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00:12 ♪♪♪ 00:22 ♪♪♪ 00:35 Luccas Rodor: Hello and welcome to our "Sabbath School 00:37 Study Hour" here in sunny Sacramento, California. 00:40 It's so good to be here with you. 00:41 Our lesson today is taught here at Granite Bay Seventh Day 00:44 Adventist Church, also in partnership with 00:46 Amazing Facts Ministries. 00:49 I'd like to welcome everyone that's here this morning, 00:50 also those who are joining us online around the world. 00:55 It's so good to have you with us. 00:57 Today we'll be studying lesson number two of our new lesson, 01:01 which is "The Least Of These," and it's called 01:05 "Blueprints For A Better World." 01:08 Now, before we get into the study of the lesson, 01:10 I'd like to offer you our quarterly. 01:12 If you haven't had the chance yet of acquiring this quarterly, 01:15 and it promises to be a very special quarterly, 01:18 please go to our online quarterly given by the church. 01:25 And, of course, you can acquire one of these also. 01:27 And before we begin our singing, I'd like to give you, 01:31 I'd like to offer you and remind you of our free offer of the 01:34 day, "A Colossal City In Space." 01:38 If you've ever had any questions about what heaven is going to be 01:40 like, I don't know if you know this, 01:42 but one amazing fact about heaven is that it is bigger. 01:44 It's larger than many countries in the world. 01:46 So, if you ever have any questions about that, 01:49 or if you'd like to understand more about that, 01:51 you can, if you're in North America, 01:53 you can call the number 866-788-3966 for a mail out, 02:00 or you can text 40544 and you can text SH122, 02:06 and we'll be happy to send that to you, 02:09 a virtual copy of this, an online copy of this. 02:13 If you're outside of North America, 02:15 you can also go to amazingfacts.org and you 02:18 can also acquire one of these. 02:19 I'd like to invite our singers which will be leading us in 02:21 song service this morning. 02:25 female: Good morning and happy Sabbath. 02:26 The song we're going to sing this morning is number 47, all 02:29 four verses, "God Who Made The Earth And Heaven," number 47. 02:34 ♪♪♪ 02:44 ♪♪♪ 02:51 ♪ God, who made the earth and heaven, ♪ 02:55 ♪ Darkness and light: You the day for work have given, ♪ 03:05 ♪ For rest the night. ♪ 03:11 ♪ May your angel guards defend us, Slumber sweet ♪ 03:17 ♪ your mercy send us, ♪ 03:22 ♪ Holy dreams and hopes attend us All through the night. ♪ 03:32 ♪ And when morn again shall call us To run life's way, ♪ 03:42 ♪ May we still, whatever befall us, Your will obey. ♪ 03:52 ♪ From the power of evil hide us, In the ♪ 03:57 ♪ narrow pathway guide us, ♪ 04:04 ♪ Never be your smile denied us All through the day.♪ 04:14 ♪ Guard us waking, guard us sleeping, ♪ 04:18 ♪ And when we die, May we in your mighty ♪ 04:28 ♪ keeping All peaceful lie. ♪ 04:34 ♪ When the trumpet call shall wake us, ♪ 04:40 ♪ Then, O Lord, do not forsake us, ♪ 04:45 ♪ But to reign ♪ in glory take us ♪ 04:50 ♪ With you on high. ♪ 04:57 ♪ Holy Father, throned in heaven, All holy Son, ♪ 05:07 ♪ Holy Spirit, freely given, ♪ 05:12 ♪ Blest Three in One: Grant us grace, ♪ 05:20 ♪ we now implore you, Till we lay our crowns before you ♪ 05:29 ♪ And in worthier strains adore you while ages run. ♪♪ 05:43 Luccas: Please bow your head with me as we say 05:44 a word of prayer. 05:47 Dear Father God, we praise you for the opportunity and the 05:49 privilege that we have of coming before you, 05:52 Lord, and learning more about you. 05:54 Thank you so much for this lesson that teaches us, 05:58 Father, how to serve, serve others, 06:01 serve the church, and serve you. 06:02 Dear God, please bless Pastor Shawn, 06:05 Pastor Brummund as he leads out for us this morning. 06:08 Help us truly understand and incorporate in our lives the 06:11 blueprints for a better world. 06:13 I ask you this in Jesus's name, amen. 06:16 As I've just mentioned, Pastor Shawn Brummund will be teaching 06:22 our lesson for us this the Sabbath. 06:24 The lesson title is "Blueprints For A Better World," 06:27 and we understand that God left a lot for us to learn in the 06:30 Bible of how to, even though in a fallen world, 06:33 live a better life, treat others better, 06:37 and ultimately serve God better. 06:39 Pastor Shawn, may God bless you as you lead out 06:41 for us this morning. 06:46 Pastor Shawn Brummund: Well, good morning to everyone. 06:47 It's good to see everybody here in the Granite Bay Seventh Day 06:51 Adventist Church and to be able to see so 06:53 many familiar smiling faces. 06:55 I know we can't see your smiling faces, 06:57 you're watching our program either online or the different 07:00 television networks, but we are always privileged to be able to 07:04 know that we are sharing our Bible study session here on 07:07 Sabbath morning with many people across the 07:10 nation, across the world. 07:11 So, a special hello to you as well, 07:13 to all our friends out in internet and TV world. 07:17 So, this morning, as Pastor Luccas has pointed out, 07:21 we're looking at lesson number two of our quarterly, 07:24 a new quarterly that we just began last week. 07:26 And it's entitled, "The Least Of These," 07:28 and we are looking at lesson number two, 07:31 which I believe starts on page 14. 07:35 And so, I'm going to invite everybody to open up to page 14 07:38 because we're going to read a key verse that introduces this 07:42 particular study and topic here this morning. 07:45 And so, we're going to go right into the middle of that page, 07:50 and you can go to your Bibles if you don't have 07:52 a lesson study with you. 07:53 Genesis chapter 12, verses 2 and 3, 07:56 Genesis chapter 12, and verses 2 and 3. 07:59 And so, let's read that instrumental 08:01 verse here together. 08:03 God is speaking to Abraham and he says, 08:06 "And I will make you a great nation, 08:08 and I will bless you and I will make your name great, 08:10 and you will be a blessing. 08:12 And all peoples of the earth will be blessed through you." 08:17 And so, this is no small verse, is it? 08:20 This is a calling. 08:22 This is a calling of God to yet another prophet. 08:25 Now, is this the first prophet that God had called? 08:28 No, if you've read your Bibles, you know that God had called 08:31 a number of prophets. 08:32 In fact, almost from the get-go ever since sin has become a 08:34 problem here on earth, ever since the devil and his angels, 08:37 his fallen angels, demons, have had full reign on this planet, 08:41 we find that God has been working actively and calling and 08:46 choosing different individuals through the centuries. 08:49 We have Enoch in Adam's generation, 08:51 the first generation of mankind. 08:53 You know, we have others. 08:55 We have Noah also was an instrumental figure and prophet. 08:59 for God far before Abraham came along. 09:03 And so, when we read the calling of Abraham, 09:05 we find here that it speaks volumes as to why God has called 09:09 and why God has chosen different prophets through the centuries 09:14 ever since sin, and evil, and the devil has been given that 09:18 free reign here upon the planet. 09:21 And so, God tells Abraham, "Listen, 09:24 I am calling you, and I'm going to make a great 09:25 nation out of you." 09:27 You know, that in itself is something special to be able to 09:29 know, "Okay, I'm going to have children, 09:31 first off, which can be a blessing. 09:33 And second off, my great, great, great, 09:35 great, great grandchildren are going to multiply to the point 09:38 where they become their own country, their own nation." 09:41 But God doesn't stop there, does He? 09:43 What else does He say? 09:45 God also goes on to tell us that indeed, 09:48 God intends, not only to bless Abraham and his family, 09:52 but through Abraham and his family, 09:54 He intends to bless all nations so, 09:57 would that include the entire world? 09:59 Sure it would, wouldn't it? 10:01 Okay, so this is the entire planet that God 10:04 is speaking about. 10:05 And so, that's why this particular verse and this 10:09 particular calling of Abraham is so instrumental and tells us 10:13 a very key truth in regards to prophets. 10:17 Now, you know, one of the interesting things is being a 10:21 pastor is that over the years I've been exposed to probably, 10:24 Oh, I'd say, estimate about a couple of dozen different people 10:28 over the years that I've been in their homes, 10:30 I've talked to them at church and such, 10:31 and they'll share with me some personal epiphanies that they've 10:35 had with God in the past. 10:36 You know, some have even gone as far as saying, 10:38 "You know, I've received a dream in the night, 10:40 or some kind of vision of some kind that I have experienced," 10:46 and more than once, they'll share about how that was 10:49 instrumental in leading them to see that God is real, 10:53 helping them to understand that God is, 10:56 cares about their lives and loves them, 10:58 and gives them a hope when they're at a very low point of 11:01 their life and brings them into relationship with God. 11:04 And some others have shared that it's brought them through a life 11:08 experience sometime later on in life. 11:12 Some people here, either in our church this morning or watching 11:15 this particular program, have experienced some kind 11:17 of a personal, supernatural experience with God, 11:23 not to be called as a prophet like Abraham, 11:25 or Noah, and Enoch, and so on, but nevertheless, 11:28 a very real supernatural experience with God. 11:32 I myself have experienced that a couple of times. 11:35 Now, I've never received a vision or a dream, 11:38 but I have called, I would say it was strong enough 11:41 that I would call it an epiphany. 11:43 And some of the scholars will want to name it, 11:45 which is an obvious personal experience 11:48 with the supernatural God. 11:50 The first time was when God called me to 11:52 a relationship with Him. 11:54 Some of you know that I was raised in a secular home. 11:57 My parents had decided to leave religion all together by the 12:00 time I was one, or two, or three years old, 12:02 and so I have no recollection or exposure consciously to church 12:06 or religion up until I was 20 years of age. 12:09 But the age of 20 was a low point. 12:11 I had tried a number of the different things that the world 12:14 had told me would give me satisfaction, 12:16 would give me joy, happiness, fulfillment, 12:18 and all of it came up empty. 12:21 And so, I was at a really low point as I was very discouraged 12:25 with my life and with the world. 12:27 And I was driving down the highway, 12:30 and I can specifically remember that God gave me this 12:33 experience, and I never heard an audible voice, 12:34 but I knew it was a voice and an intelligence outside of myself 12:39 and said, "Shawn, I want you to check out this church thing. 12:42 I want you to start going to a church." 12:44 And it took me about a month before I actually started going 12:47 because I thought you had to be a member to go to church. 12:49 That's how unknowing I was of the whole Christian world and 12:54 church world and so I said, "Well, I don't want 12:55 to get kicked out. 12:57 I want to go in and they'll say, "Sorry, only members here." 12:59 And so finally, I saw a little church in one neighborhood and 13:03 it had a sign it says, "All welcome Sunday services 13:05 8:30 and 10:30." 13:07 And so, I showed up with gusto 8:30 every Sunday morning. 13:10 And fortunately, the pastor was a very dynamic pastor. 13:15 He was still excited about the Bible, 13:16 and was preaching from the Bible. 13:18 And so, the Lord, I believe, had guided me to that experience. 13:21 And from there I met Denise that same summer, 13:23 and she brought me to her church, 13:25 the Missionary Alliance Church in Canada. 13:27 And then we continued to go through different churches until 13:30 we found the Seventh Day Adventist Church. 13:32 And so, we continue to grow, you know? 13:35 But if it wasn't for that epiphany, 13:37 I don't believe that I probably would have 13:38 stepped into a church. 13:39 If it wasn't for that voice of God, 13:41 that experience that I had outside of myself. 13:44 Now, the second time that I had that experience was when God 13:47 called me into ministry. 13:49 Now, this doesn't happen to everybody 13:51 that's called into ministry. 13:52 God works in mysterious and different ways. 13:54 But with me, I guess He wanted me to put my seatbelt on because 13:57 I was barely in the baptismal waters and He said, 13:59 "Shawn, I want you to be a preacher and an evangelist." 14:02 And again, there's a specific time, 14:05 and a specific room, on a specific couch that I was lying 14:08 and praying before the Lord when He spoke to me. 14:10 So, I know that more of one of us that are studying here with 14:15 us together today have had that kind of experience. 14:17 But prophets are a little bit different in the fact that 14:20 they're not just getting the supernatural experiences with 14:23 God for their personal benefit but as Abraham is being told 14:28 here, he tells us that God calls prophets 14:31 to benefit other people. 14:34 God has called them to minister to those outside of themselves 14:37 and to bless them, to show people the genuine truth and 14:41 expose Satan's lies, expose Satan's deceptions, 14:45 and give people an opportunity to be able to know the truth 14:48 about God, who He is, what He's done, 14:51 what He's doing, what He's going to do, 14:53 and the hope of eternal life that He gives to us. 14:55 And so, thank God for prophets, amen? 14:59 Thank God that God is actively, and has been actively choosing 15:02 individuals to be able to bless, even as He did 15:05 with Abraham's generation. 15:07 Of course, we're still benefiting from the life of 15:10 Abraham and his prophetic ministry because we're reading, 15:12 and we have the preserved records, 15:15 the sacred records, of the messages that God 15:17 had given to him. 15:19 You know, when we look at Jesus Himself, 15:22 He came not to be served but to, but to serve as He told his 15:26 disciples toward the ends of his earthly life. 15:29 Just shortly before He was crucified, 15:30 He was trying to teach His disciples, 15:32 His first followers that important message that God 15:37 has called him as a servant. 15:41 He didn't come into the world to have everybody wait on Him. 15:44 No, He came to wait on others. 15:47 Is that your attitude? 15:49 Do we not call, be called to have the same attitude 15:52 as the prophets? 15:53 We may not be called to give visions and messages from God, 15:56 but nevertheless, God has called us to have that same attitude, 15:59 to know that we are called as servants, 16:02 and that the greatest of those in the kingdom of heaven are 16:05 those who serve the most. 16:07 And so, there's a great principle that we can draw out 16:10 of that, and Jesus shared that as we find it in the 16:14 book of Mark, chapter 10, and verse 45. 16:19 Well, of course, Jesus said, not only did He not come to be 16:22 served but to serve, but He also came to give His 16:24 life a ransom for many. 16:27 And so, the ransom that He gave, that death on the cross, 16:30 the penalty that He paid on that cross when He allowed the nails 16:34 to go through His, through His hands, 16:36 through His wrists, and through His feet, 16:38 when He gave up His Spirit, His life on that, 16:42 on that cross with all of the, of the horrible feelings and 16:47 emotions that He had, feeling forsaken from 16:50 His Father himself. 16:52 We find that Jesus did it all for you and I. 16:55 Again, not for his benefit. 16:56 Well, ultimately it was because he says, 16:59 "I am looking forward to the fruits of My sacrifice." 17:01 But first and foremost, He was thinking of you, wasn't He? 17:05 First and foremost, He was thinking of me, 17:06 and that's the God that we serve and that's the model that God 17:10 gives to us in this life. 17:12 But did Jesus come simply and only to be sacrificed? 17:16 Well, if it was only that, He would have just kind of kept 17:19 pushing the limit and bringing up the, 17:22 you know, turning up the heat instead of as He so often did, 17:25 "Don't tell people what I said, or don't tell people that I'm 17:27 the Christ, and don't advertise too strongly the miracles that 17:31 I'm doing," because he wanted to keep the heat level down low 17:33 enough that He was able to minister for three-and-a-half 17:36 years before He was finally apprehended and crucified. 17:39 But, of course, He wanted to minister for three-and-a-half 17:43 years before He died for the sin of the world. 17:46 And what is one of the key reasons why He did that? 17:50 Somebody said their example, yes, 17:52 He wanted to set an example. 17:54 "I've come to fulfill all righteousness," Jesus 17:56 said at His baptism. 17:58 And so, Jesus came along that He might be able to model 18:01 a perfectly righteous and holy life for you and I, 18:03 a perfectly loving life for you and I as well. 18:07 And so, that's important. 18:08 Another statement that Jesus made at the end of his life as 18:11 He was just hours from being crucified was a statement that 18:15 He made before a very powerful man and 18:17 ruler in Israel, in Jerusalem. 18:19 His name was Pontius Pilate, he was the governor. 18:22 And he tells us that Jesus came to--Jesus told him, 18:26 I should say, that he also came to clarify the truth. 18:31 You see, by the time Jesus came onto the scene, 18:34 Israel had left and departed largely from the truth that God 18:38 had revealed through His prophets that were recorded 18:40 in the Old Testament Scriptures. 18:43 And so, Jesus came to testify, to witness what 18:45 the truth really was. 18:47 He cut through a lot of darkness. 18:49 He cut through a lot of traditions that had buried the 18:51 light of God, and he had brought it back to light. 18:55 In fact, we have a volunteer that's going to read for us here 18:59 and the text is John chapter 18, and verse 37. 19:04 And so, we're going to invite our volunteer to 19:07 read that here this morning. 19:08 female: John 18:37, "Pilate therefore said to Him, 19:13 'Are you a king then?' 19:15 Jesus answered, 'You say rightly that I am a King, 19:19 for this cause I was born and for this cause, 19:23 I have come into the world, that I should 19:26 bear witness to the truth. 19:28 Everyone who is in--who is of the truth hears My voice.'" 19:35 Shawn: All right, so here Jesus is not only declaring 19:37 that He is a King, He is the King of kings 19:39 and Lord of lords, amen? 19:41 And so, that's important. 19:42 And He wasn't going to deny this truth. 19:45 Now, of course, Pontius Pilate must have been quite puzzled 19:48 about that because most kings didn't act and accept what he 19:52 was accepting, as far as the mockery, 19:54 the beatings, the eventual crucifixion and such. 19:56 But nevertheless, Jesus made it clear that Pontius Pilate might 19:59 walk away knowing that he had been with the King of kings 20:03 of the universe. 20:04 But it also tells us that Jesus told Pontius Pilate that, 20:08 "I have come that I might bear witness of the, of the truth." 20:12 And so, Jesus wanted to set the record straight. 20:15 Jesus wanted to reset that which had been distorted 20:19 in so many different ways. 20:22 You know, one of the best ways to summarize all that 20:24 Jesus brought to humanity is found in a text that 20:27 became a text for me. 20:30 It was the signature one. 20:32 It was the first one that I memorized. 20:33 It was the first one that jumped off the pages of the Bible as a 20:35 new Christian in those first year or two that I was opening 20:39 the Scriptures and reading through the gospels. 20:41 And when I came through the Gospel of John and I came to 20:44 John 10:10, that just described my experience that I had found 20:48 as a young man. 20:49 And Jesus says in John 10:10, some of you know it by memory. 20:52 You know, "the thief does not come except to steal, 20:55 and to kill, and to destroy." 20:58 Now, this is a metaphorical passage we're quoting from 21:00 and so Jesus is metaphorically representing the 21:03 thief as Satan himself. 21:05 And He says, "Listen, Satan doesn't come except to kill, 21:07 and steal, and destroy but I," He says, 21:10 "I have come that they might have life and have it that they 21:14 might have it more abundantly." 21:16 And so, many of us here today if you weren't raised in the 21:20 abundant life and known it all your life, 21:22 which is even a more wonderful experience, by the way. 21:25 Never be envious of us old guys that, 21:28 you know, that kind of came in later in life and think, 21:31 "Oh boy, I wish I'd had that contrast, 21:33 that kind of gangs to God experience because there's a 21:37 great, great disadvantage to having that gangs to God kind 21:42 of experience and conversion because now you have all those 21:44 horrible memories that you have to carry through 21:46 the rest of your life. 21:47 You know, there's many things that I did, 21:49 I was very, very ashamed, still I'm ashamed of today. 21:52 And so, I'd do anything to be able to erase my life and to be 21:56 able to do it different, and to know that abundant life all my 21:58 life, to have that advantage. 22:01 But some of us have come later in. 22:03 God doesn't give up on us even if we didn't 22:05 know that abundant life earlier. 22:07 God brings us into that abundant life, 22:09 if we allow Him to, if we respond to His voice. 22:11 And so, the first key, of course, 22:14 in our study, the one thing that we want to pull away more than 22:16 anything is that God is calling each and every individual, 22:19 and He's calling you and He wants you to have a personal 22:21 relationship with Jesus Christ. 22:26 And you're no exception. 22:27 No matter what you've done, no matter what shameful things you 22:31 have in your past or even in your present, 22:33 God wants to accept you just as you are and He wants you to have 22:35 a personal saving relationship with Him. 22:38 He wants to forgive you. 22:40 He wants to give you a new start. 22:44 Well, as we look at the life of Jesus, 22:45 we find that Jesus played the role of a prophet to be sure. 22:48 Over and over he says, "My Father, 22:50 I do not say the things that I think, 22:51 but rather I am speaking the word of My Father." 22:55 Over and over he kept saying, "Listen, 22:56 I am giving you messages from My Father." 22:59 But, of course, Jesus was, had a special relationship with His 23:03 Father and the fact that He was the eternal Son of God. 23:05 And so, He was God Himself incarnate. 23:08 He was God Himself cloaked in human flesh. 23:12 And so, Jesus was speaking the words of His Father, 23:15 but the words of His Father, of course, 23:17 we know as we read the teachings of Jesus, 23:19 was also the words of the mind of Jesus Himself. 23:23 Towards the end of His life He says, 23:24 "You have seen me, you have seen the Father." 23:27 You know, as Philip or Thomas had asked him, 23:30 you know, says, "Father, you know, 23:31 Jesus, if you just show us the Father, 23:33 we will be satisfied." 23:34 And Jesus says, "I already have, for the Father and 23:37 I are eternally one." 23:41 And, of course, then Jesus was also the Savior of the world, 23:45 the only one that could die for the sins of the world. 23:47 And so, Jesus played the role of the prophet like Abraham, 23:49 but He was much more than that. 23:51 Now, when we look at Abraham, we find that Abraham was more than 23:53 an average prophet as well. 23:56 You know, most prophets that we find, 23:58 you know, Hosea and Jeremiah, 24:00 and Daniel, and some of these others, 24:02 you know, there's dozens of them in the Bible. 24:04 And all of them were called with supernatural messages 24:07 and visions and dreams to be able to give to God's people 24:10 and ultimately to the world. 24:12 But with Abraham, he was called to play the role of a prophet, 24:16 but he was also called for another high calling, 24:20 and that is that he was going to be the great patriarch, 24:22 he was going to be the father of a nation. 24:25 Now, there was others that God had called and had prophesied 24:28 and said, "They will be fathers of nations." 24:30 You know, on Tuesday night study, 24:32 we've been studying recently and verse by verse through Genesis, 24:35 and we discovered that Esau also was to develop a nation. 24:38 And there's other examples of that as well. 24:41 So, this is not unusual or isolated just with Abraham, 24:45 but Abraham's nation was to be different. 24:48 The Bible reveals that about 2,000 years before Jesus came, 24:52 God called Abraham to be a prophet, 24:54 yes, but He had also called him to be the Father of the great 24:58 grand plan that Jesus had, that the Father had with His Son and 25:02 the Holy Spirit, to be able to bring together a country that 25:05 would be unique from every other country upon the planet. 25:09 It would be a grand plan that God had to preserve the truth 25:13 and to use that particular nation to model the blessings 25:18 and the power that God can give to a nation when they 25:22 give themselves over to God. 25:25 When they make God, their only a king and 25:27 ruler in their country. 25:30 God was to develop a people and country that 25:33 He would custom make. 25:35 You know, the other countries, Esau, 25:36 God just let him run his reign, you know, 25:39 run his course and do his thing and his descendants' thing, 25:42 but not so with Abraham, not so with the descendants of Abraham. 25:46 Now, in order for God to be able to fulfill this particular plan, 25:50 he had to look upon the planet and pick some key real estate. 25:53 He knows that every nation needs some place to live and so as He 25:57 looked upon the real estate of this particular planet, 25:59 He looked at what we now call the Middle East. 26:02 And He looked along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea 26:06 between the sea and the Jordan River, 26:09 the Sea of Galilee, a good water source just a stone's throw from 26:13 the Euphrates River, which was a key traveling and trade route. 26:17 And God chose what we, even today, call modern Israel. 26:22 And so, God looked down upon the land of Canaan as it was called, 26:25 and He said, "Listen, we--I'm going to choose 26:28 this particular part of the planet." 26:31 And this was not arbitrarily. 26:33 God had chosen it for a very specific reason, why? 26:36 Because as it turns out in the ancient world, 26:38 Israel, where Israel, the land of Canaan, 26:41 as it was first called, was not only a very fertile plain where 26:44 you have the the River Jordan and the Sea of Galilee there for 26:48 all kinds of irrigation, blessings, and benefits. 26:51 But even more importantly, was the crossroads 26:53 of the ancient world. 26:55 And when you look at the globe and it's flat--or a map of the 26:59 world, and it's kind of flat source, 27:03 you know, not that I'm saying that the world is flat, 27:05 don't get me wrong. 27:06 Got to be careful nowadays because there's a returning 27:08 trend back to a flat world theory, 27:12 but if you look at a flat map that represents the round world, 27:15 we find that there's Israel and to the right when you're looking 27:19 at the map, which is the east, you have? 27:23 You have the Asian continent, don't you? 27:24 You have India, and China, and all the like 27:26 over on that direction. 27:28 And then when you look to the north and to the west, you have? 27:32 You have Europe, don't you? 27:34 Okay, another great continent in that part of the world. 27:36 And then if you go to the south, you have Africa, 27:39 some of you are saying. 27:41 All right, so then you have Africa. 27:42 And so, as you have these three great continents coming 27:45 together, you have this intersection, which is Israel. 27:48 And so, this was a major, major cross--trade crossroads. 27:53 Now, is that because God wanted to just make everybody in Israel 27:56 rich so that they can have a big party for centuries? 27:59 No. 28:00 Now, He certainly wanted to bless them and make them 28:01 prosperous, that was part of the deal. 28:03 But much more importantly, God had intended for them to be at 28:07 the crossroads of the known world back then because He 28:10 wanted to expose as many people and nations to this grand plan 28:15 that He had, this grand nation and model that would show the 28:18 world the great blessings and power that can come 28:21 from following the true God of heaven, 28:23 and from following in the truth. 28:28 Now, there's the real estate, there's the part of the world 28:30 that God had chosen, but who would be its citizens? 28:32 Well, we've already kind of looked at that. 28:34 Abraham's descendants would be the descendant--the citizens of 28:37 this new unique nation that God was developing. 28:40 And, of course, the ultimate citizen that would eventually 28:44 come out of those citizens would be the Messiah, 28:49 Jesus Christ Himself, the Savior of the world, 28:52 you know, the lion of the tribe of Judah, 28:54 the descendant of King David. 28:56 Yes, and so, Abraham had a great privilege with his prophetic 29:02 calling, and it was a key privilege. 29:06 Now, most importantly, as God was developing this particular 29:08 nation, God would be their only King, 29:12 and all civil laws were not created. 29:17 As we're used to here in America or in the U.S., 29:19 where we looked at Congress to make our laws. 29:21 No, the laws that were developed and were 29:24 to run civilly, morally, ethically. 29:28 And in regards to health, finances, 29:31 everything was actually created by God. 29:34 And so, God gave them the Ten Commandments, 29:36 and He also gave them what we call the law of Moses. 29:40 Now, we don't want to get confused and think that because 29:42 we call it the law of Moses, Moses came up with it. 29:45 We don't want to get confused and think that 29:46 it was his development. 29:48 No, he was simply the messenger. 29:49 Moses was a prophet, and God told them, 29:52 each and every one of those 613 additional laws that were to run 29:57 the country and to help the country of Israel understand, 30:00 "What do I do if my neighbor steals my cow? 30:02 What do I do if somebody in my neighborhood is killed?" 30:05 What--excuse me? 30:07 "What do I do when these different things take place?" 30:08 And so, God gave the whole civil and justice system laid out 30:13 through His prophet Moses for this nation 30:15 that He would develop. 30:18 Now, of course, because every law was created by God, 30:20 were those laws perfect? 30:22 Yes, of course, they were, weren't they? 30:26 Okay, every law that we pass at Congress, 30:28 is it always perfect? 30:29 Not so much, okay? 30:31 Some of them are pretty good and we'd like to put our confidence 30:33 in our leaders and in collective wisdom and so on. 30:36 But even with collective human wisdom, 30:38 collective human wisdom, even amongst some of our greatest 30:42 leaders and thinkers that we have, 30:44 can never come up with the perfect justice system that 30:48 God can come up with. 30:49 And so, God was developing something very unique 30:52 in the nation of Israel. 30:55 There's a good example of that and it's actually found in our 30:58 lesson study but if you have your Bibles only, 31:00 turn to Leviticus chapter 19, and verse 18. 31:04 You'll find that's our memory text as well on the first page 31:08 of the lesson, and we're going to have a 31:11 volunteer read that for us as well. 31:13 Thank you, Rachel. 31:17 Rachel: Leviticus 19, verse 18, 31:21 "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the 31:25 children of your people, but you shall love 31:28 your neighbor as yourself. 31:30 I am the Lord." 31:33 Shawn: Okay, so here we have the first penning and giving of 31:37 one of the most instrumental laws that God gave to the 31:40 Israelites, and that is to love your neighbor as yourself. 31:43 Now, that brings up a bit of a side note that I just, 31:45 you know, as a pastor of the Adventist Church and a student 31:48 of the Bible, evangelist, I can't help but just address 31:51 that a little bit because that particular commandment, 31:53 there's many Christians, sincere Christians, 31:56 that I've met that are confused about that particular 31:58 commandment because they understand that the Ten 32:01 Commandments of God were replaced by the two greatest 32:03 commandments that Jesus was, had stated 32:07 during his public ministry. 32:09 He says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your 32:10 soul, your strength and your mind." 32:12 And then he said the second is like it, 32:14 "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 32:17 And so, many sincere Christians believe that Jesus made those 32:19 up at that moment and said, "This is the new law 32:21 for the New Testament." 32:23 And that just simply doesn't hold water when you read the 32:26 Bible because you discover that Jesus didn't make 32:29 up that second commandment. 32:30 No, He was quoting from Leviticus chapter 19, 32:33 and verse 18. 32:35 And so, it's important for us to understand that Jesus didn't say 32:38 that's a New Testament, new covenant commandment, 32:42 a replacement commandment. 32:44 No, he says, "Don't forget that that's the second most important 32:46 of the commandments." 32:49 And so, that's important for us to understand. 32:54 Ancient Israel was the most unique nation to ever be created 32:57 in history because of its origins and also because of the 33:00 purpose that God had for it. 33:03 You know, during the first years of my Christian experience, 33:06 I didn't know almost anything about the Bible. 33:08 I was kind of starting from ground zero, 33:10 and as I exposed to different Christian conversations, 33:13 and different denominations, and churches that Denise and I were 33:16 exploring, having conversations with Denise raised in the 33:19 Lutheran Church, and reading the Bible, 33:21 you know, in a limited basis, we started to think to ourselves, 33:26 why is God so, so biased towards the Israelites, 33:32 and towards Israel, and to the Jewish people, 33:35 but He doesn't really seem to show that 33:37 favoritism to the rest? 33:39 He kind of seems to have favorites in the world, 33:41 and His favorites is the ones that he kind of pours out all 33:44 of his attention, and his blessings, and so on. 33:48 And the rest of us just kind of get the crumbs that fall off 33:50 the table and such. 33:54 And so, God didn't appear very fair and almost like 33:58 a form of predestination. 34:00 If you were born a Jew, you had it made. 34:02 If you weren't born a Jew, well, tough luck. 34:05 And I think--I don't think I was alone. 34:08 I think there's more than one thinking Christian and worshiper 34:11 of God that is saying, "You know, 34:12 why is it that God seems to, you know, 34:14 show favoritism to one particular nation and people? 34:18 And as I read the Bible completely through, 34:21 I found out that that really wasn't the case at all. 34:24 The problem was that I hadn't read the Bible through yet and 34:27 so, there's a very good case for us here today and that case is 34:31 this, is it important for us as individual Christians to read 34:34 the Bible through as a whole ourselves personally? 34:37 It is, I'm glad I heard a number of voices speak up and say that 34:41 because it is absolutely critical and essential to make 34:45 the Bible your own. 34:47 You know, we don't want to fall into the trap of the 34:49 Roman Church tradition, which kind of developed to the point 34:54 where they say, "Listen, only the priest is required to read 34:57 the Bible as a whole, and he is the only one that is 35:00 authorized to interpret it." 35:01 So, if you're not reading the Bible and you've never read it 35:05 through yourself, you're actually following more of the 35:07 Catholic tradition, than you are the biblical tradition. 35:11 And so, please, I want to encourage you, 35:13 this is a challenge. 35:15 If you haven't read the Bible through, read it for yourself. 35:17 Make it your own. 35:18 See the the answers that God will give to you. 35:20 This is one of the answers that God gave to me is that, 35:22 that God actually had intended Israel, 35:24 not to be exclusive, not to be these kind of favorites that God 35:28 would kind of pour everything, his attention on. 35:31 No, God was pouring his extra attention on them so that they 35:34 could draw others into their fold, 35:36 and they too can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 35:40 That was the original origin and purpose of God calling Abraham 35:44 the Israelite nation. 35:46 And so, I discovered in the law of Moses, 35:49 the very first writer of the Bible, 35:52 that in his writings, God had instructed him very clearly to 35:56 put important accommodations for non-Jewish people, 35:59 for Gentiles, to be fully integrated into the Israelite 36:03 citizenship, to be heirs of God's kingdom, 36:06 and to be fully called a worshiper of Yahweh, 36:11 of the God of Israel. 36:13 I also found mission statements for Israel 36:15 in the book of Isaiah. 36:17 One of the key ones is found in Isaiah chapter 56. 36:21 And so again, I want to invite you to open your Bibles here 36:23 this morning as we look at Isaiah chapter 56. 36:30 And we're going to start with verse 3, 36:34 Isaiah 56, and let's start with verse 3. 36:43 And we're going to read right through to the end of 36:45 verse 7, so stay with me. 36:47 It says, "Do not let the son of the foreigner Who has joined 36:50 himself to the Lord speak, saying, 36:51 'The Lord has utterly separated me from His people'; 36:55 Nor let the eunuch say, 'Here I am, a dry tree.' 36:58 For thus says the Lord: 'To the eunuchs who keep 37:01 My Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, 37:04 And hold fast My covenant, Even to them I will give in My house 37:08 And within My walls a place and a name.'" 37:13 Okay, that's a name in His kingdom, citizenship. 37:15 "Better than that of sons and daughters; 37:17 I will give them an everlasting name That shall not be cut off." 37:22 How encouraging, verse 6 says, "Also the sons of the foreigner 37:25 Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, 37:28 And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants. 37:31 Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, 37:33 And holds fast My covenant, even them I will bring to My holy 37:38 mountain, I will make them joyful in My house of prayer." 37:42 Where's His house of prayer? 37:44 The holy temple of Jerusalem itself, yeah. 37:47 "Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on 37:51 My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for," 37:54 how many nations? 37:56 For all nations. 37:58 Now, for many of us, as we read that particular statement and 38:00 prophecy of Isaiah, we think immediately of the scene of 38:04 Jesus when He comes into the courtyard of the temple. 38:09 And as he's in the open courtyard of the temple in the 38:11 area of the temple mountain, and such surrounding the temple, 38:15 we find that He cleanses the temple. 38:18 And He goes through and He overturns the moneychangers, 38:20 and He lets the different sacrificial animals go, 38:22 not because He didn't believe in the sacrificial system, 38:26 He's the one that created it as a symbol pointing forward 38:29 to the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus. 38:31 But the problem was that they had turned it 38:33 into a marketplace. 38:34 The problem was that it was just a big noisy marketplace, 38:37 and they were there just to try to make as big a profit as 38:40 possible no matter how much they defiled the 38:43 court and the temple. 38:44 And it was just a noise, a noisy place. 38:48 And so, we find here that Jesus, of course, 38:52 tried to get involved. 38:54 He very clearly got the message across that, 38:55 "Listen, My house was not called to be a marketplace or a den 38:59 of thieves, but rather it was called to be a house of prayer 39:01 for all nations, all nations." 39:05 And so, this is no small prophecy that Isaiah was given. 39:08 It was the mission statement of the nation of Israel. 39:13 And so, one of the exciting things that I discovered again 39:15 as I went through the entire Old Testament, 39:18 not only Isaiah but many others, Jonah is another outstanding 39:21 example where God has called His prophets to speak, 39:24 not only the Israelites, but also those outside of the 39:27 borders of Israel, why? 39:29 Because God has revealed very clearly in the Bible 39:31 as an International God. 39:34 God has been working with every nation across the world. 39:37 God has been trying to draw with all His strength and with all 39:40 His power, each and every nation that exists today and ever has. 39:45 God is interested in working with each nation and individual 39:48 that has always lived upon the planet, why? 39:51 Because he's always been interested in having a personal 39:53 relationship with every single human being that has ever lived. 39:58 And so, it's important for to be able to see that Bible truth 40:01 that God can be seen for who he is, 40:03 and Israel can be seen for what God had intended it to be. 40:08 Now, that being said, we just don't have time to be able to 40:12 address another issue. 40:13 I'd love to spend another half hour on it, 40:16 and we're kind of touching on it as we look at the nation of 40:18 Israel because we're looking at ancient Israel. 40:20 But then we ask the question, what about modern Israel? 40:23 Does modern Israel still play a part? 40:26 Well, it might, I'm not saying it won't play a part. 40:28 It certainly will play a part because it has been 40:31 stewards of God's Scriptures. 40:33 But one of the saddest statements that Jesus made 40:36 before He was crucified is that He would take--He would remove 40:40 the kingdom from the nation of Israel, 40:43 and He would give it to another nation delivering 40:45 the fruits thereof. 40:47 You know why? 40:49 Because God tried everything He could to be able to work through 40:52 the nation of Israel. 40:53 But sadly, there was only small windows of time over the 40:56 centuries where they fulfilled their purpose, 40:59 where they fulfill that model that God wanted them to be, 41:03 the evangelists of the world, the light on a hill. 41:07 And sadly, even when Jesus came to His own, 41:10 His own accepted Him not, as it says in the first chapter of 41:13 the Gospel of John. 41:15 And so sadly, Jesus says, "Listen, 41:18 because of your choice, not mine, 41:20 I need to remove the kingdom from your--your purpose from 41:23 you, and now give it to another nation, 41:26 and that nation is a nation without borders." 41:29 You know, Peter later on reiterated that said, 41:31 "Listen, we are a holy nation. 41:33 You know, we are a priesthood. 41:35 You know, we are living stones that are called to be the light 41:39 to the world, the salt of the earth." 41:41 And so, Peter was pointing to a new nation of Israel, 41:45 a spiritual Israel. 41:47 Now again, if you want to study this further, 41:49 and I've opened up a bit of a can of worms. 41:50 If you've never studied it, I hope it's enough 41:51 to get your interest. 41:53 But I want to recommend that you go to Amazing Facts store which 41:56 is afbookstore.com. 41:59 That's A-F as in facts, bookstore.com. 42:03 And you can find there an, order, a little booklet. 42:05 It's called "Spiritual Israel." 42:07 And it's written by Pastor Doug Batchelor and Steve Wohlberg. 42:10 It's a really good read, really well done. 42:13 I highly recommend it if you've never studied that before. 42:17 Well, what's some examples in the Bible times, 42:20 in Old Testament times, where God had used Israel in 42:24 a successful way to bring those outside of Israel, 42:27 those who are not Jews, into a relationship with God? 42:31 Well, a couple that came to my mind, 42:33 one of his whole book is named after her. 42:35 Her name is Ruth, and Ruth was a Moabite, 42:38 a Moabitess, I guess we could call her. 42:41 And she had married a Israelite young man, 42:45 as their family had needed to go to Moab and live there for 42:48 a time during a famine in Israel. 42:51 And we find that Ruth's mother-in-law was widowed. 42:56 And so, the widow was required to go back to Israel to be able 42:59 to find sustenance, to be able to find a way to be 43:04 able to feed herself. 43:06 And so, she went back and she told her sons and her 43:08 daughter-in-laws, "Listen, you can stay here." 43:10 Ruth said, "No, I choose to go with you. 43:12 I accept your God, and I want to worship God. 43:15 I want Him to be my God, even as I accepted Him in my heart." 43:18 And so, we find that there's a beautiful 43:20 story how she became an Israelite. 43:22 The Queen of Sheba, the most powerful window in Israel's 43:26 history when they fulfilled that great purpose that God had is 43:30 that they were doing so well spiritually in wisdom 43:33 and prosperity, that it was drawing the attention that God 43:37 had always intended for Israel of the nations around them. 43:40 You know, rumors started to spread fast through the nations 43:42 of that part of the world, in Africa, and Europe, 43:45 and in Asia. 43:46 And they started to hear about this great King Solomon in this 43:49 little tiny country called Israel that was more powerful 43:52 than some of the largest countries that existed 43:55 in the world. 43:57 And so, we have the Queen of Sheba that comes up now. 43:59 Where's Sheba? 44:02 If you look on the map, you'll find that there's Saudi Arabia. 44:04 And then just below there, there's a little strip before 44:06 the ocean there, and it's called Yemen. 44:10 And so, modern Yemen is where Sheba used to exist. 44:12 And so, we find that this Queen of the south, 44:16 as Jesus referred to her, came up and she wanted to hear 44:20 for herself from this great famous King. 44:22 And when she was finished with her visit, 44:25 she said to the King, "Listen, you know, 44:26 you have outlived or you have outdone, the rumors. 44:30 I've heard rumors that I found hard to believe, 44:32 but I find that your wisdom and the prosperity, 44:36 and the fulfillment of your people is greater than the 44:39 rumors that I've heard." 44:40 And so, you think the Queen of Sheba went back with God 44:44 in her heart in a real way? 44:46 Well, the evidence shows us that there's a much higher chance 44:50 that she became a lifetime worshiper of Yahweh 44:52 after that experience. 44:55 In fact, Jesus gives us some of that evidence in Matthew 44:59 chapter 12, and verse 42. 45:01 It says, "The queen of the South will rise up in the 45:05 judgment with this generation and condemn it, 45:07 for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of 45:10 Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here." 45:14 And so, Jesus rebukes His nation, 45:16 rebukes His generation of Israelites, 45:19 and He says, "Listen, you know, the Queen of Sheba was more 45:21 openhearted to the workings of God and her day than you are in 45:27 My day, and I'm doing greater things than Solomon did." 45:30 And so, we give some strong evidence that the Queen of 45:33 Sheba's heart was wide open to have relationship with God, 45:36 more than likely brought it back to her nation and shared it with 45:40 others in her country. 45:43 Well, after the children of Abraham reproduced for over 45:45 400 years in Egypt, God had delivered them out of some cruel 45:48 slavery that they had fallen into during those centuries 45:51 that they were spending there. 45:53 And now the children of Israel were so great that most Bible 45:56 evidence points as to approximately 3 million 45:59 people that existed that were the descendants of Abraham. 46:02 God had developed them large enough that they could become 46:05 their own genuine country and, of course, 46:09 He'd already chosen the spot. 46:14 He settles them in, but on the way to the land of Canaan to the 46:17 Promised Land, God does something very important. 46:20 He reveals to them the greatest primary universal eternal code 46:26 of ethics, that was given both audibly and in written form on 46:31 stone to the Israelites. 46:34 It was like the constitution, as the lesson study points up for 46:37 us, the constitution for this new budding founded nation 46:41 that God Himself had founded. 46:44 And the very foundation of it, the very foundation of its 46:46 government that God gave was so important that not only did He 46:50 write it on stone giving it an extra strong message of its 46:55 important and foundation, but He also audibly spoke 46:58 from the Mountain of Sinai. 47:00 And the Israelites, with their own ears, 47:02 had heard God's voice speak and thunder 47:04 these great commandments. 47:06 And then He gave it for permanent record in a golden 47:09 box, or ark, as it's called, that was put in the most holy 47:13 room of the great holy sanctuary of the Israelites. 47:18 How many here can recite the Ten Commandments? 47:25 All right, I see two or three people. 47:27 Now, this is, I'm not asking this to shame you, 47:29 but I'm asking it to challenge you. 47:31 If this is so important, and God wants to write it upon our 47:36 hearts, should we know them? 47:39 Sure, we should be able to list them off. 47:40 If we don't know it up here, how can God write it down here? 47:44 And so, it's very important for us to be able to 47:45 take this seriously. 47:47 So, let's say it together, "You shall have 47:48 no other gods before me. 47:51 You shall not make for yourself any carved images of any 47:54 likeness of anything in heaven, and the earth, 47:57 and the sea or under the earth, and you shall not bow down to 47:59 them, nor serve them. 48:02 For I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting upon the 48:05 iniquity of the fathers to the children, 48:07 to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, 48:08 but at the same time, showing mercy to thousands to those 48:14 who love Me and keep My commandments." 48:18 Yes, got that one. 48:20 That's the longest one, isn't it? 48:21 Second one or the third one is, "You shall not take the name of 48:25 the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will 48:27 not hold him guiltless." 48:29 He uses his name in vain. 48:30 Then we come to another long one, but an important one. 48:33 "Remember the Sabbath day," this universal Sabbath day that God 48:37 created in Genesis in Adam and Eve's day. 48:39 "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 48:42 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 48:44 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. 48:47 In it, you shall do no work, you, 48:49 your son, your daughter, your manservant, 48:50 your maidservant, your cattle, nor the 48:52 strangers within your gates. 48:54 For in six days the Lord created the heavens, 48:56 the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, 48:59 but rested the seventh day. 49:02 Therefore the Lord bless the seventh day and hallowed it." 49:06 That's the second longest one. 49:09 Then we come to the fifth one, "Honor your father and mother 49:12 that the days may be long in the land that the Lord 49:14 your God has given you." 49:17 That's an important one. 49:18 Don't want to forget that one. 49:20 Then we come to the sixth one, "You shall not, 49:22 you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery. 49:25 You shall not steal. 49:28 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." 49:31 In other words, be honest, don't lie. 49:33 And the last one, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house, 49:37 your neighbor's wife," your neighbor's ox, 49:40 their donkey, their car, their Mercedes, 49:43 there RV, or anything that is your neighbors, right? 49:48 And so, there it is, if I can do it, 49:50 you can do it, can't you? 49:52 And so, there's your challenge. 49:54 Go home and take that constitution because that was 49:57 not only the constitution for the Israelites in literally 50:00 Israel, but now Peter says there is a spiritual Israel. 50:05 We are a holy nation, a royal priesthood, 50:09 and we are called to bring that great constitution to those 50:12 around us and help them to know that that is the very foundation 50:14 of having a prosperous, happy life. 50:16 And God wants to write that upon our hearts. 50:18 How much I wish we had more time, 50:20 but we don't this particular study. 50:22 And so, we're going to have to wrap it up here 50:24 for our study today. 50:25 But if you have not taken advantage or you missed the 50:27 beginning of our program, I want to invite you to take advantage 50:30 of our free offer, which is Offer Number 115. 50:34 It's entitled "The Colossal City In Space." 50:37 And so, take advantage of this free, 50:39 very informative Bible study guide. 50:42 And the number is on the screen that you can call. 50:45 You can also text the code SH122 and dial that to 40544. 50:53 And so, God bless you and we look forward 50:55 to seeing you next week. 50:57 announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 50:59 free resource. 51:01 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 51:03 you can download a digital copy straight to your computer 51:05 or mobile device. 51:07 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, 51:10 simply text the keyword on your screen to 40544 or visit the web 51:14 address shown on your screen. 51:17 And be sure to select a digital download option 51:19 on the request page. 51:21 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 51:24 Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want, 51:27 and most important, to share it with others. 51:33 announcer: Amazing Facts, Changed Lives. 51:42 Brittany: I was addicted to all different types of things. 51:45 I finally hit rock bottom when I got pulled over one night after 51:50 having a night of partying with some friends. 51:52 I was drunk, high on ecstasy, and I realized then that I had 51:58 to make a change. 52:00 Vince: I was in the military and listening to very satanic 52:03 music every day and heard this whisper, 52:06 and carve 666 in my knuckles. 52:08 I contemplated on it a while, and I was sitting at my desk and 52:11 I had my knife on me. 52:16 And I started carving the horizontal lines for the sixes 52:18 in my index finger first with serrated edges 52:25 and started to enjoy it. 52:27 I wanted to make it known who I wanted to follow actually, 52:32 not knowing I was following Satan at the time, 52:35 just I thought it was a cool thing to do. 52:37 Brittany: So, I met this guy online, 52:38 and that was my husband Vince. 52:41 And I noticed his ears. 52:44 And we started talking and he was just adorable. 52:47 Vince: Flew down and actually met her here in Arizona. 52:49 Brittany: And at that point, I found out quickly after we met 52:54 that I was pregnant. 52:56 Vince: So, shortly after our daughter was born, 52:58 it was a very exciting moment, but nurses and doctors noticed 53:01 something right away that she was extremely 53:02 orange with jaundice. 53:04 Brittany: And she ended up in the hospital very sick, 53:08 and it was extremely hard on us. 53:12 We were teenagers, we were scared, our baby was sick. 53:16 I was someone that was very angry. 53:20 And at that point, we were in the hospital room, 53:26 and I remember a chaplain coming in and speaking with the people 53:31 since it was like a conjoined room we had a roommate. 53:34 And the chaplain had said, you know, 53:37 if they could pray for the other family. 53:40 And that's when I knew that there was my chance. 53:42 I had to take that opportunity. 53:45 And I asked my husband, "Should I go talk to him?" 53:47 Vince: I said, "No way." 53:49 I wanted nothing to do with God. 53:50 I wanted nothing to do with talking to this chaplain. 53:52 Brittany: I decided that I was going to get up anyway. 53:55 And I got up and you could tell he was very 53:58 angry that I decided to walk over. 54:00 And I went to the chaplain and I asked him to come over and speak 54:05 to us, and he did. 54:07 Vince: And he came in, and we asked him questions, 54:09 and he actually came to visit us every single day. 54:11 Brittany: The chaplain that we met with mentioned Amazing 54:14 Facts study guides and just the ministries. 54:17 Vince: He showed us videos and study guides from Amazing 54:21 Facts, specifically. 54:23 It was on final events and cosmic conflict. 54:25 And at that point, we had transferred hospitals to an 54:27 outpatient hospital, and we were able to watch these videos. 54:31 And we were hooked on them. 54:33 Brittany: It was a huge blessing. 54:35 We would watch Pastor Doug, and we would sit up late at night 54:40 watching sermons. 54:42 And we, we were just teenagers. 54:45 Most kids our age were out doing crazy things and here we are 54:48 at home with popcorn, chocolate bars, watching Pastor Doug. 54:53 Pastor Ben Lundquist: This young couple came into 54:54 the Camelback Church holding a beautiful little baby. 54:57 And this was one of the first times that I had 54:59 ever met Vince and Brittany. 55:02 Vince: We needed somebody to show us that they loved us, 55:04 that they supported us, and Pastor Ben was there giving 55:06 us Bible studies on marriage counseling, as well as baptism. 55:09 Brittany: I was still smoking and drinking lightly, 55:11 and a few things along those lines. 55:15 And it was one day when I woke up on February 15, 55:20 2011 after watching many sermons on "Amazing Facts" from Pastor 55:25 Doug and having a really solid church family that 55:29 I was able to say no more. 55:31 And from that day on, I stopped all of my addictions. 55:36 Pastor Charles White: And ultimately their lives began to 55:38 take on just a new dimension of congruity because 55:41 Jesus was there, and He was the one that 55:43 was bringing that sense of belonging, and hope, and help. 55:47 Brittany: We decided to get baptized and married, 55:50 and we got baptized one day and married the next, 55:53 and it was an amazing experience. 55:55 Ben: And we found a spot by the lake and 55:57 it was absolutely perfect. 55:59 The evening was coming to a close, 56:01 the sun was about ready to go down. 56:03 Vince: We were standing in the water with Pastor Ben, 56:05 and the sky was such a deep red, the reflections off the moon, 56:11 the sky was almost as if we were standing in blood. 56:14 We were washed in the blood of Jesus. 56:15 Ben: And that was the moment that God painted the canvas of 56:18 the sky with the most beautiful colors, 56:21 signifying the journey that he was going to be laying out 56:24 for Vince and Brittany. 56:26 Vince: Shortly after we were baptized, 56:28 about a month later, we had realized that 56:32 my scars were gone. 56:33 I was completely healed physically of not having the 666 56:36 on my knuckles anymore. 56:37 And I struggled with that for so long because of what I did, 56:41 and He forgave me. 56:43 Pastor Malcolm Douglas: Many times when we think of the way 56:45 that we've been led to Christ, we think there's usually one 56:46 individual but having been able to work alongside Pastor Ben and 56:51 Pastor White, it's been great to see how we've been able to work 56:54 with Brittany and Vincent and seen them just really grow. 56:58 And this has really been something that's 57:00 been beneficial to me. 57:01 You know, sometimes I think about this and the Bible says, 57:04 "More blessed is he who gives than receives." 57:07 And I feel many times more blessed just seeing them and 57:10 seeing all the challenges they've gone through, 57:13 all the difficulties, and seeing them overcome these things. 57:17 It just, it amazes me. 57:19 Vince: As I reflect back on everything I've done in my life, 57:24 completely going against God, wanting nothing to do with Him, 57:27 He still tried so hard, as if I was the only one that was lost, 57:31 just as He promises. 57:32 He still went and found me, even though I wanted 57:36 nothing to do with Him. 57:38 Brittany: Having Amazing Facts and the pastors in our 57:40 lives help us so much, it's really a blessing and I feel 57:45 like now we're happy. 57:47 And we have these two healthy, beautiful little girls, 57:50 and God has truly blessed us. 57:53 And I just want to share it with everyone. 57:56 I want to scream it. 57:57 I'm so excited, and I feel really blessed to even have 58:01 this opportunity to share my story. 58:04 ♪♪♪ 58:14 ♪♪♪ 58:24 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2019-07-08