Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn, and we welcome you to 00:00:30.46\00:00:34.66 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:00:34.70\00:00:36.26 We're very excited - this is a wonderful Quarterly! 00:00:36.30\00:00:40.54 We are studying, "Oneness in Christ," 00:00:40.57\00:00:42.94 so far we have talked about... "Creation and Fall," 00:00:42.97\00:00:45.71 "Causes of Disunity," "That They May All Be One," 00:00:45.74\00:00:50.28 "The Key to Unity," "The Experience 00:00:50.31\00:00:51.91 of Unity in the Early Church," 00:00:51.95\00:00:53.38 and today we will talk about "Images of Unity." 00:00:53.42\00:00:57.52 We're very happy that you have joined us, 00:00:57.55\00:00:59.62 and we hope you have your Bible and a pen and paper... 00:00:59.65\00:01:02.86 And hope you also have the Sabbath School Quarterly 00:01:02.89\00:01:07.33 with you - if you do not, you can go to your local 00:01:07.36\00:01:11.50 Adventist Church, visit with them - they will be happy 00:01:11.53\00:01:14.57 to give you one of these Quarterlies, 00:01:14.60\00:01:16.37 and even study with you OR if you want to download 00:01:16.40\00:01:19.57 this to your computer, iPad or phone, just go to: 00:01:19.61\00:01:22.41 ABSG.Adventist.org 00:01:22.44\00:01:26.95 so you can really study along with us. 00:01:26.98\00:01:29.55 Well, it is my great privilege to introduce my brothers 00:01:29.58\00:01:32.92 and sisters who are making up this panel today. 00:01:32.95\00:01:36.49 To my left I have Brother John Dinzey - Pastor 00:01:36.52\00:01:39.19 we're so glad you're with us - It's a blessing to be here. 00:01:39.23\00:01:41.80 Oh and we're very thrilled, 00:01:41.83\00:01:43.40 Mollie is able to be back with us again today and 00:01:43.43\00:01:46.94 we always love your teaching, Mollie - Thank you, thank you. 00:01:46.97\00:01:50.07 And our dear Sister Jill Morikone who is also 00:01:50.11\00:01:54.64 general manager of 3ABN, thank you for being 00:01:54.68\00:01:57.88 here - Thank you. And my own pastor, 00:01:57.91\00:01:59.71 Pastor John Lomacang. 00:01:59.75\00:02:01.62 What I would like to do, Brother Johnny, 00:02:01.65\00:02:04.95 we always like to start with prayer, 00:02:04.99\00:02:07.12 how would you like to have the prayer for us. Oh, sure. 00:02:07.16\00:02:09.36 Our Loving Heavenly Father, We come before you in 00:02:09.39\00:02:13.73 Jesus name and we ask, Lord, that You will be with us, 00:02:13.76\00:02:16.60 that You will bless us with Your Holy Spirit.. 00:02:16.63\00:02:18.93 that we may speak Your words. And Heavenly Father, we also 00:02:18.97\00:02:22.27 ask that You will bless all those that are joining us 00:02:22.30\00:02:24.84 wherever they may be. We pray for Your holy angels 00:02:24.87\00:02:27.68 to draw near to them and draw their minds to search the 00:02:27.71\00:02:31.91 Scriptures - that they also may be blessed. 00:02:31.95\00:02:34.58 We pray, Father, for a blessing upon all, 00:02:34.62\00:02:36.48 and we ask for these blessings. 00:02:36.52\00:02:38.05 In Jesus Holy and blessed name, Amen, Amen. 00:02:38.09\00:02:42.42 Haven't you been enjoying this study, and especially, you know 00:02:42.46\00:02:46.09 if there's anything that the church needs today, 00:02:46.13\00:02:48.86 it is unity because when we are united, we reflect 00:02:48.90\00:02:55.00 the love, the light and the life of Jesus Christ. 00:02:55.04\00:02:58.37 Well this lesson, we are going to look at "Images of Unity," 00:02:58.41\00:03:02.91 that are presented to us in the Bible and our memory text is 00:03:02.94\00:03:06.21 from 1 Corinthians 12:12, that says, "For as the body 00:03:06.25\00:03:11.25 is one and has many members, but all the members of that 00:03:11.29\00:03:16.62 one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ." 00:03:16.66\00:03:23.30 So what is it saying - Christ is the head of the church, 00:03:23.33\00:03:26.40 the body of Christ is the church, many, many members. 00:03:26.43\00:03:30.04 You know, the Bible is filled with symbols and images 00:03:30.07\00:03:34.08 that point to something greater than what they're actually 00:03:34.11\00:03:39.05 referring to and when we think about the Old Testament, 00:03:39.08\00:03:42.55 God had them build a sanctuary so that He could 00:03:42.58\00:03:46.55 dwell among them and the sanctuary was theology 00:03:46.59\00:03:51.13 in physical form and we have all of these beautiful 00:03:51.16\00:03:54.76 symbols and images, but what did they point to? 00:03:54.80\00:03:57.37 What did everything about the sanctuary point to? 00:03:57.40\00:04:01.10 To Jesus Christ... so what we find is that there's different 00:04:01.14\00:04:06.54 symbols and images in our study that we'll look at today. 00:04:06.57\00:04:12.21 For example, sometimes the Holy Spirit is referred to as wind... 00:04:12.25\00:04:16.45 That makes sense because in the Old Testament 00:04:16.48\00:04:20.66 "ruach" was spirit and in the New Testament it's "pneuma." 00:04:20.69\00:04:24.36 Both mean "breath" or "wind" or "spirit." 00:04:24.39\00:04:27.60 And in John 3:8, it says, this is Jesus speaking... 00:04:27.63\00:04:31.87 "The wind blows where it wishes, you hear the sound of it, 00:04:31.90\00:04:34.90 but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. 00:04:34.94\00:04:38.64 So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." 00:04:38.67\00:04:41.94 So we see wind and Spirit are associated. 00:04:41.98\00:04:45.11 And then in John 7, again Jesus speaking in verses 37-39... 00:04:45.15\00:04:50.95 It says... "On the last day, the great day of the feast, 00:04:50.99\00:04:54.39 Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts 00:04:54.42\00:04:58.19 let him come to Me..." 00:04:58.23\00:04:59.89 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture hath said, 00:04:59.93\00:05:03.37 out of his belly will flow... (out of his heart) will flow 00:05:03.40\00:05:08.44 streams of living water, and it says, "This He spoke 00:05:08.47\00:05:13.17 concerning the Spirit." 00:05:13.21\00:05:15.41 So we see now "water" is used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. 00:05:15.44\00:05:20.45 And in Matthew 3:11, John the Baptist said that 00:05:20.48\00:05:26.79 "I baptize you with water, He'll baptize you 00:05:26.82\00:05:30.83 with the Holy Spirit and fire." 00:05:30.86\00:05:33.29 So we see fire and when the Holy Spirit fell on them at 00:05:33.33\00:05:36.70 Pentecost, it was with tongues of fire - so we see that 00:05:36.73\00:05:40.50 as a symbol as well. 00:05:40.54\00:05:42.04 And God even said through Jeremiah or to Jeremiah, 00:05:42.07\00:05:45.67 "Is not My word like a fire, it's like a hammer that 00:05:45.71\00:05:50.08 breaks the rocks into pieces." 00:05:50.11\00:05:51.98 So the Bible uses various terms to describe the unity 00:05:52.01\00:05:59.75 that the New Testament Church has. 00:05:59.79\00:06:01.66 It says that, "We are the household of God," 00:06:01.69\00:06:04.59 you know, we're living stones. 00:06:04.63\00:06:06.70 We're the temple of the Holy Spirit; 00:06:06.73\00:06:08.50 we're the body of Christ. 00:06:08.53\00:06:10.03 It refers to us as "sheep," and Him as the Shepherd, 00:06:10.07\00:06:16.10 and I'm laughing because if anybody has ever herded sheep, 00:06:16.14\00:06:19.57 you know you gotta be smarter than the sheep! 00:06:19.61\00:06:22.04 And, sheep can be pretty stubborn little critters, 00:06:22.08\00:06:25.48 but combined all of these symbols and images 00:06:25.51\00:06:29.95 what they represent is the church's relationship 00:06:29.98\00:06:33.89 to God; the members' relationship to one another, 00:06:33.92\00:06:38.09 and the church's relationship to the community as a whole. 00:06:38.13\00:06:42.50 So God is calling us to manifest this unity to the world. 00:06:42.53\00:06:48.54 And in this week's lesson, we're going to look 00:06:48.57\00:06:50.81 at some of those images and what they reveal 00:06:50.84\00:06:53.68 about the unity of the body of Christ. 00:06:53.71\00:06:56.68 So Sunday is: "The People of God" 00:06:56.71\00:07:01.58 We're going to look at the special status 00:07:01.62\00:07:03.65 of the people of God. 00:07:03.69\00:07:05.12 We'll begin with 1 Peter 2:9, Peter writes saying... 00:07:05.15\00:07:10.39 "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, 00:07:10.43\00:07:16.67 a holy nation, his own special people, (for what purpose?) 00:07:16.70\00:07:21.84 that you may proclaim the praises of Him who 00:07:21.87\00:07:25.24 called you out of darkness into His marvelous light..." 00:07:25.27\00:07:30.25 In the Greek, "chosen generation" is literally 00:07:30.28\00:07:35.12 "an elect race," we are spiritual Israel 00:07:35.15\00:07:40.29 through the new birth - that is who we are as a corporate 00:07:40.32\00:07:46.26 unity. 00:07:46.29\00:07:47.63 "A royal priesthood," who is our king? 00:07:47.66\00:07:50.10 Jesus Christ is the King, and collectively, the church... 00:07:50.13\00:07:56.00 we are a company of priests who are called to offer up 00:07:56.04\00:08:01.54 spiritual sacrifices of praise and worship. 00:08:01.58\00:08:05.75 This is a supreme privilege, but we're also to do 00:08:05.78\00:08:09.18 the intermediary work as a priest; working, praying 00:08:09.22\00:08:13.59 for others, bringing them... you know, among the nations, 00:08:13.62\00:08:17.03 this is what the purpose of the church is, but what is Peter... 00:08:17.06\00:08:21.00 Turn to Exodus 19:4-6... because we see when Peter 00:08:21.03\00:08:26.87 is saying, "You're a chosen generation," he is 00:08:26.90\00:08:31.11 referencing an Old Testament Scripture - one that I love... 00:08:31.17\00:08:35.44 Exodus 19:4-6, and what I love about this passage is 00:08:35.48\00:08:41.32 it shows the covenant love of God. 00:08:41.38\00:08:44.85 Listen to what He says - this is before He even speaks 00:08:44.89\00:08:48.19 the Ten Commandments to His people. 00:08:48.22\00:08:49.99 He has opened the Red Sea; they have passed through, 00:08:50.03\00:08:53.70 they're out at the foot of Mount Sinai. 00:08:53.73\00:08:56.20 And listen to what He says... "You have seen what I did 00:08:56.23\00:09:00.87 to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings 00:09:01.17\00:09:05.57 and brought you to Myself. ( boy, this is covenant 00:09:05.61\00:09:09.34 love language - He saved them before He even spoke 00:09:09.38\00:09:15.02 the Ten commandments to them) 00:09:15.05\00:09:16.79 And He says, "Now therefore, if you will indeed (they're 00:09:16.82\00:09:20.99 saved - they're out of Egypt) ... if you will indeed 00:09:21.02\00:09:24.96 obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be 00:09:24.99\00:09:30.20 a special treasure to Me above all people; 00:09:30.23\00:09:34.40 for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a 00:09:34.44\00:09:37.41 kingdom of priests and a holy nation." 00:09:37.44\00:09:39.91 (sounding familiar - do we see where Peter gets this from?) 00:09:39.94\00:09:43.58 These are the words which you 00:09:43.61\00:09:45.15 shall speak to the children of Israel." 00:09:45.18\00:09:48.38 So now turn to Revelation 1 and we'll look at verses 5-6 00:09:48.42\00:09:53.22 because we see that the privileges and responsibilities 00:09:53.25\00:09:57.86 of Israel in the Old Testament had been transferred 00:09:57.89\00:10:01.83 to the church - now all of us united - Jews, Gentiles, 00:10:01.86\00:10:07.70 no race barriers - now we are all that holy nation 00:10:07.74\00:10:12.81 in the kingdom of priests. 00:10:12.84\00:10:14.64 And this is Jesus speaking in Revelation 1:5... 00:10:14.68\00:10:18.15 It says, "...from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, 00:10:18.18\00:10:21.02 the firstborn from the dead, the ruler over the kings 00:10:21.05\00:10:24.29 of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us 00:10:24.32\00:10:26.65 from our sins in His own blood, He has made us 00:10:26.69\00:10:30.29 kings (and it's John speaking, but he's talking of Jesus) 00:10:30.33\00:10:34.46 He has made us what? Kings and priests to His 00:10:34.50\00:10:39.17 God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion 00:10:39.20\00:10:43.20 forever and ever. Amen." 00:10:43.24\00:10:44.61 So halleluiah! We are a chosen generation, 00:10:44.64\00:10:49.34 a royal priesthood - what does it mean to be a holy nation? 00:10:49.38\00:10:53.18 What does it mean to be holy? 00:10:53.21\00:10:55.65 To be holy means to be set aside for God's purposes, 00:10:55.68\00:11:00.32 so He is saying that not only He has separated us from sin, 00:11:00.36\00:11:05.79 but He has separated us to worship the one true God. 00:11:05.83\00:11:10.27 And, you know, we're not separated by boundaries. 00:11:10.30\00:11:16.71 I think someone said this, I think it was you, John, 00:11:16.74\00:11:19.64 and I feel the same way or maybe it was you, Johnny, 00:11:19.67\00:11:22.28 that in a previous lesson you mentioned that as we 00:11:22.31\00:11:27.05 travel around the world to speak, no matter where we go, 00:11:27.08\00:11:31.05 we find part of our church. 00:11:31.09\00:11:34.86 We would go to an Adventist Church anywhere in the world, 00:11:34.89\00:11:38.33 and there's this common unity and there's family, I mean, 00:11:38.36\00:11:42.63 immediately you walk into the place filled with strangers, 00:11:42.66\00:11:46.17 but they're your brothers and sisters in Christ, 00:11:46.20\00:11:49.00 and we're a holy nation... this overcomes cultural 00:11:49.04\00:11:53.31 and the language barriers. 00:11:53.34\00:11:55.01 His own special people! 00:11:55.04\00:11:57.51 Now the King James version says... "peculiar people," 00:11:57.55\00:12:00.92 but it's not peculiar in the means of strange. 00:12:00.95\00:12:05.15 The literal Greek here, when it says "His own special people," 00:12:05.19\00:12:09.72 it means we are a people, we are God's possession. 00:12:09.76\00:12:15.83 See, you are bought with a price, you were bought with 00:12:15.86\00:12:19.60 the precious life-blood of Jesus Christ and that makes 00:12:19.63\00:12:24.37 you God's possession. 00:12:24.41\00:12:26.71 In Isaiah 43:20-21, God is talking about giving waters 00:12:26.74\00:12:32.61 in the wilderness, rivers in the desert and He says... 00:12:32.65\00:12:35.25 "To give drink to My people, My chosen and He says, 00:12:35.28\00:12:41.52 "This people I have formed for Myself 00:12:41.56\00:12:43.93 that they shall declare My praise." 00:12:43.96\00:12:46.33 And we were called out of darkness into His marvelous 00:12:46.36\00:12:49.96 light, you know - you have to agree, we walked in 00:12:50.00\00:12:53.67 darkness - the darkness was also in us - was it not? 00:12:53.70\00:12:57.87 So we are children of the light; 00:12:57.91\00:13:00.81 we are to walk as children of the light. 00:13:00.84\00:13:03.38 That means we should have a holy and useful life; 00:13:03.41\00:13:07.15 a life with purpose to serve God. 00:13:07.18\00:13:10.65 And this is something that if you don't 00:13:10.69\00:13:14.19 know what your purpose is... and you may be sitting at 00:13:14.42\00:13:17.69 home and you say, "I'm too old to go out and serve God." 00:13:17.73\00:13:21.16 You know what the greatest ministry is? 00:13:21.20\00:13:24.17 It is the ministry of intercession because that is 00:13:24.20\00:13:27.90 the ministry of our risen and exalted Savior - He stands 00:13:27.94\00:13:31.74 at the right hand of the Father making intercession 00:13:31.77\00:13:34.91 for us - so this is something that you can do. 00:13:34.94\00:13:38.28 Now when God brought His people... and I'm going to have 00:13:38.31\00:13:41.98 to skip through some of this. 00:13:42.02\00:13:45.19 When God chose the people of Israel to be His own 00:13:45.22\00:13:52.56 special... Did He do it because they were special? 00:13:52.59\00:13:55.03 No, the reason He did it, Deuteronomy 7:6-9... 00:13:55.06\00:13:59.47 God tells us why, He says... "The Lord did not set His 00:13:59.50\00:14:04.47 love on you, (this is verse 7) nor choose you because 00:14:04.51\00:14:08.38 you were more in number than any other people 00:14:08.41\00:14:10.88 for you were the least of all the people, but because 00:14:10.91\00:14:15.82 the Lord loves you." Amen! 00:14:15.85\00:14:18.75 So He looked down in love and He chose a group of people 00:14:18.79\00:14:23.99 that - they weren't supposed to be separated to themselves, 00:14:24.03\00:14:27.70 just huddled together, keeping all of these wonderful 00:14:27.73\00:14:30.57 covenant blessings to themselves and the 00:14:30.60\00:14:32.67 wonderful truths. 00:14:32.70\00:14:34.04 You know, there's nothing worse than seeing a church 00:14:34.07\00:14:36.40 that doesn't grow; there's nothing worse than 00:14:36.44\00:14:38.37 seeing a church where people are just coming together 00:14:38.41\00:14:41.41 and it's like a little country club or something 00:14:41.44\00:14:44.91 and they don't reach out to others. 00:14:44.95\00:14:47.18 He brought them, He selected them so that they could go out 00:14:47.22\00:14:53.76 and spread His light, that they could reflect 00:14:53.79\00:14:58.26 His love, light and life in the community and that they 00:14:58.29\00:15:02.03 could introduce people to the promised Messiah, 00:15:02.06\00:15:08.24 the promise of the Messiah. 00:15:08.27\00:15:10.04 And God is calling us today to do the same thing, 00:15:10.11\00:15:15.04 we are the body of Christ and that means we are His 00:15:15.08\00:15:19.68 expression here on earth to others. Pastor Johnny... 00:15:19.71\00:15:24.32 Praise the Lord! You know, it's truly a blessing 00:15:24.35\00:15:27.19 to be here in the Sabbath School Panel because you 00:15:27.22\00:15:29.59 get to hear how the Lord has instructed others 00:15:29.62\00:15:34.40 that are on the panel! Yes, Amen! 00:15:34.43\00:15:36.23 It's a blessing to hear all these wonderful things. 00:15:36.26\00:15:38.27 And I have the portion for Monday's lesson and it is 00:15:38.30\00:15:43.10 entitled, "The Household of God," 00:15:43.14\00:15:46.24 a very interesting title. 00:15:46.27\00:15:47.88 And when you think about the word "household," 00:15:47.91\00:15:50.21 a household is defined as a house and the occupants 00:15:50.25\00:15:55.62 that are in it and regarded as a unit. 00:15:55.65\00:15:58.15 And Paul uses this word, "household," at least it's 00:15:58.19\00:16:02.56 translated as "household" in English. 00:16:02.59\00:16:05.13 We'd like to ask you to follow us in the Scriptures in 00:16:05.16\00:16:09.73 1 Peter 2, we have the Scripture 00:16:09.76\00:16:15.57 that we'd like to share with you... 00:16:15.60\00:16:17.61 1 Peter 2, and I'm going to begin reading in verse 4, 00:16:17.64\00:16:21.14 and this is what the Bible tells us... "Coming to Him 00:16:21.18\00:16:24.65 as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, 00:16:24.68\00:16:29.98 but chosen by God and precious," 00:16:30.02\00:16:33.05 but you also, as living stones, are being built up a 00:16:33.09\00:16:39.03 spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up 00:16:39.06\00:16:43.70 spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 00:16:43.73\00:16:48.34 I'd like to stop there for a moment... 00:16:48.37\00:16:50.24 And so we have here a continuing of what you were 00:16:50.27\00:16:53.68 sharing about priesthood and Jesus is a lively stone, 00:16:53.71\00:16:59.81 and we are said to be lively stones here. 00:16:59.85\00:17:02.18 You know, you think normally a stone is... well, it's 00:17:02.22\00:17:04.29 just a stone - it's dead, you know. 00:17:04.32\00:17:05.85 People kick it around, people throw it, 00:17:05.89\00:17:08.32 but the Bible uses a "lively stone," 00:17:08.36\00:17:11.89 and a spiritual house and we are a household 00:17:11.93\00:17:15.83 of believers in Christ. 00:17:15.86\00:17:17.43 Now when you think of a stone and a house, 00:17:17.47\00:17:20.94 and today we would say "Well, bricks," you know. 00:17:21.24\00:17:24.51 If you were to build a house and just put bricks 00:17:24.54\00:17:27.44 one on top of the other and you don't put anything 00:17:27.48\00:17:29.84 between them, nothing holds them together... 00:17:29.88\00:17:32.75 And you think of brick and mortar, 00:17:32.78\00:17:37.35 this is helping us to understand that we are united together 00:17:37.39\00:17:43.29 through Jesus Christ and together, we are a 00:17:43.32\00:17:46.70 household of believers. Amen! 00:17:46.73\00:17:48.36 Brothers and sisters in Christ, sons and daughters 00:17:48.40\00:17:51.70 of the Lord, you know, kings, queens, priests, 00:17:51.73\00:17:56.67 holy, holy people - why? Because of Jesus. 00:17:56.71\00:18:00.68 And we are lively stones and what are we to do? 00:18:00.71\00:18:04.88 The Scripture said to us in in verse 5... 00:18:04.91\00:18:07.42 "As living stones, being built up (uses the word 00:18:07.45\00:18:12.09 "being built up)" a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, 00:18:12.12\00:18:15.69 to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable 00:18:16.62\00:18:19.13 to God through Jesus Christ. Amen! 00:18:19.16\00:18:21.43 Now this gets us to the next verse which is verse 6... 00:18:21.46\00:18:24.83 "Therefore it is also contained in the Scriptures, 00:18:24.87\00:18:27.50 "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, 00:18:27.54\00:18:33.27 precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means 00:18:33.31\00:18:38.08 be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe 00:18:38.11\00:18:40.48 He is precious; (Jesus is precious to us) but to those 00:18:40.52\00:18:44.69 who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders 00:18:44.72\00:18:47.49 rejected has become the chief cornerstone," 00:18:47.52\00:18:50.49 and, verse 8, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of 00:18:50.53\00:18:54.36 offense." So to us, who are believers, 00:18:54.40\00:18:57.27 Jesus is precious, why is Jesus precious? 00:18:57.30\00:19:00.10 Oh man, I could spend a long time talking about this 00:19:00.14\00:19:05.37 because Jesus is precious to us - when you think about 00:19:05.41\00:19:07.88 what He has done for us... to come to this wicked world, 00:19:07.91\00:19:12.05 you know - I remember a few years ago, they were talking 00:19:12.08\00:19:17.99 about - I'll mention the country because this is happening 00:19:18.02\00:19:20.89 practically everywhere now... 00:19:20.92\00:19:22.89 There was a lot of violence taking place in Mexico for a 00:19:22.92\00:19:27.73 while and it was dangerous, it was dangerous! 00:19:27.76\00:19:30.37 And then I remember one speaker saying, "I'm not 00:19:30.40\00:19:32.97 going over there," well because he was thinking 00:19:33.00\00:19:36.57 ..."well, it's dangerous over there." 00:19:36.60\00:19:38.41 But Jesus Christ came to this wicked world, 00:19:38.44\00:19:41.21 a world stained with sin and He lived among us, 00:19:41.24\00:19:45.51 and walked among us... Well, you know, walked among 00:19:45.55\00:19:48.88 us human beings and He lived and suffered and died here. 00:19:48.92\00:19:53.02 When you think about how holy and wonderful He was, 00:19:53.05\00:19:57.96 the praise and adoration of angels and He chose to 00:19:57.99\00:20:00.83 come to this world to save us... that we think the Bible 00:20:00.86\00:20:07.20 describes that all our righteousness 00:20:07.24\00:20:08.70 are as filthy rags. 00:20:08.74\00:20:10.07 But then Jesus takes us, who our righteousness was 00:20:10.11\00:20:14.48 as filthy rags and makes us holy, blameless and undefiled 00:20:14.51\00:20:20.65 because of His precious blood! 00:20:20.68\00:20:22.55 And then, not only that, He brings us in and we become 00:20:22.58\00:20:26.69 part of the family. 00:20:26.72\00:20:28.06 This is something so marvelous to consider that 00:20:28.09\00:20:32.19 anyone and this is something that anyone... 00:20:32.23\00:20:34.83 You know, and I ask you, maybe you're not a Christian yet 00:20:34.86\00:20:37.97 and maybe you haven't come into the household of God, 00:20:38.00\00:20:42.04 and God is inviting you... you know - come! Amen! 00:20:42.07\00:20:44.71 Because Jesus is still seeking to save those that are lost. 00:20:44.74\00:20:51.55 And He uses us, and He's using us here and we hope that you 00:20:51.58\00:20:55.02 will make a decision for Christ as you listen to every 00:20:55.05\00:20:57.49 part of this lesson. 00:20:57.52\00:20:58.92 And so, Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone; 00:20:58.95\00:21:03.53 Jesus Christ is the lively stone and what is a church 00:21:03.56\00:21:07.10 to do... what is the reason? why does the church exist? 00:21:07.13\00:21:10.43 Why do we exist? Because Jesus Christ is the 00:21:10.47\00:21:14.10 foundation - He is the cornerstone. 00:21:14.14\00:21:16.97 We exist to worship the Lord and to be part of His family. 00:21:17.01\00:21:23.01 And so I am just praising the Lord - when you talk about 00:21:23.04\00:21:28.25 church, when you talk about the building, 00:21:28.28\00:21:31.49 the church is not just a building, the church is the 00:21:32.92\00:21:34.62 believers in it. Amen! 00:21:34.66\00:21:36.22 And when you think about a church, you know, people 00:21:36.26\00:21:41.86 pass by and they see the Thompsonville Seventh-day 00:21:41.90\00:21:43.97 Adventist Church - people pass by, but in here are lively 00:21:44.00\00:21:48.34 stones - people that worship the Lord and we just 00:21:48.37\00:21:51.31 we just need to shine for Jesus. Amen! 00:21:51.34\00:21:55.64 We are to let our light so shine before men, that they 00:21:55.68\00:21:58.11 may see your good works and glorify God in heaven. 00:21:58.15\00:22:00.12 The time has to come when the believers in Christ, 00:22:00.85\00:22:04.25 as they mingle in the world with people, 00:22:04.29\00:22:08.82 and they realize that... "Hey, there's something 00:22:08.86\00:22:12.46 different about you, what is it?" 00:22:12.49\00:22:14.93 "Oh, it's because Jesus is in my heart. 00:22:14.96\00:22:18.20 and He has made a difference in my life." 00:22:18.23\00:22:20.67 That will attract people to Jesus, 00:22:20.70\00:22:22.87 that will draw people and not only this, I come back to 00:22:22.90\00:22:25.57 that Scripture because Jesus said, "By this shall all men 00:22:25.61\00:22:29.08 know that you are My disciples 00:22:29.11\00:22:30.45 if you have love one for another." 00:22:30.48\00:22:32.11 The testimony of the believers being united is an undeniable 00:22:32.15\00:22:37.22 testimony or argument to say... "God has made a difference 00:22:37.25\00:22:42.32 in the life of these people," 00:22:42.36\00:22:44.53 and I just want to encourage you to be a part of God's 00:22:44.56\00:22:48.03 family - the church's agenda is Jesus! Amen! 00:22:48.06\00:22:52.10 To bring Jesus to the world, as the answer to the 00:22:52.13\00:22:55.67 problems of this world. 00:22:55.70\00:22:57.61 You know, you talk about presidents of nations, 00:22:57.64\00:23:00.88 kings of nations, representatives and senators, 00:23:00.91\00:23:03.81 and mayors and governors... they get together 00:23:03.85\00:23:07.92 to try to solve problems, but the solution is Jesus. 00:23:07.95\00:23:11.89 This world needs Jesus and as believers in Christ, 00:23:11.92\00:23:14.96 it is high time, as people say, to awake out of sleep, 00:23:14.99\00:23:18.39 to come together, pray together and bring such a 00:23:18.43\00:23:23.67 picture of Christ to the world that people will be drawn 00:23:23.70\00:23:27.04 to the church. "I need to go there!" 00:23:27.07\00:23:29.10 Those people are happy. 00:23:29.14\00:23:30.47 Those people have peace in the 00:23:30.51\00:23:31.84 midst of the corruption that is in this world. 00:23:31.87\00:23:33.78 These people have something that the world needs, 00:23:33.81\00:23:36.54 and that's one of the strongest arguments that 00:23:36.58\00:23:39.51 we could have for the Christian faith. 00:23:39.55\00:23:42.18 The image of a household is also a very meaningful one. 00:23:42.22\00:23:45.75 The relationships that are among us is to be a 00:23:45.79\00:23:50.86 blessing to the world. 00:23:50.89\00:23:52.23 Not only the picture of the family at home, 00:23:52.26\00:23:55.90 but when we come together, we are one family, 00:23:55.93\00:23:59.23 one household of believers. 00:23:59.27\00:24:01.97 And the lesson is bringing out imagery that we 00:24:02.00\00:24:05.04 need to look at when we talk about unity. 00:24:05.07\00:24:07.11 What does the word "u n i t y" mean? 00:24:07.14\00:24:10.08 What does the word "unity" mean? 00:24:10.11\00:24:12.08 United is like one - a unit is one, so as believers 00:24:12.11\00:24:17.42 we are of one accord through Jesus Christ. 00:24:17.45\00:24:20.86 Jesus Christ brings us together and there's this... 00:24:20.89\00:24:23.09 as Paul says, "There is no Greek, there is no Roman, 00:24:23.12\00:24:27.70 there is no Jew, there is no... Christ unites us, 00:24:27.73\00:24:31.57 and this unity that we have in Christ, again... 00:24:31.60\00:24:35.10 it's an argument to the world that Jesus Christ 00:24:35.14\00:24:38.51 is the solution to this world's problems and through 00:24:38.54\00:24:42.74 Jesus Christ, we have hope... not only do we have hope, 00:24:42.78\00:24:46.25 we have life and peace. Amen and Amen! 00:24:46.28\00:24:49.38 And you know, I always say that the church building 00:24:49.42\00:24:53.32 is a piece of real estate; the church is who 00:24:53.36\00:24:57.19 goes in and out of that building - it is us. 00:24:57.23\00:24:59.69 But we have to take just a short break. 00:24:59.73\00:25:02.40 We'll be back in one minute. 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