10... John 4:10-15... 24:24 [ Congregation reading ] 25:09 [ Congregation reading ] 25:20 Amen. 28:48 [ Song ends ] 29:02 >> Let's pray together. Oh, God, here we are in worship, our hearts lifted up to You. 29:12 Those hymns with new words swept us heavenward. We've come to experience Your 29:21 presence... through the prayer You drew us near... 29:30 through Ryan's spot-on lesson to all of us. Thank you. 29:38 And now, with Carla and Trina and Ken, we pray the prayer they played. 29:45 "Be Thou our vision, oh, Lord of our hearts. Naught nothing be all else to us 29:54 save that Thou art -- Thou our best thought by day or by night, waking or sleeping -- Thy 30:08 presence our light." Cast the vision for us now, dear God. 30:13 In your Word, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. 30:18 Gosh. Before I plunge into this 30:20 story, I need to give a shout-out to a young friend of 30:23 mine named Joshua Husslin -- sophomore, Andrews Academy -- 30:28 who did that artwork. Isn't that beautiful? 30:34 If you're new here, and we have a bunch of freshman parents with 30:38 their students, new students -- and faculty, who worship all 30:41 over this community. 30:43 Glad you're here, as well. But if you're new here, you don't know that -- one, two, 30:52 three -- there's one spot left. This will be the fourth year we have come up with a...theme 31:00 device for Fall Fellowship. And then the first Friday night with the freshman -- which will 31:05 be next Friday night -- that's what happens through the goal device. 31:10 And they will come here Sabbath after Sabbath or chapel after chapel, and they will remember 31:16 when they see their name. So thank you, Joshua, for moving us into this theme. 31:23 I want to tell you a story, get us going. Carmine Gallo, in his book 31:27 "The Storyteller's Secret," frames that late afternoon, March 1983 -- two men standing 31:36 on the terrace of a luxury apartment overlooking New York's Central Park -- toe to toe. 31:44 The sun is dipping in the west, over the Hudson River. And there is energy between 31:51 these two. The older man's 45 years old. He's a very successful corporate 31:56 executive -- PepsiCo. The young man, 26, dressed in blue jeans and a mock 32:04 turtleneck, has been pushing the older guy to jump ship with his corporation... 32:14 be born in a new venture. But he's lost, the young man -- absolutely no budging, no 32:21 budging from the executive. And so now the young man [Chuckling] is staring at his 32:27 running shoes, staring at the toes of his running shoes, thinking, thinking, thinking, 32:30 "I've lost," when suddenly his head jerks up and he blurts out, "Do you want to sell sugar water 32:38 for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?" 32:46 Now, of course, everybody knows the fabled story of that moment when Steve Jobs, 26, 32:51 John Sculley, PepsiCo executive 45, when the ignition of that question -- as Sculley later 33:00 described it, "a gut punch --" when the ignition of that question blended these two into 33:10 a fiery partnership that literally has changed the world, hasn't it? 33:19 "Do you want to sell sugar water, or do you want to come with me and change the world for 33:26 the better?" Two years later, Steve Jobs -- March 1983. 33:32 Two years later, Steve Jobs is fired. 12 years after he's fired, Apple 33:38 takes him back. In his first staff meeting -- Now, get this. 33:42 In his first staff meeting with the Apple team, Steve Jobs speaks these words. 33:48 Put them on the screen for you... 34:17 Here it comes... 34:28 "We believe that people with passion can change the world for 34:32 the better." 34:33 You have to believe God believes that, as well. I mean, take a look at the theme 34:38 text that was assigned to me and us for this Fall Fellowship weekend. 34:41 Open your Bible to Isaiah chapter 58. Isaiah chapter 58. 34:47 Theme for this Fall Fellowship -- "live holy." I tell you what, I found out who 34:55 actually joined this text to the theme. It's my friend June Price, our 35:00 chaplain here. I said, "Hey, June, did you pick that theme, that text?" 35:04 It's a perfect fit. Watch this. Because in Isaiah 58, you know what's happening here? 35:10 We have a soliloquy of God. He's doing all the talking, although he very adroitly quotes 35:15 the people in buttressing his point. But the fact is, you don't get 35:20 the point with just this dynamite text. Let's read the text and see what 35:28 this sign high overhead has to do with these words of God. This is Isaiah 58. 35:32 Open your Bible to Isaiah 58:11. I'm in the NIV. Any Bible you have is fine. 35:37 If you didn't bring a Bible, track this one, please. Pull the pew Bible out. 35:40 It'll be page 500. 35:42 Okay, God speaking... 36:00 And what God has launched into -- and we don't get this with just that text -- is an 36:04 intense quid-pro-quo conversation. You know quid pro quo -- Latin, 36:09 "This for that." God says, "If you do this, I'll do that. 36:12 If you do this, I'll do that." We need to get a feel for that before this promise, and so I'm 36:17 gonna ask you to do something -- We don't read usually this much in a passage, but let's go back 36:22 to verse 1, Isaiah 58. Go up to the top of the chapter. Let's read this. 36:25 Let's get -- sense the drama, the tension mounting as God moves to our theme text for 36:31 Fall Fellowship 2016. 36:34 All right, verse one, God speaking -- "Shout it aloud, do 36:36 not hold back. Raise your voice like a 36:38 trumpet --" a shofar. "Declare to my people their 36:41 rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins..." 37:03 "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please," God says, 37:07 "and you exploit all your workers..." 37:56 "Then --" See, he said, "If, if, if." 37:58 If you do this, this, this, then here comes the quid pro quo. 38:01 Then you do that... 38:12 "Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry 38:15 for help, and He will say, 'Here am I --'" another quid pro quo. 38:19 Here it comes. "If you do away with the yoke of 38:22 oppression, with the pointing finger, and malicious talk..." 38:35 Then -- It's understood here. "Then the Lord will guide you 38:39 always --" our theme text -- "He will satisfy your needs in a 38:42 sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. 38:45 You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose 38:50 waters never fail." Wow! 38:53 God cuts to the chase. 38:56 And did you notice he makes the very same point that Steve Jobs made. 39:02 Put Jobs' words on the screen for you... 39:13 You know what? That sentence has Andrews University written all 39:16 over it -- people with passion who change the world for the better. 39:20 That sentence has the Seventh-Day Adventist Church written all over it -- people 39:24 with a passion who change the world for the better. That even has little old 39:28 Pioneer Memorial written all over it -- people with a passion who change the world for the 39:33 better. That's what I believe about you," God declares. 39:37 "I believe my people, with my passion, can change the world for the better." 39:43 And guess what. That's what it means -- That's what it means to live holy. 39:48 That's it -- to live with passion, to make a difference. I mean, come on, "Do you want to 39:54 sell sugar water for the rest of your life? Come with me and change the 39:58 world." That's what God's crying out here in Isaiah 58. 40:02 "Do you want to sit around and quibble over the sugar water of theological niceties and 40:06 religious debates, or do you want to come with me and change the world?" 40:09 That's clearly what live holy means. "My people, with my passion, can 40:18 change the world for the better." Oh, by the way, who in the world 40:22 gets changed? [ Chuckles ] Jesus said, "The least of these, my brothers and 40:28 sisters. 40:29 You do it to them, you do it to me. 40:30 You don't do it to them, you don't do it to me." 40:33 That's who He's just talked about in Isaiah 58, isn't that 40:35 right? Who gets changed? 40:39 The "poor lives matter" people that Pastor Torres, last 40:44 Sabbath, with passion preached about, those are the people that 40:46 God is talking about here. 40:48 Who gets changed? The marginalized, the alienated, the disenfranchised up the road 40:53 from you, God says, and they are also in your midst. Concentrate on them. 41:00 To follow God into that world, to live with passion and make a difference -- that's what it 41:04 means to live holy. Our theme. Because live that way, and, oh, 41:14 boy, does God come through with the promise. Now, this is writ large, our 41:20 theme text, verse 11. Four divine quid-pro-quo promises that, in themselves, 41:26 are a stirring portrait of God. I'm gonna run these by you, see what you think. 41:30 Verse 11, read it again... 41:41 Promise number one -- four of these. 41:43 Here comes promise number one. 41:45 God says, "I will guide you. I will guide you personally. I will guide you 41:49 institutionally." And don't you just love that word? 41:52 "I will guide you always. I'm gonna stay with you always. It doesn't matter what you've 41:57 been through. It doesn't matter what you're going through now. 41:59 No matter what, I will be there to guide you always. You know why? Because if..." 42:07 It's like that old spiritual sings -- ♪ If we ever needed the Lord 42:15 before ♪ ♪ We sure do need Him now, oh ♪ ♪ We sure do need Him now ♪ 42:23 Sing it out. >> Together: ♪ Oh, we sure do need Him now ♪ 42:27 ♪ If we ever needed the Lord before ♪ ♪ We sure do need Him now ♪ 42:36 ♪ We need Him every day and all the way ♪ >> ♪ All the way ♪ 42:43 ♪ [ Falsetto ] We need -- ♪ Oh, sorry. [ Laughter, applause ] 42:48 I tried. I saw Steve Zork over there. I figured he'd jump up. 42:51 He just said -- [ Clicks tongue ] [ Laughter ] 42:56 Hey, guys, that's where we are right now. We really need the Lord. 43:01 [ Chuckles ] We need the Lord. God says, "I got good news for you. 43:06 I will guide you always. Live holy for me. Live holy with me. 43:12 I'll guide you always." But there are four of these. That was number one. 43:15 Here comes number two -- "I will satisfy you. In fact, I will satisfy your 43:20 needs. In fact, I will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land." 43:28 Because let's be honest -- we all -- everybody, no exception -- we all experience 43:34 droughts in our lives. Some of them are short-lived. Others can be long, dry, and 43:41 debilitating. Some of you right now perhaps are going through the 43:48 sun-scorched land professionally. Mm-hmm. 43:52 Everything keeps coming up dry, stale. Your career is no longer 43:56 satisfying to you. Your job is no longer challenging. 44:01 "I'm gonna satisfy your needs in that sun-scorched place you find yourself today." 44:06 Some of you are going through the sun-scorched land in your marriage right now -- right now. 44:13 "It just -- What happened? This was here, and now it's gone. 44:17 It's dry, it's brittle, it's lifeless." Some of you are going through 44:22 the sun-scorched land spiritually, morally. The values that you once stood 44:28 for you have shoved to the side, and now there's nothing but burning sun and no water. 44:34 God says, "I will satisfy your needs. You turn to me, boy. 44:37 Girl, you turn to me, and I'll take care of you." Mm. 44:42 "I will satisfy your needs." And, oh, boy, I have to slip this in. 44:48 Because there is a -- I'll tell you, I go through these sun-scorched periods in my life. 44:55 And when I do, there's a go-to text that God has shown me. He says, "Boy, you just keep 45:01 coming back here," and I go back. 45:03 I beat a beeline to Jeremiah chapter 17. 45:07 Because it's very interesting -- And I want you to look this up, 45:09 please -- Jeremiah 17. 45:11 And this promise tacked to Isaiah 58:11, they're just like twins. 45:16 I want you to see this -- Jeremiah. I need you to see it in your own 45:20 Bible -- Jeremiah 17. We'll be right back. Jeremiah 17. 45:24 Wow. Look what God is saying. "Sun-scorched land? I'll satisfy your needs." 45:28 Watch this -- chapter 17, Jeremiah. Here it is. 45:32 Yeah, I got this place marked up all [Chuckles] over because I have been so many times back to 45:36 this. Jeremiah 17:7... 45:57 "God, do You know how long? I've hit the sun-scorched land." "No big deal to me. 46:10 You'll be like a tree planted by the water, roots out to the stream. 46:14 Now here come three negatives. Here they come. "It does not fear when heat 46:18 comes." Because heat comes -- sun-scorched land comes into 46:21 every life at some point -- professionally, morally, spiritually, maritally, 46:24 financially. It'll come to you. But, "It does not fear when heat 46:29 comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries --" I love 46:34 that. "It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear 46:39 fruit." "I will take care of you. I will satisfy your needs in a 46:44 sun-scorched land. Whatever it is you're going through right now, I will take 46:49 care of you." [ Sighs ] Come on. And by the way, this promise for 46:57 living in a sun-scorched land is a promise for America, too. I don't know if you've slept 47:03 through the summer. America's in trouble. I'll tell you what America is 47:11 facing -- a sun-scorched land that is rapidly approaching spiritual drought and moral 47:16 famine. The ancient prophet Amos predicted a day like this would 47:22 come. God says, "I want you to get this down so that, when it 47:25 comes, they'll know I saw it coming." 47:27 Amos 8:11... 47:38 "People will stagger from sea to --" shining -- "sea and 47:43 wander from north to east, searching for the word of the 47:46 Lord, but they will not find it." 47:49 Ladies and gentlemen, this is the perfect hour in this 47:52 civilization's history to claim our legacy as the flagship 47:55 daughter of Battle Creek College, founded in 47:58 1874. 47:59 Let's claim it. And 3,000 students? My Lord. 48:03 3,000 students moving out into a sun-scorched community, a sun-scorched nation, a 48:08 sun-scorched planet -- this is the hour. "Live holy for me," God says. 48:17 "You live holy for me... I'll take care of you. I will guide you. 48:24 I will satisfy you." Here comes number three. "I will strengthen you." 48:31 The King James reads, "I will make fat your bones." 48:37 Anybody here want fat bones? [ Laughter ] God, you could've gotten our 48:41 attention with something more than that. "I'll make fat your bones." 48:46 Of course, we miss the point. God's dealing -- His promise -- with the infrastructure -- our 48:52 personal infrastructure, our institutional infrastructure. God is saying, "I will 48:57 strengthen you from the inside out --" good news for those of you -- and you are here -- for 49:02 those of you who are burning the midnight oil to balance your department's budget. 49:08 "I will take care of you. I will strengthen that infrastructure --" good news for 49:14 you who are trying to balance this congregation's budget. "I will take care of you. 49:19 I will strengthen that infrastructure --" good news for you who have been tasked to 49:25 balance the budget of this university. "I will take care of you. 49:31 And I will strengthen your infrastructure. Live holy for me." 49:37 Four profound promises from God on the eve, on the cusp of a new year. 49:41 And here comes final promise, number four. 49:44 God says, "I will flourish you." You say, "Dwight, I just read 49:47 that. There's nothing about flourish 49:49 in that." Are you kidding? 49:51 The last two lines in verse 11, if they don't have "flourish" 49:54 written all over them, then you tell me what they're all about. 49:57 What are the last two lines? Put them on the screen... 50:09 On the eve of this new year, God says, "That's the future I have for you, Andrews University. 50:15 You live holy for me, and I will flourish you. I will flourish you like my 50:22 favorite garden on Earth. You will be fresh and thick and verdant. 50:27 You will be a vegetable garden of red and yellow and orange and 50:30 green and purple and brown and white and row after row of 50:33 nature's tastiest delicacies. You will flourish with moral 50:38 fruit. You will flourish with 50:40 intellectual fruit. You will flourish with spiritual 50:43 fruit. You will flourish because you're 50:46 my garden, and I have a built-in sprinkler system that will keep 50:49 you fresh." 50:52 That's what that sign is all about -- a built-in sprinkler system for this institution. 50:59 Like a well-watered garden, like an artesian well, like a spring that never runs dry... 51:09 "And so where do I find a spring like that?" the pretty woman asks the stranger with the dark 51:15 eyes and the gentle smile -- [ Chuckles ] he, a Jew, sitting on the mossy lip of this well 51:22 near Sychar, Samaria. Ken Gire, in his wonderful book, "Intimate Moments With the 51:29 Savior," picks up the story with this beautiful word picture -- cannot be improved upon. 51:34 So I'm gonna read it to you, but so that you don't get bored with me reading it, I'm gonna put a 51:40 picture you have never seen in your life of Jesus and the woman at the well on the screen right 51:45 now. So you look at that picture, and let me read this to you. 51:49 "The Palestinian sun glares its impartial eye upon both this nameless Samaritan woman and 51:55 upon the Savior of the world. Through sheer curtains of undulating heat she comes. 52:01 She, too, is weary -- not so much from the water jar she carries on her head as from the 52:07 emptiness she carries in her heart. The torrents of passion, once 52:11 swift in her life, have now run their course. She's weathered and worn, her 52:16 face eroded by the gullies of a spent life. That she comes at noon, the 52:20 hottest hour of the day, whispers a rumor of her reputation. 52:25 She's gone from man to man like one lost in the desert, sun-struck and delirious. 52:31 She comes to Jacob's Well, her empty water jar a telling symbol of her life. 52:38 As her eyes meet the Savior's, He sees within her a cavernous aching, a cistern in her soul 52:47 that will forever remain empty unless He fills it. Yet to her, an anonymous woman 52:55 with a failed life, He gives the most profound discourse in Scripture on the subject of 52:59 worship. But equally remarkable is what Jesus doesn't say. 53:03 He states her past and present marital status, but makes no reference to her sin. 53:08 He gives no call to repent. He presents no structured plan of salvation. 53:13 He offers no prayer. But with the words, 'I who speak to you am He,' Jesus brings her 53:22 back to face the Giver and His remarkable gift, living water -- not a wage to be earned, not a 53:32 prize to be won, but a gift to be received. To her, this stranger was first 53:38 simply "a Jew..." then "sir..." then "a prophet." 53:48 And then she sees Him for who He really is -- Messiah. And with her heart overflowing 53:58 with living water, she starts to run -- slowly at first, then as fast as her new legs will take 54:05 her." So, let's end with Jesus' incredible offer to the woman at 54:13 the well. Turns out His offer is a line drawn right out of Isaiah 58:11. 54:23 Take a look at this. It's not our [Indistinct] New provost just read it a 54:27 moment ago. I want you to end in John four, please, John four. 54:32 John four. We'll pick up the narrative in John 4:11... 54:48 "And Jesus answered --" verse 13 -- "'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again...'" 55:06 The "artesian well." Ladies and gentleman, you have 55:08 just met Him. 55:09 He is the Lord Jesus Christ, a spring that never runs dry. In fact, He is so much the 55:16 artesian well that, even when He dies on the cross, the water is still flowing. 55:24 He's made every provision for you and me to live holy for Him. The water still flows. 55:34 "Desire of Ages," on this moment -- "Jesus did not convey the idea that merely one 55:39 draft --" one drink -- "of the water of life would suffice the receiver. 55:43 He who tastes of the love of Christ will continually long for 55:47 more; but he seeks for nothing else. 55:49 The riches, honors, and pleasures of the world do not 55:52 attract her. The constant cry of her heart 55:54 is, 'More of thee...' Every human resource and 55:58 dependence will fail. The cisterns will be emptied, 56:02 the pools become dry; but our Redeemer is an inexhaustible 56:06 fountain --" an artesian well. "We may drink, and drink again, 56:11 and ever find a fresh supply..." 56:28 Amen. 56:30 And so, Andrews University... this is the Gospel truth for us. This is the Gospel truth for you 56:41 and me, and that is we will only live holy when we drink deeply of the Lord Jesus Christ. 56:58 Amen. 57:02 >> I wanted to take an extra moment to thank you for joining us in worship today. 57:06 It's by the continued support from viewers like you that we're able to bring this telecast. 57:10 Today I want to invite you, though, to share with us how this ministry has blessed you. 57:15 Truth is, I get inspiring notes, e-mails, letters from viewers literally all over the world, 57:19 sharing with us how God has blessed them through this program, and I'd love to hear 57:24 from you, as well. 57:25 It's not that hard -- simple, really. 57:27 Just visit our website, newperceptions.tv. 57:30 It's one word -- newperceptions.tv. 57:33 And click on the contact link at the top of the page. 57:36 Shoot me that e-mail. Once again, thank you for being 57:38 with us. 57:40 Thank you, by the way, for your own support. That support is what keeps this 57:43 telecast, week after week, reaching America, reaching North America, and reaching the 57:49 planet. That kind of generosity that you share is a huge boost and 57:53 blessing to us. And I hope you'll join us right here next time 'cause we'll be 57:58 here. In the meantime, God be with you and bless you real good. 58:06 ♪♪ |
Revised 2016-10-12