Sabbath School Study Hour

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants:

Series Code: SSH

00:35 Good morning, friends, and welcome again
00:36 to Sabbath School Study Hour
00:38 here at the Granite Bay Seventh-day Adventist Church
00:40 in Sacramento, California.
00:42 A very warm welcome to our online members
00:45 and our friends who are joining us
00:46 for our study time across the country
00:48 and literally around the world, a very warm welcome.
00:52 Thank you for studying with us today.
00:54 Also, I'd like to welcome our regular church members,
00:56 our Sabbath School members, and our visitors
00:58 who are here in person.
01:00 Now as you know, over the past few weeks,
01:02 we've been studying through a lesson
01:04 quarterly dealing with the subject of unity.
01:07 It's actually entitled "Oneness in Christ."
01:09 And we'll continue that theme this morning.
01:12 Today, we'll be looking at lesson number 11
01:15 if you're following along in the book.
01:16 It's entitled "Unity in Worship."
01:19 Unity in Worship, lesson number 11.
01:21 Now for our friends who are joining us,
01:22 if you don't have a copy of the lesson quarterly
01:25 but you'd like to study along with us,
01:27 you can download today's lesson
01:29 simply by going to lesson.aftv.org.
01:35 That web address is lesson.aftv.org,
01:38 and you can download lesson number 11,
01:41 and you'll be able to study along with us.
01:43 We also have a free offer that goes along with our study.
01:46 It's entitled "The Search for the True Church."
01:49 And this is our free offer for those who are viewing.
01:51 If you'd like to receive it in North America,
01:53 all you have to do is call 866-788-3966
01:58 and ask for offer number 134.
02:01 And if you'd like to receive
02:02 a digital download of this book,
02:05 all you'll need to do is text the code SH115
02:10 to the number 40544, and you'll be able
02:14 to then download a digital copy of the book,
02:17 "The Search for the True Church."
02:19 Well, before we get to our study this morning,
02:21 we always like to begin by lifting our voices in song.
02:25 I'd like to invite our song leaders to come,
02:26 and they'll lead us in our music this morning.
05:01 Thank you so much for singing along with us,
05:03 and we will continue our Christmas songs next time.
05:06 Right now that Pastor Ross
05:08 is going to have our opening prayer.
05:11 Dear, Father, once again we are grateful
05:13 for the opportunity to gather in Your house
05:15 and study Your Word.
05:16 And even though it's rainy outside,
05:18 we are grateful for a warm dry place
05:20 where we can open up the Word.
05:22 And, Father, we ask for the Holy Spirit
05:24 to come and guide our hearts and our minds
05:26 talking about such an important theme
05:28 found throughout the Bible, Unity in Christ.
05:30 So bless our time today.
05:32 In Jesus' name, amen.
05:35 Our lesson this morning is going to be brought to us
05:37 by Pastor Doug.
05:40 Welcome, friends, to the Granite Bay Church
05:43 and to our Sabbath School Study Hour.
05:45 Glad to see each of you today,
05:46 and want to welcome always
05:48 those who are watching via the Internet
05:50 or Facebook or from around the world,
05:52 some are watching on satellite television,
05:54 it's on the 3ABN, Hope channel, and number of others.
05:58 And we're just glad you're tuning in with us.
06:00 We also want to welcome those
06:01 who are online members of the Granite Bay Church.
06:04 There are folks who are isolated
06:06 in different parts of the world,
06:08 and we just want to send you a special greeting.
06:10 You might be in that category.
06:12 There are some people that have no local church
06:13 they can attend,
06:14 and we do our best to try to connect with folks
06:16 and give them a sense of belonging
06:18 by being one of our online or digital members.
06:22 If you'd like to know more about that,
06:23 you can simply go to the Granite Bay website
06:26 which is GraniteBaySDA.org and inquire about that.
06:31 We want to try and do what we can
06:33 to nurture and encourage you.
06:35 So our lesson today...
06:37 It could be an interesting one, Unity in Worship.
06:42 You know what one of the most divisive things
06:44 is in churches?
06:46 Worship styles.
06:48 And so our lesson is about Unity in Worship.
06:52 And we have a memory verse
06:54 and our memory verse comes to us
06:55 from the Book of Revelation Chapter 14.
06:58 This is part of our message to the world,
07:00 part of the three angels' message.
07:03 Revelation 14:6-7, it's a long one
07:06 but I'd like if you could say it with me.
07:08 If you're a good Adventist worth your salt,
07:10 you'd probably know this by heart already.
07:12 You ready? Revelation 14:6-7.
07:15 This is The New King James Version.
07:17 "Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven
07:22 having the everlasting gospel
07:25 to preach to those who dwell on the earth,
07:28 to every nation, tribe,
07:30 tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice,
07:34 'Fear God and give glory to Him
07:36 for the hour of His judgment has come,
07:39 and worship Him who made the heaven,
07:43 and earth, the sea, and springs of water.'"
07:47 A call to go to the world
07:49 to return to the worship of the Creator
07:52 is to proceed to the second coming.
07:54 After this message goes to the world and it says,
07:57 "I saw one sitting in the clouds of heaven
08:00 like the Son of Man,"
08:01 talks about the coming of Jesus.
08:02 So this, talking about worship
08:05 and this focus on worshipping the Creator
08:08 in spirit and in truth
08:10 is going to be the core of our lesson today.
08:13 So I thought it's appropriate for us
08:16 as we delve into the subject of unity in worship
08:19 to just talk a little bit about what is worship.
08:22 The word worship comes from the word worth-ship.
08:27 It's Middle English word,
08:29 and it means a reverent love, honor, esteem
08:36 and...
08:38 Yeah, I'm OCD, I saw something around my jacket, sorry.
08:41 Devotion that is accorded to a deity, an idol,
08:46 or a sacred object, the ceremonies, prayers,
08:49 or other religious forms
08:50 by which this love is expressed,
08:52 ardent devotion or adoration.
08:56 Worship means to honor...
08:57 This is Merriam Webster's Dictionary.
08:59 To honor or reverence
09:00 as a divine being of supernatural power
09:03 or to regard with great or extravagant respect,
09:06 honor, or devotion following up with performing
09:09 or taking part in worship or acts of worship.
09:13 Some of the thesaurus entries for worship are to revere,
09:17 to adore, to love.
09:19 So when we come to church, we say,
09:21 we're going to church or we're going to worship God,
09:25 what are we doing?
09:27 Well, worship is really the confluence,
09:29 it's the combination of several things
09:31 where we demonstrate our adoration,
09:34 our reverence, our love, our devotion for God,
09:38 our appreciation for His thinking of us.
09:42 And this is done with a spirit of humility
09:46 because there is none greater than God.
09:48 Amen? Amen.
09:50 So we come into His presence, there should be an awe,
09:53 a respect.
09:55 And I'm always...
09:56 You know, a pastor's job
09:57 is to always try to help people understand
09:59 that when we gather together
10:01 in a formal sense to worship God,
10:03 it shouldn't be frivolous,
10:06 there should be a sense...
10:07 That doesn't mean you never smile,
10:08 you never laugh, you sing,
10:09 but it should be... There should be a respect,
10:11 a sense of the awesomeness
10:14 of the One to whom we're offering worship.
10:17 "The Lord is in His holy temple,
10:19 let all the earth keep silent."
10:21 You know, there's a reverence there
10:23 that should be demonstrated.
10:25 So under the first section we're considering today,
10:28 talks about worshiping our Creator and our Redeemer.
10:31 Now lot of companies and organizations
10:35 and even, you know, restaurants,
10:37 they got like a mission statement.
10:39 What is the mission statement of the church?
10:45 The core mission of every church,
10:47 what would it be?
10:54 God is love.
10:56 Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
10:59 There's probably a lot of verses
11:00 you could point to and say, "What is our mission?"
11:04 You know what it is?
11:06 Worship God.
11:09 Our mission is to worship God.
11:10 Now the Bible tells us that whatever you eat,
11:12 whatever you drink, whatever you do,
11:14 do all to the glory of God.
11:16 So the goal for the Christian is in everything you do,
11:20 seek to glorify God in your life.
11:22 Let your light shine,
11:24 think of everything in the context
11:25 of "I am His representative in a fallen world,
11:29 and I want to glorify Him in a world
11:31 where the devil is trying to steal the glory of God."
11:34 So we have a mission statement.
11:36 Now we read Revelation 14:6-7,
11:39 we're going to go to Revelation 14:8-10
11:42 and you'll see how worship fits into this as well.
11:45 "And the four living creatures..."
11:46 This is Revelation 4, I'm sorry, not 14.
11:49 "The four living creatures, each have six wings,
11:53 full of eyes around and within,
11:55 and they do not rest day or night saying,
11:58 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God, Almighty,
12:01 who was and is and is to come.'
12:04 And wherever the living creatures
12:06 give glory and honor and thanks to Him,"
12:08 so part of worship is giving glory,
12:09 honor and thanks to Him, "who is seated on the throne,
12:12 who lives forever and ever,
12:14 the twenty-fours elders fall down,"
12:16 part of worship is posture, reverence,
12:20 "to Him who is seated on the throne
12:21 and they worship Him who lives forever and ever,
12:26 and they cast their crowns
12:27 before the throne saying,
12:28 'You are worthy," that's what worship is,
12:30 the worth-ship,
12:32 "You are worthy, o Lord,
12:33 to receive glory and honor and power for,"
12:36 why do we worship Him?
12:38 "You created all things and by your will,
12:42 they exist and were created.'"
12:43 We are created in Him and for Him and through Him.
12:47 And so worship is recognition, an acknowledgement of that.
12:51 Now where else do you see these creatures
12:53 that are saying "Holy, holy, holy?"
12:57 How many of you know Isaiah 8 or 6 rather,
13:01 verses 1 through 8?
13:03 "Above it stood seraphim,
13:05 each one had six wings with two he covered his face,
13:08 with two he covered his feet, with two he flew.
13:11 And one cried to another and said," what they say?
13:15 These angels by the throne of God
13:16 are ever declaring, "Holy, holy, holy.
13:20 The Lord of hosts.
13:22 The whole earth is full of His glory."
13:24 And we just read there in Isaiah
13:25 where it talks in Chapter 4
13:27 about these four creatures around the throne of God.
13:29 Do you remember what their faces were like?
13:32 I think one like a lion, eagle, man, a calf,
13:38 I think I messed up the order, but that's them.
13:41 And do you know if you go to Ezekiel Chapter 1,
13:44 the first chapter in Ezekiel talks about the creatures
13:48 around the throne of God that glorify God.
13:50 It doesn't say so much about what they say
13:53 but it talks about the same creatures,
13:54 the lion, the man, the calf, the eagle.
13:58 These are like different facets
13:59 or attributes of God's character,
14:02 ways that Jesus is represented.
14:06 William Temple said,
14:08 "Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God.
14:12 It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness,
14:16 the nourishment of mind with His truth,
14:18 the purifying of imagination by his beauty,
14:22 the opening of the heart to His love,
14:24 the surrender of will to His purpose,
14:27 and all of this gathered up in adoration
14:30 the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable.
14:34 And therefore, the chief remedy for the self-centeredness
14:38 which is our original sin
14:40 and the source of all actual sin."
14:43 So worship is the highest act.
14:47 Worship of God is the highest act
14:49 in which we can engage in.
14:51 It is the antithesis.
14:53 It's the opposite of what we normally do,
14:55 which is worship of self.
14:57 And so it pulls us out of our self
15:00 and it directs our attention to the Creator,
15:02 the way it should be in the beginning.
15:05 All right.
15:06 So now we're going to talk a little bit
15:08 about false worship.
15:09 And someone's going to read...
15:10 Diane, are you going to be the first?
15:11 Someone's going to read a verse for me in just a moment.
15:13 Let's start with...
15:15 Does the devil like to kidnap
15:17 or hijack the worship that belongs to God?
15:20 He does.
15:21 You see an example of that here in Matthew 4:8.
15:25 Did it happen in the beginning with Cain and Abel?
15:28 Devil trying to corrupt true worship
15:33 and hijack true worship.
15:36 And it happens in the beginning of the ministry of Christ.
15:38 Matthew 4.
15:40 "And again, the devil took Him up
15:42 to an exceeding high mountain
15:43 and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world
15:45 and their glory, and He said to Him,
15:48 'All these things I'll give You
15:50 if You will fall down and worship me.'"
15:53 So what does the devil want?
15:56 "Worship me."
15:58 He wants to be God.
15:59 And Jesus said, "Away with you, Satan,
16:02 for it is written,
16:03 'You shall worship the Lord your God
16:05 and Him only shall you serve.'"
16:08 Have you ever gotten a letter from somebody,
16:10 and you know that there were something heavy
16:11 coming in the letter,
16:12 and you keep waiting for the shoe to drop?
16:14 And sometimes, you can go to the end of letter
16:15 and finally they'll tell you
16:16 what the real purpose of that letter is.
16:19 They try to soften you up,
16:20 they wait until the end, then they reveal
16:23 what the real request is in the letter.
16:25 They get to the bottom line,
16:27 they call it the moral of the story
16:28 or the punch line in the joke.
16:30 We just got to wait till the end.
16:32 So what was the last of the three temptations
16:34 that Jesus gave... or the devil gave Jesus?
16:37 Worship me, that's what it was all about.
16:40 Finally, when Jesus said He knew who he was,
16:43 he didn't hold back anymore,
16:44 he said, "Look, you don't have to die on the cross.
16:46 We can settle this all right now."
16:49 He says, "You want the world, I'll give you the world.
16:51 Just worship me, recognize that I am God."
16:55 And that's at the core of all false worship.
16:58 The devil is wanting to be God. All right.
17:00 Please go ahead, read for us the next verse.
17:03 Revelation 13:12,
17:06 "And he exercises
17:07 all the authority of the first beast
17:09 in his presence
17:10 and causes the earth
17:12 and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast
17:16 whose deadly wound was healed."
17:18 So now you get to the end of the Bible
17:20 and what's the big battle over?
17:23 It's all about worship.
17:24 Who are we going to worship?
17:25 Are we going to worship God?
17:26 The devil is wanting that supreme worship,
17:30 and he's threatening to get it by force.
17:32 Now, can you force true worship?
17:38 I'll just tell you,
17:39 I'm reading a very interesting book
17:40 right now,
17:42 and it's called Roger Williams
17:44 and the Birth of the American Soul.
17:47 And it's talking about the struggle
17:49 that our country went through when it was founded
17:51 because he realized the Church of England
17:52 and even the Puritans that came from England to America,
17:56 they compelled people to go to church.
17:59 They compelled people to worship.
18:01 They physically punched and sometimes mutilated people
18:04 that did not worship.
18:06 And William said, "That's not right.
18:07 You cannot make people love God.
18:09 If you force people to come to church
18:11 who don't love God, you corrupt true worship
18:14 because you get people there that don't want to be there."
18:17 And, of course, there's always some kids
18:18 in that category, right?
18:20 But you know, I'd still remember the time
18:22 we're trying to train them up in the way they should go.
18:25 But the devil is forcing worship.
18:28 Can you force true worship?
18:30 It must be voluntarily given to adore the Lord.
18:36 And then you go to Revelation 14, it says,
18:39 "This third angel followed saying with a loud voice,
18:42 'If anyone worships the beast and his image,
18:45 and receives his mark on his forehead or his hand,
18:48 he himself will drink the wine of the wrath of God
18:50 which is poured out with full strength
18:52 into the cup of His indignation,
18:54 and they have no rest day or night
18:56 who worship the beast and his image."
18:59 Now Jesus is coming to me and I'll give you what?
19:02 Rest.
19:04 What's the state of those who worship the beast?
19:07 No rest.
19:09 God's people keep the Sabbath, love the Lord, rest.
19:14 "Great peace have those that love Him."
19:17 Those who worship the beast and his image?
19:19 No rest.
19:21 You notice that difference there?
19:24 And so the most fearful curse that's pronounced on any humans
19:28 in the Bible is in Revelation 14.
19:29 People always think, "I don't like the Old Testament,
19:31 it's full of plagues and cursing."
19:33 But, you know, there's pretty serious plagues
19:35 and curses in the New Testament too.
19:37 And the most fearful plague
19:38 and cursing is pronounced on those
19:39 who worship wrongly.
19:42 So we've got to know the difference
19:43 between true worship and wrong worship
19:45 because the consequences are pretty severe.
19:48 True worship must be given to God from the heart
19:51 because He's worthy.
19:53 False worship is compelled,
19:55 and the devil tries to extract it by force.
19:58 Did Jesus ever tell anybody when He said, "Come,
20:00 follow Me," if they chose not to follow Him,
20:02 did He tell the disciples, "Go, beat them up?"
20:06 You remember when James
20:08 and John came to Jesus, they said,
20:09 "We found somebody who was teaching in Your name,
20:12 and he didn't follow us.
20:13 We told him, 'You're not allowed,
20:14 you're not licensed to do that, you can't do it."
20:17 And what did Jesus say, "Don't forbid them.
20:22 No man can speak well in My name and be against Me."
20:26 Jesus never used force.
20:27 The rich young ruler walked away from Jesus.
20:29 Jesus said, "Follow Me,
20:30 you'll have treasure in heaven."
20:32 He walked away, Jesus was sad, but He didn't clobber him,
20:36 He didn't force him, He didn't have him arrested.
20:39 And so Jesus' attitude was an invitation to follow.
20:43 He doesn't force. True worship cannot be forced.
20:46 The devil in the last days tries to force,
20:50 he tried to bribe even Jesus.
20:52 He said, "I'll bribe You to worship me."
20:55 Now, you know, some pastors still do that today.
20:58 "If you worship the Lord,
20:59 He's going to make you healthy, wealthy, and wise.
21:02 He's going to make you rich,
21:03 you'll get a new house and a pickup truck
21:05 if you worship God and donate to our ministry."
21:09 Is that worship?
21:10 Trying to bribe people?
21:13 Or even if someone says,
21:14 "I'll worship you if you heal me."
21:17 Do you remember one man came to Jesus and in his heart
21:19 he was thinking, "My son is sick and if He heals my son,
21:22 then I'll worship Him."
21:24 And Jesus knew what his thought was, He said,
21:26 "Except you see signs and wonders,
21:27 you will not believe."
21:29 And the father responded, "Lord,
21:30 come down and heal my son, ere he die."
21:33 And the Lord healed his son, He says,
21:35 "But your worshiping Me was conditional
21:38 on your getting what you want."
21:40 How many of you know people that say, "You know,
21:42 if God will just heal my wife, my child, then I'll love Him."
21:47 It's a conditional worship, isn't it?
21:50 They're making deals with God.
21:51 And that's what the devil did, "I make you a deal."
21:55 He said, "Come on down, I'll make you a deal."
21:58 Revelation 16, it says, "So the first went,"
22:03 these angels that poured out the vials,
22:06 "he went and poured out his bowl upon the earth,
22:10 and a foul and a loathsome sore
22:12 came upon the men
22:14 who had the mark of the beast
22:15 and those who worshiped his image."
22:18 So it's telling us that plagues fall upon those
22:20 who worship falsely.
22:22 I don't want to spend much more time on that.
22:25 But go to Revelation 13:15.
22:27 "He grants power to give breath
22:29 to the image of the beast that
22:31 the image of the beast should both speak
22:32 and cause as many as would not worship..."
22:34 So what's this big battle about in Revelation?
22:37 It's about worship.
22:38 "Those who would not worship the image of the beast
22:40 should be killed."
22:42 Now where else do we see that in the Old Testament?
22:45 Was there a king who said, "If you don't worship my image,
22:47 you will be killed?
22:49 What was his name?
22:50 It's always fun to say that name, isn't it?
22:53 I remember, the first time I got it right,
22:55 I felt pretty good.
22:57 Nebuchadnezzar.
22:58 He said, "Worship my image or you will be killed."
23:02 And what did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego say?
23:08 They would not because it's against
23:10 the commandments of God, idolatry.
23:12 And they said, "We have to keep God's commandments
23:14 before the commandments of the world or Babylon."
23:17 What's the issue in the last days?
23:19 Commandments of God or commandments of Babylon,
23:21 except it's spiritual Babylon.
23:24 And so same thing, battle over worship.
23:29 Did Jesus tell us this is going to happen again
23:30 in the last days?
23:32 Have you read in John 16:2?
23:34 Christ said, "They will put you out of the synagogues,"
23:38 they did that to the apostles too,
23:40 "yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you
23:43 will think he offers service to God."
23:45 Do you know half the New Testament
23:47 was written by someone
23:48 who thought he was worshipping God
23:50 when he killed Christians?
23:52 Isn't that right?
23:54 Paul, Saul.
23:56 When he was helping kill Stephen and others, he thought,
23:58 "This is... I'm worshipping God.
24:00 I'm doing what God wants."
24:02 And he was deceived.
24:05 Now, here, we're going to venture on some dangerous
24:09 ground here.
24:11 When we come together here in church and we worship
24:13 the several things we do...
24:15 Matter of fact, I want to jump to that first
24:18 and just talk about what are some of the ways
24:20 that we worship.
24:23 When we worship the Lord,
24:25 we worship God with our giving...
24:29 Is there a scripture for that?
24:32 Let me just give you a couple...
24:33 Somebody's going to read for me 1 Samuel 1:3.
24:36 See, I'm jumping around.
24:38 1 Samuel 1:3, you got that?
24:39 Get ready whoever's got that one.
24:42 I'm going to read Psalm 96:8.
24:44 "Give to the Lord the glory due His name.
24:47 Bring an offering, and come into His courts of worship."
24:51 You notice the connection right there?
24:53 Bring an offering, come into His courts,
24:55 and worship.
24:57 Is there often a connection between showing our love
25:00 for God, our adoration, and giving?
25:03 Doesn't God show His love for us by giving?
25:05 "God so loved the world He gave..."
25:08 Do you sometimes show love for your kids by giving time
25:12 and other things?
25:14 All right. Go ahead. Please read.
25:16 "This man went up from the city
25:20 yearly to worship and sacrifice
25:24 to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh."
25:27 So here you've got. This is Elkanah.
25:30 He goes up to worship and sacrifice.
25:32 Is giving connected with worship?
25:35 Do we worship the Lord sometimes in a time or place?
25:41 Yeah.
25:42 Isaiah 66, "It will come to pass
25:44 that from one new moon to another
25:46 and one Sabbath to another,
25:48 all flesh will come and worship before Me."
25:50 On a particular time and place,
25:53 before the Lord we come to worship.
25:54 So when we come on Sabbath, we are worshipping in a place,
25:57 we come to this place that is especially set aside
26:01 to worship God.
26:04 Do we sometimes worship with our witness?
26:08 The way that you witness for the Lord,
26:09 are you worshipping?
26:11 If you're going out, letting your light shine,
26:12 is that part of your worship?
26:15 We teach in Amazing Facts Evangelism,
26:17 we're teaching worship.
26:18 I told you, the motto for the Christian
26:20 is worship God.
26:22 Psalm 96, "Oh, sing to the Lord a new song.
26:25 Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
26:26 Sing to the Lord, bless His name.
26:28 Proclaim His good news
26:30 and His salvation from day to day.
26:32 Declare His glory among the nations."
26:35 We are proclaiming and declaring His wonders
26:38 among all the people, among the nations.
26:41 Part of worship, we just read that,
26:43 is to sing and to declare the goodness of God
26:47 with your witness, you worship.
26:50 And do we worship in posture?
26:55 Our physical posture?
26:56 You know, people, I don't think,
26:57 think very often about...
26:59 You speak with your body language.
27:03 You know, you see the kids in class,
27:06 and my teacher was always like throwing books at me
27:08 because I'd be slumped down halfway, slid out of my chair,
27:12 and they would say, "Sit up.
27:14 Pay attention.
27:15 That's disrespectful to slouch like that in your chair."
27:19 Karen and I were in the White House
27:21 a few weeks ago.
27:23 We didn't meet with the president,
27:24 we were meeting on a religious liberty issue
27:26 with about 30 people.
27:28 And we had to wait a little while,
27:29 we're sitting in these chairs,
27:30 and so I decided to do
27:32 my high school pose in the chair.
27:34 No.
27:35 I'd sit there, you know, because it's respect.
27:39 And so when we come in for God,
27:42 do we say something with our posture?
27:45 What does it mean when we kneel?
27:47 It's submission.
27:49 And there's verses for this.
27:50 I'm just telling you,
27:51 but I should be reading the verses to you.
27:53 Exodus 4:31, "So the people believed
27:56 when they heard that the Lord
27:57 had visited the children of Israel,
27:59 that He had looked on their affliction,
28:00 and they bowed their heads and worshiped."
28:03 There you have it.
28:04 You ever heard the pastor say,
28:06 "Please bow your head as we pray?"
28:08 It's a sign...
28:09 You know, they say,
28:10 "If you're out in the jungle there in Uganda
28:12 and you run to a gorilla,
28:13 if it's the male gorilla, you know what you do?
28:15 Don't look him in the eye.
28:18 He will interpret that as a challenge.
28:20 Look down."
28:21 Even animals show what they're thinking
28:25 by their posture.
28:26 Have you ever seen a dog come up to the alpha dog...
28:29 And what does one of the regular dogs do
28:32 when it comes up to the alpha dog?
28:33 It gets down.
28:35 It says, "I'm not here to fight.
28:37 You are the big dog."
28:39 They even show it in their posture, don't they?
28:42 You know, there's something that we say,
28:43 and when you're talking to somebody
28:45 and they started going like this
28:47 and they lean back, are they saying something?
28:50 "I'm not so sure I believe you."
28:53 So we worship with our posture.
28:55 And so when we kneel, when we pray,
28:59 all of this is saying something about God.
29:04 Psalm 95:6, "Oh, come, let us worship and bow down."
29:09 There you have it.
29:12 So... Yeah.
29:15 And worship should be the most exciting thing
29:16 but sometimes we think it's boring.
29:18 I remember hearing where a boy asked his mother,
29:22 "How high can you count?"
29:23 She said, "I don't know exactly.
29:25 I've never tried.
29:26 And how high can you count?
29:27 He said, "5,426."
29:30 She said, "Why do you stop at 5,426?"
29:34 He said, "The sermon was over."
29:38 People come sometimes and they just get bored.
29:41 So we talked about worship, and witness worship,
29:44 and giving worship, and our time and place worship,
29:49 and posture worship, and music.
29:54 Now, do we find that sometimes
29:57 our churches do not have unity
30:01 in worship in music?
30:05 I've talked to a different people
30:06 in church leadership with a lot of age
30:08 and experience, I said, "You know,
30:09 what do you think the most contentious thing has been
30:11 that divides the church?"
30:13 And more times than not they'll say music.
30:18 The different ideas people have about worshipping and music.
30:24 Now because it's sometimes hard to define, people think, "Well,
30:28 you know, it's so hard to draw the line,"
30:30 so they just become exasperated and say,
30:32 "Let's not draw any lines."
30:35 But I think at the beginning,
30:36 we need to establish
30:37 if we're going to have unity in worship,
30:38 there is a right way and there is a wrong way.
30:43 Do you remember when Saul was tormented with spirits,
30:46 King Saul?
30:48 And they finally found a young shepherd
30:52 who played skillfully and sang.
30:55 And when he came and he played for the king,
30:57 the evil spirits were driven away
31:00 by the godly-inspired music of David.
31:03 Is that a fair statement?
31:05 Biblical?
31:06 So you got the right kind of music
31:08 that has a right kind of effect,
31:10 but then you also have the wrong kind of music
31:12 that can have the wrong kind of effect.
31:15 And so there is, biblically, we see there is good music.
31:18 Was there music that was played
31:22 just before Nebuchadnezzar had everybody bow down,
31:25 he's had all these instruments of Babylon
31:27 playing Babylonian music.
31:29 And I don't know exactly what it was,
31:31 but it was the music designed to overwhelm the people
31:36 to bow down and worship inappropriately.
31:40 And so music and worship is something very important.
31:45 Some people...
31:46 We err on both extremes if I want to try to be fair.
31:52 Some people because they're afraid
31:53 they might sing the wrong kind of music,
31:55 they're afraid to ever sing a new song.
31:58 That's not biblical.
32:00 How many times does King David say,
32:01 "Sing a new song to the Lord?"
32:04 Right?
32:06 And then there's others that say, "Well, you know,
32:09 it doesn't matter as long as your heart's
32:10 in the right place,
32:11 it doesn't matter what kind of music you sing."
32:12 And so then they try to take Christian words
32:15 and put them with worldly music,
32:18 as you get both extremes that are happening.
32:21 But this is a subject
32:23 that I think we need to really pray about.
32:25 Ellen White says in the book Education, page 62,
32:28 "Music forms a part of God's worship
32:31 in the courts above and we should endeavor
32:35 in our songs of praise to approach as nearly
32:38 as possible the harmony of the heavenly choirs."
32:44 I say, "Okay, I want an audiotape of the angels,
32:47 so I'll know exactly what that sounds like."
32:50 But sometimes, I think,
32:51 we inherently know
32:54 that something would not be sung by the angels.
32:58 So you know, whenever you're thinking
33:00 about different music, say,
33:01 "Can I imagine this is something that Jesus
33:04 and the angels would sing?"
33:06 You also have to ask,
33:07 "What is this doing to me physiologically,"
33:10 'cause music actually evokes
33:12 different physiological reactions.
33:15 I've not always been a Christian.
33:16 When I was a kid, I would sometimes go to rock concerts.
33:19 And when they got all wound up in the frenzy of their music
33:22 and the speakers...
33:23 I think I still have hearing loss
33:24 because of that.
33:28 It's like madness came over the crowd
33:32 and there was all this wild behavior.
33:35 And I'm sure that the music helped instigate the behavior.
33:40 The right kind of music can help
33:42 with the right kind of behavior.
33:45 You know, why do you think you play certain songs
33:49 when an army is going to battle that are...
33:52 They're supposed to, you know, drive.
33:54 Why do you sing a lullaby to a baby?
33:59 You don't sing battle songs to a baby when you're trying
34:01 to put them to sleep, right?
34:04 Now there's a place for battle songs.
34:05 Matter of fact, some of the psalms you read
34:07 in the Bible are victory marches.
34:10 They're made for the battlefield.
34:13 And there's a song of love in the Bible.
34:17 You wouldn't sing a battle song at a romantic dinner?
34:21 You know what I'm saying.
34:22 So we all know that there's certain kinds of music
34:25 that are appropriate for certain occasions.
34:27 I'll suggest, there's music you might do
34:29 in an evangelistic meeting
34:30 that you wouldn't do in a worship service.
34:34 There's music you might do at a Christian camp
34:36 that you might not do at a worship service.
34:39 We need, I think, more education about music
34:42 so we know how can we be united in our worship
34:45 to know that there's stuff that's right
34:47 and there's stuff that isn't right.
34:50 Here's another interesting statement.
34:51 This is from the book Maranatha.
34:53 It's probably found several places
34:54 in the Spirit of Prophecy.
34:56 Maranatha, 234, "The Lord has shown me
35:00 what would take place just before the close of probation.
35:03 Every uncouth would be demonstrated.
35:05 There would be shouting with drums, music, and dancing.
35:09 The senses of rational beings would become so confused,
35:12 they cannot be trusted to make right decisions,
35:15 and this is called the moving of the Holy Spirit."
35:19 I've already seen that
35:20 because before I joined this church,
35:22 I used to worship with Pentecostal churches.
35:24 And there was a lot, some of the churches I went to,
35:26 there was music, and drums, and dancing, and shouting.
35:33 But I don't think that should be in the remnant church.
35:36 I think there ought to be reverence.
35:37 I'd love to have an amen right about now.
35:40 Because I want people listening to know that,
35:44 there is a difference here.
35:48 Let me give you some...
35:49 Someone's got Psalm 57 going to read in just a second here,
35:52 right?
35:54 I want to read something else.
35:56 What did the prophets of Baal do
35:58 just before their sacrifice?
36:01 1 Kings 18:26, "So they took the bull that was given them,
36:04 and they prepared it,
36:05 they called on the name of Baal
36:07 from morning till evening."
36:09 So all morning going for hours.
36:10 And here's what they said, for hours they repeated.
36:13 "O Baal, hear us! O Baal, hear us!
36:16 O Baal, hear us! O Baal, hear us!"
36:18 It's called vain repetition.
36:20 Jesus said, "Do not pray in vain repetition."
36:22 I don't think we should sing in vain repetition.
36:25 That doesn't mean you cannot sing
36:27 a verse a couple of times.
36:30 Even the angels go holy, holy, holy.
36:32 But for hours, they just say the same thing.
36:34 Jesus said, "Don't pray that way as the heathen do."
36:37 Become like as a hypnotic chant.
36:40 And I'll bet you anything that some of those 400 prophets
36:43 of Baal were equipped with instruments that day,
36:45 and they were pounding away as they all chanted,
36:47 "Oh, Baal, hear us! Boom, boom.
36:48 Oh, Baal, hear us. Boom."
36:50 They get everybody into a frenzy
36:51 until they cut themselves and the blood gushed out.
36:54 Music was almost certainly connected with that.
36:58 2 Timothy, "Many have a form of godliness
37:02 but deny its power,
37:04 from such we should turn away."
37:08 Go ahead, read for us.
37:10 Psalm 57:9, "I will praise You,
37:14 O Lord, among the peoples,
37:15 I will sing to You among the nations."
37:19 God wants us to be a witness and so we praise Him.
37:23 There's a singing that is appropriate.
37:25 There's some singing that is obviously
37:26 not appropriate.
37:27 You know, here's an interesting quotes.
37:30 Plato said, "Give me the music of a nation
37:33 and I will change the mind of that nation."
37:38 Confucius, "If one should desire to know
37:41 whether a kingdom is well governed
37:42 or its morals are good or bad,
37:44 the quality of its music will furnish the answer."
37:48 I know it's not Bible, we're talking Plato, Confucius,
37:50 but they were smart guys and I think they're right.
37:53 Andrew Fletcher said,
37:54 "I knew a very wise man who believed that if a man
37:57 was permitted to make all the ballads,
37:59 he need not care
38:01 who should make the laws of a nation."
38:03 If you could write the music, you wouldn't need to worry
38:05 about who wrote the laws.
38:07 We underestimate how powerful music is
38:10 and it is very much a part of our worship.
38:12 We see them singing in the Bible
38:15 right from the beginning, all the way to Revelation.
38:19 They're singing, music is a form of prayer,
38:22 it is a form of communication.
38:24 And we should be, I think there should be a reverence
38:27 in the way that we have our music
38:29 and it should be quality and...
38:32 Amen?
38:34 So that's something I just want to throw in there,
38:36 it's talking about true worship and false worship.
38:38 There's, music is definitely part of that.
38:41 Now in the first angel's message.
38:43 Revelation 14:6 and 7, "I saw another angel
38:47 flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel
38:50 to preach to those who dwell on the earth,
38:53 to every nation, tribe, tongue,
38:54 and people, saying with a loud voice,
38:57 'Fear God," there should be an awe,
38:59 a reverence, a godly fear of God,
39:02 "and give glory to Him,
39:04 for the hour of His judgment is come.'"
39:07 So part of this message is saying that, you know,
39:10 there's a judgment coming.
39:12 Worship Him who made.
39:14 Do we find that phrase,
39:19 "Sea, earth, springs of water,"
39:21 anywhere in the Ten Commandments?
39:25 And the fourth commandment that deals with what?
39:28 The Sabbath.
39:29 It talks about, "In six days the Lord
39:31 made the heaven and the earth."
39:32 And it says, it's talking about worshiping the Creator.
39:35 Something else that's in this command, it says,
39:38 "The hour of His judgment is come."
39:40 Do we sometimes behave differently
39:41 if you're standing before the judge?
39:43 It even says in Revelation,
39:45 "Behold the judge is at the door."
39:47 That's like if you go...
39:48 The judge is at the door, there should be judgments,
39:53 caution in our behavior.
39:56 And so this is part of that worship.
40:00 In Psalm 138, "I will worship towards Your Holy temple,
40:03 and praise Your name, for Your loving kindness
40:06 and Your truth, for You have magnified
40:09 Your Word above Your name."
40:11 We talk about worshiping in our witness,
40:13 worshipping in our music, worshipping in our giving,
40:16 worshipping in time and place, worshipping in posture.
40:19 What's one of the other principal things
40:21 connected with worship?
40:23 The Word. Did you catch that?
40:26 Revelation 22:9, the angel says to John,
40:30 "I am of your fellow servant, and of your brethren
40:33 the prophets, and those
40:34 who keep the words of this book, worship God."
40:39 Are we worshiping as we come together
40:41 and study His Word?
40:43 Yeah, it's like you're showing your adoration and love
40:45 by embracing the message God has given you, His word to us.
40:50 We're showing reverence for that.
40:51 We're wanting to hear what He has to say,
40:53 that's part of worship is receiving
40:55 what God has to give us.
40:58 Next section in our lesson, I'm running out of time,
41:01 breaking of bread in prayer.
41:04 You know I was reading again this week,
41:07 so often in the Bible
41:08 when there was a covenant made,
41:09 there was a meal.
41:11 Some of you remember when Laban nearly killed
41:13 Jacob his son and when Jacob ran off,
41:16 and took his wives, Laban hunted them down,
41:19 God stopped him with a dream.
41:21 Finally when they made peace together,
41:23 they made a covenant, they sealed it with a meal.
41:27 You'll see even Abraham when God made
41:28 His covenant with him, there was a sacrifice.
41:31 God often did that, Jesus the New Testament,
41:33 take, eat, He sealed a covenant with a meal.
41:37 And so breaking bread and prayer was something
41:41 that was done in the early church.
41:43 All of these continue, Acts 1:14,
41:46 "They all continued in prayer and supplication
41:48 with one accord, the women and Mary,
41:50 the mother of Jesus, His brothers,
41:53 and breaking of bread together."
41:56 So it's something that's done in fellowship,
41:57 but it's also talking about the communion service.
41:59 Now not every time it says breaking bread in Acts
42:03 is talking about the communion service.
42:06 Sometimes breaking bread meant they ate.
42:09 When Jesus walked down the hill
42:11 with the two on the road to Emmaus.
42:12 It says, "He was known to them in the breaking of bread."
42:15 It wasn't a ceremonial Last Supper.
42:17 Matter of fact, Jesus had the Lord's Supper
42:19 two days earlier,
42:20 so they weren't having another one.
42:21 It means they were going to eat together,
42:23 they called it breaking bread.
42:24 Now it's important because there's one place
42:26 in the Bible where it says in Acts 20
42:30 that they came together on the first day
42:32 of the week to break bread.
42:33 Everyone says it was a communion service
42:34 on Sunday.
42:36 Doesn't mean that.
42:37 It means they came together to eat
42:38 'cause Paul was leaving.
42:39 And it doesn't always mean it's a communion service.
42:42 Matter of fact, it says break bread
42:43 twice in that story.
42:44 They did it once that evening and once again in the morning.
42:48 So, but sometimes they definitely
42:50 did come together
42:51 and they celebrated the Lord's Supper.
42:55 Acts 4:29, he prayed and this is through verse 31.
43:01 "Now, Lord, look on their threats,
43:02 and grant to Your servants that with all boldness
43:05 we might speak Your word, by stretching out
43:07 Your hand to heal,
43:08 that signs and wonders might be done through the name
43:11 of Your holy Servant Jesus.
43:13 And when they had prayed,
43:15 the place where they were assembled together
43:16 were shaken or let that happen again.
43:19 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
43:21 and they spoke the Word of God with boldness."
43:24 They gathered together, they worship, they prayed,
43:27 they studied, and they were filled with power for what?
43:30 To be witnesses.
43:33 So we got the true worship, we got the false worship.
43:38 And let me see what I'm forgetting.
43:44 Bible study and fellowship, I just read that one.
43:51 I know I didn't get through all the lesson yet.
43:53 I've got too much here to go.
43:56 Yeah, and so part of it is worship only something
43:59 that happens on Sabbath morning.
44:02 You know, I have people that come to me and they say,
44:04 "Well, Pastor Doug, I know that you are a Sabbath keeper,
44:07 and you worship God on your Sabbath day,
44:10 but I worship God seven days a week."
44:13 And they think that they're...
44:15 Say, "Yeah, gotcha.
44:17 You worship God one day a week,
44:18 I worship God seven days a week."
44:20 And I said, "No, no.
44:21 I worship God seven days a week too."
44:25 Sabbath keeping is not just about worship.
44:27 Matter of fact I don't think you find the word worship
44:29 in the Sabbath commandment, do you?
44:32 Sabbath keeping says, "It's your resting."
44:34 If person says, I'm resting seven days a week,
44:36 that's not being holy, it's being lazy, right?
44:39 So worship is something different.
44:42 Do we worship in our homes?
44:45 Do we have private worship?
44:49 And then if you have a family or spouse,
44:51 do you have family worship?
44:55 Every night Karen and I before we go to sleep,
44:57 we pray, she typically prays.
44:59 And that last night, she went to bed before me.
45:02 And so I said, "All right, I'll be right there.
45:03 I wasn't quite done with my sermon."
45:05 So I came in, and I held hands with her, and she prayed,
45:08 I went back to my office.
45:09 But we make it a point to be religious to worship God
45:12 at the beginning and end of every day
45:13 and say, "He's our God."
45:15 I think when you do that, you're making a statement
45:17 to the angels, let's say, look, "We're His property."
45:19 We won't mess up what belong to You.
45:22 And we're acknowledging every morning, the Bible says,
45:24 "When you rise up, when you lay down,
45:28 let these words be on the post of your house,
45:31 let them be written on your hand,
45:33 let them be frontlets between your eyes,
45:35 we worship with the word."
45:36 We say, "We belong to God."
45:38 And you've got to make it a priority.
45:40 And sometimes, you know,
45:43 sometimes you can take more time.
45:44 Last night as we welcome the Sabbath,
45:46 we've got a great book we're reading,
45:47 and we read several pages in this book
45:49 and it is inspiring, and we prayed before we read,
45:51 prayed after we read, knelt down together.
45:55 And sometimes, if you're on your way to work,
45:56 it might be a quick prayer.
45:59 But you should always make it a habit to say
46:01 we're going to take time to worship
46:04 because that's part of what it means to be a believer.
46:07 Amen?
46:08 So your worship is also an attitude.
46:13 It's something you should not be ashamed
46:15 to have people see that you do publicly.
46:19 Should we hide that we pray?
46:23 I mean sometimes we're in a restaurant
46:25 and I expect, I hope that all of you thank God
46:28 for your food, and your family, and even if you're alone,
46:31 that you'll bow your head and thank the Lord.
46:34 If you're with someone else, you may pray out loud.
46:36 And Pastor Ross and I would play racquetball.
46:43 And when it's just he and I playing racquetball,
46:46 we pray together before we play.
46:49 And if you saw us play,
46:50 you'd understand why we pray together.
46:54 It's a dangerous game.
46:56 And we want to have the right spirit.
46:58 We want to make sure we're doing this for exercise.
47:01 Now we don't always, you know, if we're playing
47:02 with other people, we don't say,
47:04 "Hey, everyone stop, we're going to pray."
47:06 But I know one guy who's a Muslim
47:08 and all of a sudden the game was done,
47:09 we say, "Where Ali goes?"
47:11 So it's part of his daily prayer.
47:14 He goes off even, you know,
47:16 between games, he's going to go,
47:17 and he's going to pray to the east towards Mecca.
47:19 And I thought you know why I may not agree
47:22 with his worship, I respect that
47:26 he's not ashamed to let people know
47:28 this is a priority in my life.
47:31 Should Christians do any less
47:34 if we're at a restaurant in public?
47:37 Why not?
47:38 Take your spouse's hand or tell your family,
47:40 "Let's ask God to bless the food."
47:42 And I have had hundreds of occasions where
47:45 while I was praying, the waitress was coming back
47:47 to bring our water or something like that
47:49 and they paused there for a moment
47:50 and they see you praying, is that a bad thing?
47:53 I think it's good for Christians
47:55 to let their light shine.
47:56 Aren't the lost in the world, don't they make fools
47:59 of themselves for the devil that don't care?
48:01 Can we be fools for Christ?
48:04 You know what I mean.
48:05 Don't be ashamed. Let your light shine.
48:07 Don't let the devil intimidate you.
48:09 And so that's part of worship.
48:10 Every day in all we do, what is the...
48:14 I guess that there is, if there's a slogan,
48:16 what's the slogan of a Nike?
48:20 Used to be, "Just do it," right?
48:21 So you know that.
48:23 But do you know the slogan for Christ?
48:26 Whatever you do, whether you eat,
48:28 or whether you drink, whatever you do,
48:30 do it to the glory of God.
48:31 It's worship God.
48:32 You read Revelation, the big emphasis
48:34 in the last days is worship Him that made.
48:37 He is our Creator, He deserves our worship.
48:39 We should be united in our worship.
48:42 And isn't it wonderful when we are,
48:44 "Behold, how pleasant it is for brethren
48:47 to dwell together in unity," the Bible talks about.
48:51 Well, we've just about run out of time.
48:53 I want to take a moment to remind those
48:54 who are watching, we do have a free offer,
48:57 we'll be happy to share with you.
48:58 It's called "The Search for the True Church,"
49:00 a good book by Joe Crews.
49:02 If you want it, text this, get this via text,
49:05 you can download it by just texting "SH115"
49:09 and do that to 40544.
49:12 And you can also call 866-788-3966.
49:17 That's 866-Study-More.
49:19 Ask for offer number 134, and you'll enjoy this.
49:22 After you read it, share with a friend.
49:24 God bless you, friends.
49:25 We're out of time for today study.
49:27 And God willing, we'll do it again next week.
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50:00 and most important, to share it with others.
50:14 We're here on the beautiful coast
50:16 of the Island of Puerto Rico.
50:17 And if you were to travel east about 2000 miles, of course,
50:21 you would be out in the middle of the ocean.
50:23 But you'd also be in the middle of a mystical sea
50:25 called the Sargasso Sea.
50:27 It gets its name because of this common brown seaweed
50:31 that can be found floating in vast mass.
50:34 The area of the Sargasso Sea is about 700 miles wide
50:39 and 2000 miles long.
50:41 Now the seaweed itself is fascinating stuff.
50:44 It was first observed and called
50:45 Gulfweed by Christopher Columbus.
50:47 It gets the name Sargon from the Portuguese.
50:50 Some people use it as herbal remedies.
50:51 But out in the middle of the Sargasso Sea,
50:54 the water is some of the bluest in the world.
50:56 It's there you can see 200 feet deep in places.
51:00 It also has a great biodiversity
51:02 and ecosystem that surrounds the Sargasso Sea.
51:05 For years, scientists wondered where the American
51:08 and the Atlantic eels were breeding.
51:10 They knew the adult eel swam down the rivers out
51:13 into the Atlantic, but they never could find a place
51:15 where they reproduced.
51:16 Finally, they discovered it was out
51:18 in the middle of the Sargasso Sea.
51:20 So it's a fascinating place.
51:22 But if you are an ancient sailor,
51:23 you did not want to get stuck there.
51:28 Being caught in the doldrums was extremely difficult
51:31 for the ancient sailors.
51:33 Of course, their boats were driven by wind and sail,
51:35 and they'd be caught in the vast mass of the seaweed
51:38 that would wrap around the rudder,
51:40 barnacles would begin to grow, it's an area that is notorious
51:43 for light and baffling winds, and so they'd make no progress.
51:47 They get stuck.
51:48 The men would become extremely dispirited.
51:51 Sometimes violence and even insanity
51:53 would break out as people were trapped in the doldrums.
51:57 But, friends, perhaps sometimes you felt
51:59 that you're trapped in the doldrums.
52:01 You've gone through episodes of depression.
52:03 You feel like you're going in circles,
52:05 life seems stifling.
52:07 You know, the Bible offers good news.
52:08 There is a way out.
52:10 Bible talks about a famous character
52:12 that was trapped in a cycle of depression.
52:15 He was low as you could be.
52:16 Matter of fact, he even had seaweed
52:18 wrapped around his head.
52:19 His name was Jonah.
52:21 But God gave him a way of escape.
52:23 In Jonah 2:3-7, we read,
52:27 "For you cast me into the depths,
52:29 into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me,
52:33 all of Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
52:36 Then I said, 'I have been cast out of your sight,
52:39 yet I will look again towards Your holy temple.'
52:42 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul,
52:45 the deep closed around me,
52:46 weeds were wrapped around my head.
52:49 I went down to the moorings of the mountains,
52:52 the earth with its bars closed behind me forever,
52:55 yet you brought my life up from the pit.
52:58 O Lord, my God.
52:59 'When my soul fainted within me,
53:01 I remember the Lord, and my prayer went up to You,
53:04 into Your holy temple.'"
53:07 You know, friends, the way that Jonah got out
53:08 of his discouraging circumstance,
53:11 he turned to God and he prayed.
53:13 And if God could hear Jonah's prayers,
53:15 just think about it.
53:16 He was as far away from God as anybody could be.
53:18 He was in the belly of a sea monster
53:20 in the bottom of the ocean in the dark.
53:22 Yet he turned to God and God heard his prayer.
53:25 You know, these ancient sailors,
53:26 when they were trapped
53:27 on the deck of a ship for weeks,
53:29 stuck in the doldrums discouraged,
53:31 sometimes they would have a prayer meeting,
53:33 and pray that God would send a breeze
53:35 that would set them free, and get their boats moving.
53:38 They turn to God in prayer
53:39 and often miracles would happen,
53:41 and the wind would flutter in the sails,
53:43 and bring them out of their seaweed prison.
53:46 Friends, maybe you have been stuck in the doldrums.
53:48 Maybe you've been caught in a cycle of depression.
53:51 If God can do it for Jonah, if He can do it
53:53 for the ancient sailors, He can do it for you.
53:55 Turn to the Lord in prayer.
53:56 Trust His Spirit to blow through your soul
53:59 and to set you free.
54:16 You probably heard the expression before,
54:17 "If you don't like the weather in Texas,
54:20 just wait, it'll change."
54:22 And you've also heard,
54:23 "Everything is bigger in Texas."
54:24 The ranches, the belt buckles, the cowboy hats,
54:28 but the most famous slogan about Texas
54:31 is remember the Alamo.
54:36 The violent battles and bravery of iconic heroes
54:39 have been the stuff of legends throughout
54:41 which entire cultures often draw their identity and pride,
54:44 even long after centuries have passed.
54:46 And in Texas, the story of the Alamo
54:49 has been a rallying cry of Texas Independence
54:51 for 200 years.
54:53 One reason that Texans love to brag that
54:55 everything is bigger in Texas is, of course,
54:58 because Texas is the largest of the lower 48 US states.
55:02 It's hard to believe that this massive state
55:05 got its beginning in a very small Christian mission
55:08 during the Battle of the Alamo.
55:10 Every year, this famous mission museum receives over
55:13 two and a half million visitors from all parts of the planet
55:17 that are eager to get a good look
55:18 at this legendary site.
55:20 The Alamo played a critical role
55:22 in the Texas Revolution.
55:24 In December, 1835, Texans and Tejano volunteers
55:28 battled Mexican troops quartered in the city forcing
55:31 General Martin Perfecto de Cos to surrender.
55:34 The victorious volunteers then occupied the Alamo
55:37 and strengthened its defenses.
55:40 Famous Americans like Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie,
55:42 and Colonel William Travis, made this location,
55:45 this ancient mission, the beachhead,
55:47 the last stand in an epic battle
55:50 to win independence of Texas from Mexico.
55:53 On February 23rd, 1836, the arrival
55:57 of General Antonio Lopez Santa Ana
56:00 nearly caught them by surprise.
56:02 Undaunted, the Texans and Tejanos prepared
56:04 to defend the Alamo,
56:06 for this small ragtag group of rebels,
56:08 the youngest of who was about 16 and the oldest 75
56:11 was against the well-trained and organized Mexican army
56:15 of 6,000 plus soldiers.
56:17 It was a fierce and lopsided battle.
56:19 Yet, the small force of rebels was able to repel the troops
56:22 for 13 days.
56:25 Legend holds that with the possibility
56:27 of additional help fading, Colonel Travis drew a line
56:30 in the ground with a sword,
56:32 and asked any man willing to stay and fight,
56:34 to step over the line.
56:36 All except one crossed over.
56:39 The final assault came before daybreak.
56:41 On the morning of March 6, 1836,
56:44 the 13th day of the siege,
56:47 cannon and small arms fire from inside the Alamo
56:49 beat back several Mexican attacks.
56:52 Regrouping, Santa Anna's soldiers scaled the walls,
56:55 and rushed into the compound.
56:57 The desperate struggle continued
56:59 until the defenders were overwhelmed.
57:01 By sunrise, the battle had ended,
57:04 and the garrison was slain.
57:06 You know, historians may debate some of the details
57:08 regarding the Battle of the Alamo,
57:10 but none of them questioned the incredible sacrifice
57:12 that was made and the courage that was displayed
57:14 during that intense conflict.
57:16 They made the ultimate sacrifice,
57:19 giving their lives.
57:20 And this is why the story of the Alamo
57:22 is so inspiring and so encouraging.
57:24 You know, and that's why the Bible
57:26 is so inspiring, friends, because someone was willing
57:28 to make the ultimate sacrifice, and give his life
57:31 so that you can have freedom and eternal life.
57:34 Don't you think you could trust your life
57:35 to a friend like that, that would give everything?
57:38 The story of the gospel is a story of courage and hope.
57:41 It's a story of a God who will never leave you
57:43 without defense and support.
57:45 Jesus is the good news, and the gospel is a story
57:48 worth remembering.

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Revised 2018-12-11