Participants:
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW018034A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:06 Mending broken people 00:11 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:23 Lord, let my words 00:29 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:39 Mending broken people 00:45 I want to spend my life 00:50 Mending broken people 01:10 Hello and welcome to Family Worship. 01:12 I'm glad that you have decided to join us. 01:14 My name is John Dinzey, 01:15 and I'm accompanied by my wife Idalia. 01:18 Happy Sabbath. Oh, well, happy Sabbath. 01:20 And welcome everyone. 01:21 We feel like family, and we praise the Lord 01:24 for each and every one of you. 01:26 Thank you for tuning in, 01:27 thank you for sending in your prayer requests, 01:29 thank you for sharing your praise reports as well. 01:33 And when we travel and visited with you, 01:35 what a blessing it is to just get together 01:37 as if we were family, like true family, 01:41 and that's exactly how we would like for you to feel 01:43 with our family here around the table today. 01:46 That's right. 01:48 And so we have part of the family, 01:49 we'd like for you to know them again 01:53 if you want to say that way. 01:55 Would you introduce our family members? 01:56 Yes, definitely. 01:58 I'm sure you've seen a lot of us, 02:01 but then we have... 02:02 Praise the Lord day, new viewers every day. 02:05 Yes, we do, yes, yes. Amen. 02:07 This is Dee Hilderbrand and what do you here? 02:10 I'm production coordinator. 02:12 I just schedule all these programs, 02:14 but I didn't schedule myself, you invited me. 02:17 I never schedule myself, but it's a joy being here. 02:21 You are a great blessing, 02:22 and I praise the lord for you, Dee. 02:24 Thank you. 02:26 So next to you we have Brian Dickens. 02:27 Welcome, Brian. Thank you. God bless... 02:29 And you work in the programming department. 02:32 Yes, I am the new programming manager 02:35 here at 3ABN, 02:36 just started taking over that spot last month. 02:39 Okay. 02:40 Having control. Yes. 02:42 It's a work in progress so far, 02:43 but it's getting better every day. 02:45 Oh, praise the Lord. 02:46 So it's such a blessing to work here, 02:48 it really is, you know, 02:49 and to be able to come here and praise God 02:51 for all the wonderful things that He's done for me 02:54 and for all of us all together. 02:56 It's just a wonderful blessing. Praise God for that. 02:59 And we have our friends Janelle Owen 03:02 and her husband Don, 03:05 welcome to the program. 03:06 Thank you, thank you for having us. 03:07 Thank you for having us. Yeah. 03:09 I feel my family, right? Yes. 03:10 You know, we share not only at work, 03:12 but we have the opportunity of sharing at church as well. 03:15 And, you know, we praise the Lord 03:18 for your ministry too, 03:19 here within the ministry, 03:21 but also I had our local church, 03:23 you know, it's personal ministry stream, 03:25 right? 03:26 Yeah. Recovering, they do recovery. 03:28 Yeah, we... 03:29 You know, we've been privileged and honored, 03:30 you know, we were just thinking about this 03:32 the privilege that God has, 03:33 you know, we mentioned earlier, 03:35 we were talking together about the idea that we were... 03:37 we didn't even want to go to a church, 03:39 but now here we are in church, 03:40 and God give responsibilities... 03:41 Yeah, right. 03:43 So I was really praising the Lord, 03:44 you know, it was like, "Really Lord want to use me?" 03:45 He has a sense of humor. 03:47 But I'm just thankful, you know, 03:48 especially like you mentioned addiction recovery, 03:49 and we've been doing a lot with young couples 03:52 and marriage issues lately. 03:54 The Lord is kind of directing us in that direction, 03:56 but I'm also getting into prisons. 03:58 It's been a huge blessing personally for me, 04:00 and I'm just working with folks, 04:02 and we've just been so blessed, and I'm really thankful 04:05 for this topic we're talking about 04:06 because that is... 04:07 It's a great opportunity to lead people to Jesus. 04:11 Amen. I would like... 04:13 Can you please share with our listeners and viewers 04:15 what you do with 3ABN? What do I do? 04:18 I work in the pastoral department, 04:20 actually just started last October, 04:22 so it's a year ago. 04:24 Very thankful that they put me in there, 04:26 they trust me. 04:27 So it's our responsibility 04:29 when you're talking to people online, 04:30 and then we also review programs, 04:31 and we also upload prayer requests. 04:35 We do a lot of things in pastoral 04:36 people don't know about, 04:37 but big things are really answering people's issues, 04:40 and Bible questions, and a lot of stuff we hear, 04:43 what people are going through and so it's... 04:45 That's right, and the pastoral ministry 04:47 also coordinates the worldwide prayer warriors, 04:53 kind of prayer warriors. 04:54 2004 I want to say now, 04:57 2004 prayer warriors around the world. 04:59 Amen. So if you... 05:01 If people want to be a part of that, 05:02 they can go to the 3ABN website, 3ABN.tv, 05:06 and you find information at the pastoral ministry page, 05:10 you can become a prayer warrior. 05:11 That's right. 05:13 And, you know, being a prayer warrior 05:14 not only helps other people but it helps you too. 05:17 You benefit from being a prayer warrior, 05:19 it strengthens you. 05:21 Yes, yes. This is a volunteer ministry. 05:23 Of course, yes, we do. Yes. 05:25 And so we encourage you to do it. 05:26 Yes, there's a great blessing in it. 05:28 And, Janelle, what do you do at 3ABN? 05:30 I'm a graphic designer in the publishing department. 05:34 And... Wonderful, what does that mean? 05:36 What does that mean? 05:38 Well, our department, I love our department. 05:40 I think we have a good team. 05:43 You know, I just like working with all of my teammates. 05:46 We all kind of wear different hats 05:49 like everyone here does. 05:51 We work on the world magazine, all of their websites, 05:54 for all the networks, and social media, anything web, 05:59 anything print to kind of sum it up, 06:01 that's what we do in our department. 06:03 Wonderful, wonderful. 06:04 So do you all speak several languages? 06:06 How do you do all that? 06:09 We have people that are usually bilingual 06:11 or we try to get others to help. 06:14 So... Could be a challenge sometimes. 06:15 Yes, it is. 06:17 Well, we would like to invite you to join us in prayer. 06:21 I'm going to ask brother Don to lead us in prayer, 06:22 and today, we are going to talk about a topic 06:26 that I think is a wonderful topic 06:28 and we'll share more about that after we have the prayer. 06:30 Sure. 06:32 Bow your heads. 06:33 Heavenly Father, what a privilege it is 06:35 first and foremost to come to You, 06:37 our Great Father in heaven, 06:39 thank You, Lord, for all of our viewers, 06:41 those, Lord, who are starving and hungry 06:43 to know what it is to be Jesus. 06:45 And as we're studying this message tonight 06:47 here on the Sabbath 06:48 or You put upon our lips or May Your Holy Spirit stir us 06:52 and help us, Lord, to reflect, reveal, resemble, 06:55 and most importantly represent You, 06:56 what is it like to be a Christian, 06:58 and how do we impact those around us. 07:00 Help us, Lord, to be that spiritual influence 07:03 to those around us be in our family, friends, 07:05 coworkers, or if it's in our community. 07:06 Whatever You'd have us to do Lord, 07:08 we can wrap up this message, we can see You face to face. 07:11 We ask this in Jesus' name. 07:13 Amen. Amen. 07:15 Amen. Amen. 07:16 Well, you know, we, in the beginning, 07:18 said Happy Sabbath for some people, 07:20 "Wait, those people don't even know 07:22 what day of the week it is." 07:23 And when we say happy Sabbath, 07:25 and it's commonly known as a Friday night that... 07:30 People get confused about that. 07:32 But the Bible tells us 07:33 when the days of the week begin. 07:35 That's right. 07:36 In Genesis 1, it says, "The days of the week began 07:38 with the dark part of the day." 07:40 And that's why it says, "And the evening 07:42 and the morning was the first day." 07:44 And you continue reading the description 07:47 of the creation of this world, 07:49 and it says, "In the evening, in the morning..." 07:51 Second day, third day, etcetera, etcetera. 07:53 So when we say Happy Sabbath on a Friday evening, 07:56 actually Saturday night, 07:59 which is kind of confusing to people 08:01 because on Saturday night, they think, 08:02 "Well, it's Saturday night." 08:04 You know, that means Sunday has begun. 08:06 That's right. 08:07 Because the days begin with the evening part. 08:09 At sun down. 08:10 But we like to share with you why we do this, 08:13 and we remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, 08:16 and so we like to encourage you to join us in your Bible, 08:19 if you have one, it is in Exodus 20, 08:23 and we're going to go ahead and read verses 8-11. 08:26 And if someone finds that first, 08:29 if you would like to read it for us, 08:31 I would appreciate it. 08:33 Now this is one of the Ten Commandments. 08:35 Commandment number four actually. 08:37 Commandment number four is, if you'll notice, 08:41 it's one of the longest 08:42 or it is the longest commandment 08:44 dedicated more time to writing 08:47 on this commandment than the others. 08:49 Not that the others are less important, 08:51 but this is the heart and center 08:52 of the Ten Commandments 08:54 because it really identifies 08:56 who gave you the Ten Commandments. 08:57 The other Commandments do not identify 09:00 exactly who it is, 09:02 but the fourth Commandment beginning in verse 8. 09:07 And, Brian, would you read that for us? 09:10 Oh, absolutely. 09:12 "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 09:14 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 09:18 but the seventh day is the Sabbath 09:20 of the Lord your God. 09:21 In it you shall do no work, you, nor your son, 09:25 nor your daughter, nor your male servant, 09:27 nor your female servant, nor your cattle, 09:30 nor your stranger who is in within your gates. 09:34 For in six days the Lord made the heavens 09:37 and the earth, 09:38 the sea, and all that is in them, 09:41 and rested the seventh day. 09:43 Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day 09:45 and hallowed it." 09:47 Amen. Thank you very much. 09:49 It's always good to start off the Sabbath 09:51 by reading that to remember what we're doing and why. 09:54 And it's probably even more confusing 09:56 to some of our viewers, Johnny, because of the time zones. 10:00 They could still be Thursday or they could be tomorrow. 10:04 So its... 10:07 But who doesn't love to extend the hours of the Sabbath? 10:11 It's such a wonderful day. 10:13 Amen. It's awesome. 10:14 Well, in order to enjoy the Sabbath, 10:17 there is a preparation, you know? 10:20 And in our family, for example, on Sunday, it's like, "Okay, 10:26 let's make sure all the laundry is done, 10:28 and we have our clothes almost ready for Sabbath. 10:32 Sometimes we need to iron it on Sunday, the week before. 10:35 Oh, the week before? right after Sabbath. 10:37 Oh. Wow. 10:39 And then when you have kids at home... 10:41 We work with menus, so I used to ask Samuel and Caleb, 10:45 "What would your taste like to eat this week? 10:46 What would you like for Sabbath?" 10:48 So it's preparation from the very beginning. 10:51 As soon as Sabbath is done, Sunday, 10:55 we start preparing and planning out the week. 10:59 So that is such a blessing to be able to say, 11:04 "Oh, finally," Thursday night we say, 11:08 "Tomorrow we're going to receive 11:10 the Sabbath in peace." 11:11 We already know what... 11:13 You know, we have everything that we need at home 11:16 for the meals, we have everything in order 11:18 for the clothing except shoe shining. 11:21 Show shining for the boys was always on Friday afternoon, 11:24 you know, to have it ready for Sabbath. 11:27 But there is not only a physical preparation, 11:31 but it's also our mental preparation. 11:33 That's a very good point. 11:36 That's right because really the greater benefit 11:39 of the blessing of the Sabbath is, 11:41 you know, really putting aside all of the things 11:45 of the world that may occupy your mind, 11:47 "Oh, I got to pay this bill and that bill. 11:49 I got to do this, I got to do that." 11:51 And you dedicate your time more to getting close to the Lord, 11:55 close to your family. 11:57 And so the Sabbath is a tremendous blessing 12:01 that the world is really missing out. 12:03 You cannot prepare... 12:05 You can't say, "Oh, well, Sabbath is an hour, 12:07 am I ready?" 12:08 And you haven't prepared. 12:10 Because I didn't have the children, 12:11 I probably wasn't preparing from start, 12:14 but if I don't start by Thursday 12:16 knowing that I'm going to be ready for Sabbath, 12:18 then you kind of get up to, "Oh, I got to hurry." 12:22 And that's stressful. 12:24 It is. 12:25 There's a psalm you kind of touching on. 12:27 Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still and know that I am God." 12:31 You know, sometimes if we just... 12:33 Kind of like you said, we rush through our days, 12:34 and we don't really be still, and... 12:36 I've had actually the privilege... 12:38 The Lord put on me a neat study to show 12:41 who is the Lord of the Sabbath, 12:42 and I've been showing it 12:44 to a lot of folks on prayer line, 12:46 and it's just blown people's minds. 12:47 I had a lady called up, 12:48 and she is just learning about the Seventh-day 12:50 and her husband already is. 12:52 And I shared this information with her through scripture, 12:54 and she actually saw Jesus 12:56 in the very beginning forming Adam, 12:57 then she realized that Sabbath was actually formed by Jesus. 13:01 And that just blew her mind, she was like, 13:03 "Oh my, this is mind-blowing. 13:04 I'm going to tell it to my church, you know." 13:07 So... 13:08 I like what you said about, you know, 13:09 preparing like as the Sabbath's over, 13:11 you're preparing for the next Sabbath. 13:13 And it's... 13:14 that really kind of brings the focus of what our, 13:18 you know, time should be. Our lives. 13:19 Yes, you know, plan our lives around the Sabbath, 13:22 and not try to, you know, 13:23 do everything at the last minute. 13:25 That's rights. 13:26 The purpose of our lives is Jesus Christ, not our work. 13:31 And so if we keep Him the focus... 13:33 then we never have got to our topic. 13:36 I know, I know. 13:38 But I wanted to share with you that we found opportunities 13:41 to speak to viewers on the telephone, 13:44 we were for 3ABN in the ministry 13:48 at the network of 3ABN Latino, 13:50 so I have the Spanish speaker said, 13:52 "We work with a lot." 13:53 So I remembered this conversation, 13:56 I received a call, 13:58 a non Seventh-day Adventist family, 14:00 and she says, "I love gathering my family and receiving 14:06 the Sabbath with you guys. 14:08 We're not Seventh-day Adventists, 14:10 but we really enjoy the singing, bible study, 14:14 the sharing." 14:15 And slowly but surely they were... 14:18 It was growing in them, 14:20 the appreciation of what it is to worship the Lord. 14:23 Just set everything aside and just focus. 14:27 But, you know, the devil is there too, you know. 14:30 He wants to interrupt our thoughts, 14:33 he wants to interrupt our prayers. 14:36 As we're praying, it's like something comes to our minds 14:40 like, "Oh, that needs to be done." 14:41 Or another thing and distracts us, 14:44 and somebody comes to the door is like, 14:46 "Lord, please," you know, it's a battle. 14:49 So you're not alone, 14:52 I just know that God wants you 14:54 to have super special blessed Sabbath experience. 15:01 So just hang in there and claim it on the Lord, 15:06 and He will deliver you from that. 15:09 Those distractions will go away. 15:10 Amen. 15:12 I'd like to say this one last thing 15:13 about the Sabbath day, 15:14 and, you know, we mentioned the word Sabbath, 15:16 and for some people 15:17 that actually means absolutely nothing 15:19 because you don't recognize that as the name of a day 15:22 of a week because in English, 15:25 it's a borrowed term from the Hebrew, "Shabat." 15:29 And so it's Sabbath, which means rest. 15:33 And that means you stop doing your work. 15:36 So that's a borrowed term. 15:37 But in some other languages, 15:39 the word is exactly as it is sound. 15:43 When you go to Luke 4:6 15:47 and you find that Jesus went into the synagogue 15:49 on the Sabbath day. 15:51 The actual word Sabbath is there in other languages, 15:55 it's Spanish. 15:56 It's Sabado, which means exactly the name that you find 15:59 for the seventh day of the week. 16:01 So there is really should not be any confusion 16:04 as far as the Christians are concerned as to which day 16:07 it is meant by the Sabbath day. 16:10 I have heard some people that mainly go to church on Sunday 16:15 used the word Sabbath for that day, 16:16 but that is incorrect 16:18 because the seventh day is the Sabbath. 16:20 But that's as far as we're going to go 16:21 with that today. 16:22 We're going to talk to you about a topic 16:24 that we have chosen 16:25 because, you know, when you go to a company 16:28 for the first time you're being interviewed, many companies, 16:33 in order to entice you to be part of the company, 16:38 they say, "Our benefit package is this." 16:41 And this is what really helped me to... 16:44 As I was praying to figure out. 16:46 Let's, you know, this... 16:47 Christians have benefits. 16:49 Amen. 16:51 That, you know, it... 16:53 You know, They are found throughout the Bible, 16:56 but we have benefits... 16:57 Definitely. 16:58 Being part of the family of God. 17:00 And I thought we should talk about the benefits 17:02 of being a Christian. 17:05 And it's not one, and really, every benefit you cannot... 17:09 I don't know how you can put a value on these benefits, 17:12 you know, you have companies that say, "Well, 17:14 we have 41K and we give you such and such a percentage, 17:18 and we give you this day off, and that day off." 17:21 But the benefits that God gives far, far... 17:24 You cannot even have... 17:25 You don't even have anything in this world 17:27 that you can compare 17:28 with the blessings that God gives to you. 17:31 And so I praise the Lord for that. 17:32 Amen. 17:34 You're mentioning about jobs, you know, 17:35 it just popped in my head 17:36 when I first started working more... 17:38 I don't want to be, but secular world, 17:39 I was working in a grocery store. 17:40 It was so amazing. 17:42 We lost our jobs, 17:43 and we went to a local store in our community 17:45 back in Indiana, and they supposed to... 17:47 They needed a meat wrapper. 17:49 You know, like, "Well, maybe I guess." 17:50 And she said, "Why don't you apply for it?" 17:52 And as soon as I said, the laid said, "Oh, oh, oh." 17:53 She's like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go meet the meat manager," 17:56 like, "I didn't even put in application yet." 17:58 And she's said, "Go meet him. Oh, you're hired." 18:00 I'm like, "But I didn't put an application in." 18:02 And she's like... 18:03 So the thing was that the Lord opened. 18:05 This is where that benefits for me. 18:06 They let me put anything 18:07 I wanted Christian material on their tables, 18:09 it's a particular grocery store, 18:10 you put things in your bag personally. 18:12 And people put all sizes at times, 18:14 we put out Steps to Christ, 18:16 Desire of Ages, all that. 18:18 And it was amazing. 18:19 And in two years later, 18:21 I became a colporteur and I met the very same people 18:23 that were picking those up in our store. 18:25 And they're like, "Oh, my goodness, 18:26 I kind of know all this stuff I want to know." 18:27 But it was really cool, but just to get... 18:30 I think yeah, having that... 18:31 I think it's really the motive of what you're wanting 18:33 to get involved in. 18:35 And I would actually get in trouble many times 18:36 for praying with people I was working 18:38 or give them material or give them tracks. 18:40 They're like, "You're supposed to be working back there, 18:42 you know, in meat wrapping." 18:43 I'm looking, "This is my ministry." 18:45 I'm so glad you said that because praise the Lord. 18:48 And here are 3ABN, 18:49 we do stop and pray with each other 18:51 and for each other. 18:52 And this lady right next to me, 18:54 I was going through some really turmoil. 18:59 And one day, I said something... 19:01 Oh, my goodness, 19:03 I can't believe I'm getting so emotional. 19:05 She took the time to just hug me and pray, 19:08 you know, so what a blessing it is to be a Christian 19:12 and share the love of Christ with each other. 19:16 So to take that time out and pray for each other, 19:20 I mean that's just that moral, 19:22 spiritual support that we all need, 19:24 but not everybody's willing to do, so anyway... 19:29 And that's happened enough times 19:30 that I'm not even sure 19:31 which incident you're referring to because we, 19:34 you know, we'll pray at a drop of a hat. 19:38 Anytime you... 19:39 Even walking down the hall, 19:41 there's been times when it's like, 19:42 "Oh, do you need prayer?" 19:43 You look at somebody and you just... 19:46 And all of you have done that, I know, I have seen that. 19:48 And it's... 19:50 The blessings are amazing, and the Bible's full of them. 19:54 That's right. Our benefit practice. 19:57 I'm thinking of it, scripture that comes to my mind 19:58 is Galatians 6:2, it says, "Bear one another's burdens, 20:01 and so fulfill the law of Christ." 20:03 And that's kind what you're touching on. 20:04 And that's what we... 20:06 I think is Christians are really a support group 20:07 for one another, we support one another 20:09 through our journeys, 20:10 we're supposed to uplift and edify one another, 20:12 you know, and I think that's so important. 20:14 But God promises blessings. 20:16 Even in the Old Testament, it started like... 20:18 I was looking up where on blessings, and it's amazing. 20:23 And Deuteronomy 28:2 20:25 and I can't read the whole thing 20:27 'cause there's too many blessings. 20:28 But it says, "And all these blessings 20:32 shall come up on you 20:33 and overtake you 20:35 because you obey the voice of the Lord your God." 20:38 And then it follows. 20:40 All of these blessings. 20:42 If you are a Christian, and you follow the Lord, 20:45 and you have this relationship with Him, 20:47 He just blessing after blessing, 20:51 and it covers everything. 20:52 And it's like what a difference between this life 20:58 and my previous secular life, incredible difference. 21:02 You know, I think it also depends on our mindset in life 21:05 what are our focus is because, 21:08 you know, if we realize how much God has done for us, 21:11 we'll see those blessings, 21:13 but if we're focused on ourselves, 21:15 and, you know, the negative things, 21:17 we will pass them right by, 21:19 you know, and it's like where is the focus? 21:21 Where do we recognize the blessings when they come? 21:25 That's a good point. 21:27 When you are sharing that, it brings me to the thought of, 21:30 you know, we all have a past, 21:32 and it's funny how Satan 21:35 wants to slap us with the past, 21:39 but if we are feeling weak, 21:43 we entertain or feed the past. 21:47 And you find yourself into depression 21:51 or what have you. 21:53 But praise be to God that we can enter His gates 21:57 with thanksgiving in our hearts and saying, 22:00 "Lord, thank You that I'm no longer there." 22:03 So it's just a simple whisper. 22:06 You know, it's amazing how God's Spirit, 22:10 you know, that negative spirit, 22:12 the Lord just makes that go away. 22:14 Yeah, I had a lady on prayer online, 22:17 like I can't say her name or anything, for over 50 years, 22:20 she was struggling with this one particular thing 22:22 that she had done to somebody close to her. 22:24 And I just started talking to her and I said, 22:26 "Have you asked for repentance over that? 22:27 Have you confessed it?" 22:29 And she was, "Yes." 22:31 I told her, started talking about 1 John 1:9, 22:33 "If we confess our sins, 22:34 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 22:36 and it cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 22:37 I said, "Do you realize what that means? 22:39 It's that when you confess that and repent of it, 22:41 it's wiped out of the books, 22:42 so remember, it's no longer there. 22:43 When you go to heaven, it's gone." 22:45 And she was, "Are you kidding me?" 22:46 She started weeping bitterly. 22:48 "No way." 22:49 She is up in her age, and she finally just... 22:51 Her eyes were opened, 22:52 and that's why I think we as Christians 22:54 can encourage one another, 22:56 and it lifts that burden off, you know, the heaviness. 22:58 That's right. 23:00 It's just incredible. 23:01 And most of us, like you said, we do have a past. 23:05 But when I think back to that past, 23:08 when we did get discouraged 23:11 or people put us down or you got depressed, 23:16 there was always this black hole I knew 23:18 I couldn't fall into 'cause I'd never find my way out, 23:22 but it was there. 23:23 Now other people are unaware of it because 23:26 I had a good life. 23:27 It looked like I had good work, I had a marvelous husband, 23:31 we did, you know, there was many times when financially, 23:35 and by the world's standards, we were really doing great. 23:39 And outwardly we laughed and had fun, 23:42 and we loved each other, 23:44 so there was happiness in our lives, 23:46 but there was always these little times 23:50 things could go wrong in a heartbeat. 23:53 In a heartbeat, 23:54 things can change in your life 23:55 whether you're a Christian or not a Christian. 23:58 But when you're not a Christian, 24:01 it can devastate you. 24:03 And here you are trying to pull yourself up out of it. 24:08 And your friends can help or maybe they can't. 24:11 But when you're a Christian 24:14 and you get pulled down in or Satan attacks you... 24:21 Ephesians 1:3 says, 24:23 "Blessed be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 24:27 who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings 24:30 and heavenly places in Christ." 24:32 So when Satan attacks me, 24:36 I don't have to depend on my husband. 24:38 I'm widowed now but... 24:40 or my parents or my brother or my sister 24:43 or other people in the church, I go straight to the Lord. 24:47 And I can get in this word, and I can be so depressed, 24:50 I can hardly read or I can be so hurt or so injured 24:55 or weeping so hard you can hardly read. 24:58 But God will bring scriptures to your mind. 25:01 That's right. 25:02 He will lift you up, he will pull you out. 25:06 And if you're not a Christian, 25:07 you've got a struggle to overcome 25:12 when you get knocked down. 25:13 But as a Christian, what a blessing 25:16 to be able to go immediately to the word. 25:18 All of you have got scriptures, right? 25:20 Oh, yes. 25:21 Then you go to... 25:22 and it just lists blessings, and blessings, and hope, 25:25 and joy. 25:27 Amen. 25:28 Well, one of my favorite ones and is Psalm 103. 25:32 And Psalm 103, let me find it. 25:35 I have a bilingual Bible because sometimes some words 25:39 are like I was... 25:40 I'm like, "How exactly... 25:43 What does that mean in Spanish? 25:45 And vice versa." 25:46 But anyhow I know that Christianity is a lifestyle. 25:51 You know, it's a lifestyle. 25:53 It's not just... 25:55 I'm a Christian on Sabbath. 25:57 I'm a Christian 24x7. 25:59 Okay, so I want my heart to bless the Lord or my soul, 26:05 and all that is so with then me bless His holy name. 26:11 Bless the Lord, O my soul, 26:13 and forget not all His benefits. 26:15 Hey, there it is. 26:18 What benefits? 26:19 What are you talking about? 26:21 You know, to many... 26:22 at times people focus on the negative. 26:24 "Oh, you're Seventh-day Adventist, you can't do this, 26:27 you can't do that, you don't do this, you don't do that," 26:29 but there are so many benefits to be 26:32 and faithful to the Lord. 26:33 Verse 3 says, He forgives... 26:37 "The Lord forgives all of my inequities, 26:40 who heals all the diseases, 26:42 who redeemed thy life from this destruction." 26:47 Thank you, Lord. 26:48 "That crowns you with loving kindness 26:52 and tender mercies." 26:54 So, you know, it's beautiful when you can dig into the Word, 26:59 and yes, it will lift your spirits, 27:03 you will see the benefits of following the Lord, 27:06 and you could be your own worst enemy 27:09 because you don't forgive yourself. 27:12 So the Lord forgives you, 27:14 so we need to celebrate that forgiveness 27:19 and that freedom that comes with forgiveness 27:21 and bless the Lord. 27:23 Amen. That was Psalm 103. 27:24 Yes. 27:26 And remind us that He not only forgives a bit, 27:29 like Don said, He forgets. 27:31 And that's why we can let it go ourselves too. 27:34 Amen. 27:36 Now many a times like 27:38 whenever you were talking about your job, 27:39 and you were talking about the things that you do 27:41 without Christ in your life. 27:44 Last year, I was in a completely different place 27:46 than where I am right now. 27:48 I was still in a worldly job in the secular world, 27:51 you know, where they tempt you to come to work, 27:55 you know, they have all the benefits that, 27:57 you know, the benefit and they want you to stay 27:59 and work for us, 28:01 but you got to work too on the Sabbath. 28:03 You got to forget your blessing of the Sabbath, 28:05 you know, you kind of let that go. 28:07 And, you know, when you don't have Christ in your life, 28:10 it's like Dee said, when something happens, 28:13 your whole world just crashes down. 28:16 That's right. You have nothing. 28:18 And it is such a lowly feeling. 28:23 You have nothing else. 28:25 You know, but when you do have Christ in your life, 28:26 when you do have the word go back to, 28:29 there is power in that word, and it does, 28:33 it fills your heart, and it fills you with joy. 28:36 Even when things are going at their worst, 28:39 if you sat down with God, and you pray to Him, 28:41 and you open the word, and you stay with Him, 28:45 it's like in Romans 5:8 says, 28:48 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, 28:52 and that while we were still sinners, 28:54 Christ died for us." 28:56 Now even though I was in the world last year, 28:59 I was coming out of it. 29:01 And I realized Christ did die for us, 29:04 and He was bringing me out, 29:05 and then I got baptized last December. 29:08 Me and my wife, you know, 29:10 she got rebaptized with me whenever I got baptized, 29:13 and it was such a wonderful blessing, 29:15 just for us to share that wonderful gift 29:18 that God gave to us together. 29:20 And it's not just the spiritual blessings, 29:22 God takes His blessings, and He gave you this job, 29:26 He places us in places and gives us lives 29:29 that are amazing. 29:31 He gives us blessings that we can touch, 29:33 and feel, and live. 29:35 Right, you know, it's like Idalia was saying, 29:38 you know, it's like some people look at it as if they're having 29:42 something taken away from them. 29:44 Exactly. 29:46 And then they don't realize the gifts, 29:47 the freedom that is given. 29:48 Amen. The freedom. 29:50 Whenever you have... 29:51 When you stay in the laws of God, 29:55 you know, that which aren't really laws at all. 29:57 It's just more or less if you do this, 29:59 it protects you from the bad things, 30:03 it protects you from the evil things, 30:04 it keeps you from going down the path that leads to sorrow. 30:09 But you can stay within those laws 30:12 with the relationship. 30:13 With the relationship. 30:15 It's because of the relationship 30:16 that you want to do 30:18 what he asks you to do, 30:20 and then there's all these benefit packages 30:22 that come with it. 30:23 You know, are you missing any of those packages 30:25 since you started, I mean, 30:26 because Satan offered you the biggest packages, 30:29 but here you are, have you lacked anything good? 30:32 No, not at all. Not one thing have I lacked. 30:33 Praise the Lord. I mean, I had... 30:35 I don't even want to think about the past anymore, 30:39 you know, it's because the things 30:42 that were there were not that great. 30:44 You know, it was nothing but sorrow most of the time, 30:47 I mean the majority of the time. 30:49 You know, now there are times whenever, of course, 30:52 I started reading the Bible, 30:55 you know, within last few years 30:57 and started praying again, yeah, 31:01 things were starting to look up. 31:02 But last year, it was still, 31:03 you know, I was still trying to dig myself out of the hole. 31:07 But once I got out of it, it's like the... 31:10 I was just won over, you know, God's love won me over. 31:14 God found me and brought me back here. 31:16 To talk about the biggest blessing 31:18 in the world right there 31:19 was when God found me and brought me here. 31:22 God gave me the choice, 31:23 He gives me the freedom of choice. 31:25 That's right. I'm glad you touched on that. 31:26 He gives me the freedom of choice 31:27 to take the blessing in, 31:29 and to feel it, and to keep it. 31:32 You know, but, you know, 31:33 He also gives me the choice to fall back. 31:36 I don't know why I would. 31:38 I mean, I don't... You don't want to. 31:40 No. 31:41 there is no want or will for me to go back to that ever at all. 31:46 Praise the Lord. 31:48 I had an experience, you know, 31:50 early in my Christian walk 31:52 when we used to go to wineries, 31:53 and I have a friend that I was talking to one time, 31:58 and she said, "Oh, 31:59 you and your husband should come with me, 32:01 my husband goes to a winery for birthdays, 32:03 you know, celebrate birthdays." 32:05 And she said, "Oh, I forgot, you guys are in bondage, 32:07 you can't do that anymore." 32:08 Again, she's pretty blown about it. 32:11 And I said, "No, I don't feel like I'm in bondage." 32:15 And it was just kind of where the conversation ended, 32:18 but, you know, I was just like, "Wow, 32:20 if people only knew the freedoms," 32:22 like you're saying the blessings 32:23 and the freedoms that are there, 32:25 it's like Satan's so totally perverts things 32:28 that are good and makes them like they're not good, 32:30 and vice versa. 32:32 And it's just sad that people, you know, want to live. 32:36 I mean, when we were in that life, 32:38 we thought we were fine, 32:39 you know, we thought we were... 32:40 Everything was okay, and just be a good person. 32:43 And, you know, it's amazing 32:45 how God can bring you out of things, 32:47 and you can look back at that journey, 32:49 and just thank, and praise Him for, 32:52 you know, how He's brought us, given this new life. 32:55 Amen. 32:56 People get confused on surrender to the Lord 33:00 actually takes you out of bondage 33:03 and gives you freedom beyond your wildest dreams. 33:06 You can't even imagine 33:08 what it's like until you experience it. 33:12 And then when you actually live it, and experience, 33:15 and have that relationship with the Lord, 33:17 and know your freedom, 33:19 and how you can live when you look back 33:21 at what you thought was your freedom and free will, 33:25 and go, "Oh, oh, what I... 33:30 What I lost, what I cheated myself 33:33 out of by not making this decision 33:35 so much sooner that God will take us." 33:37 When we do make that decision, He makes the changes. 33:41 It's never too late. Amen. 33:43 And I think to walking in this, this new Christian life, 33:47 you know, what 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, 33:49 you know, "That the old is gone, and new has come, 33:51 we're a new creature in Christ." 33:53 Your perceptions, your desires, 33:55 your motives are totally shifted, 33:56 they're totally different. 33:58 And you begin to see the world 34:00 in a sense what Christ saw the world as, 34:02 and He came to seek and save that which was lost, 34:04 and that's why I really like the benefits of a being 34:06 a Christian is that we get the privilege 34:08 to walk alongside Jesus, 34:10 and walk with Him on this earth, 34:12 and talk to people that are broken 34:14 and hurting as a song said earlier, 34:15 you know, I want to spend my life 34:16 mending broken people, 34:18 and that's what your focus is now. 34:20 You want to mend broken people, 34:21 and that's just been to watch that grow, 34:24 and to see how people flourish in the Lord. 34:26 You know, I have one young man, 34:28 I worked with that particular store, and I... 34:30 He was doing some things to me that was not proper etiquette 34:34 towards me, and it was really disgusting 34:36 what he was doing, I won't go in detail. 34:38 But anyways, I just said to Lord, 34:39 "I can't deal with this anymore, 34:40 I got to do something about this." 34:42 I said, "What I'm going to do is I'm going to give him 34:43 this stuff to Christ book. 34:44 And when I get him alone, I'm going to give it to him." 34:46 And I put it in the back here, and I said, 34:49 "Oh, he's alone, I'm going to go do this now." 34:50 You kind of have to open the door, and so I went, 34:52 I said to him, "As I really care about you, 34:53 I want you to read this." 34:55 And he looked and he was, "Well, that's interesting." 34:56 And then three months later, he came back in the store, 34:58 and he was clean cut, totally different, 35:00 shook my hand, told me who he was, 35:02 and we became friends, 35:03 and it shifted the whole... 35:05 And that's what God does is He breaks that stony heart, 35:09 and then He gives you a whole new purpose, 35:10 and a whole new outlook. 35:12 And it's just been incredible to watch, so... 35:13 It blesses you. 35:16 You know, Idalia once put on a CD 35:18 that when the song began, 35:20 I don't know where is this song going? 35:22 And I kind of remember a little bit, 35:24 maybe that it can help me, 35:25 it says, "Life without Jesus is like a donut." 35:27 "Is like a donut. 35:29 Like a donut. Like a donut. 35:33 Life without Jesus is like a donut 35:36 'Cause there's a hole in the middle of your heart." 35:43 Oh, my God. 35:45 Well, it's a children's song, 35:47 but it has very powerful meaning. 35:49 True. 35:50 Because when you don't have Jesus, 35:52 you really don't... 35:53 You have like a hole in your heart. 35:55 And that's what I've heard a lot of people say that 35:59 when they become Christians, they said, "I was empty, 36:02 there was an emptiness in my heart, 36:04 there was an emptiness in my soul." 36:06 And when they find Jesus is when they realize, 36:10 "Wow, this is great, you know, this is marvelous." 36:16 And that is true, that is so true. 36:18 Well, I would like to share that... 36:20 Okay, being in the church, it was a behavioral thing, 36:27 you know, and the outward thing. 36:29 And we can be Christians for 50 years, 36:32 but really not truly be heart Christians. 36:36 I don't know how to put it in words. 36:38 Real relationship. 36:40 But that was the me, you know, "Okay, 36:44 we were supposed to go to church," 36:45 I went to church, mom had worship with us. 36:49 Like at 5:00 in the morning, she would wake us up as kids, 36:51 we would have worship in the morning, 36:53 worship in the evening, and it was all a routine. 36:57 And one routine after the other, 36:58 and then when I became old enough to drive, 37:01 I would tell her, "Mom, 37:02 I'm going to go to another church today," 37:04 but I would go somewhere else to hang out with friends 37:07 or what have you. 37:08 So, you know, what we see in the surface 37:11 and what we consider as routine or that's right, 37:15 it's not necessarily that you have gotten 37:17 to the point of saying, 37:19 "Wait a minute, wait, what am I doing?" 37:21 You know, and it takes years, but you can make the change, 37:28 you know? 37:29 I praise the Lord that I'm not the person that I used to be. 37:32 Amen. 37:34 And I'm glad, and I praise the Lord, 37:35 and I thank the Lord that I have experienced His peace. 37:41 You know, when you said He still know... 37:44 That I am God. 37:46 I'm like, "That is so beautiful, 37:47 but yes, it is true." 37:48 And the Lord offers us all peace, you know? 37:52 And it's our choice to take it and make it ours 37:55 in spite of whatever circumstances 37:58 that we are facing. 38:00 So it doesn't matter 38:01 what the Satan wants to throw at you, 38:04 remember, "Lord, give me Your peace right now." 38:06 And the Lord will do it. 38:08 There, you know, when you said that, 38:09 a phrase came to my mind. 38:11 You were talking about that earlier years, 38:12 the term is, "Fake it till you make it." 38:14 Fake it till you make it, yes. Fake it till you make it. 38:15 And you know, when I was just thinking about 38:17 how Jesus came to Peter, and he says, 38:19 Jesus, Satan has asked for and desired 38:21 to sift you as wheat, 38:22 "But I am praying for you, Peter, 38:23 that when you are converted, 38:26 that you will strengthen your brethren." 38:28 I think they were converted, 38:29 that's conversion is the word we're looking at. 38:31 Conversion is where it's really taking root in your heart. 38:34 I think that's really a powerful thought. 38:36 When it really gets in your heart, 38:37 as you mentioned, that hole, 38:38 now it's filled, now when you get that feeling, 38:40 you're going to just keep it to yourself? 38:42 Is that going to be what you do or you should... 38:45 You can't. 38:46 When you're really filled with the joy of the Lord, 38:50 It's impossible not to share it. 38:53 And I think if people, 38:56 the more I understand and comprehend 39:00 God's love for me, I mean, it's just, 39:04 I just know and grow more in that love and understanding, 39:08 you can't help but love Him back. 39:10 People do not grasp God's love, 39:13 and they don't understand that He is real. 39:16 They take it in their minds and make it a fairytale, 39:22 and they don't understand the real power 39:24 and the real love of God. 39:26 And when you really comprehend His power and His love 39:31 and that it can be yours, 39:33 all these blessings, and peace, and joy, 39:36 it's overwhelming. 39:38 And you want to embrace it with everything that you are. 39:40 Amen. 39:42 You know, I was just thinking of the Great Controversy, 39:44 and how we're in the great controversy with, 39:47 you know, the battle between God and Satan. 39:49 And when I... 39:51 The first time I read their Great Controversy 39:52 and really understood that, we are in a battle, 39:55 and that we have an enemy that wants to prevent us 39:57 from growing and knowing God more, 40:01 I think that puts everything in perspective. 40:03 And it like... 40:04 In my own life, it puts things way more in perspective to know 40:07 that we are in a battle, we are in a great controversy, 40:10 God's character is under attack by Satan. 40:13 And if we recognize the spiritual warfare where... 40:15 And, you know, it really... 40:18 I just, you know, I'm thinking about another conversation 40:21 I had with someone one time 40:23 that they said they don't believe 40:25 that Satan exists, 40:26 they just ignore that he exists. 40:29 And so I think that's really dangerous, 40:31 you know, to ignore him because he is real. 40:36 And so it was just an interesting conversation, 40:39 but, you know, just because we want to believe 40:42 that something isn't real, 40:43 it doesn't make it not real, you know? 40:46 And, you know, just the idea 40:48 of the Great Controversy that God, 40:51 you know, His character, 40:53 in this world, it's under attack. 40:55 And, you know, the way it were... 40:57 Well, I was that spiritually, 40:59 I always thought God was a dictator, 41:01 you know, like 10 years ago, 41:02 when my idea of God was that He was a dictator, 41:05 ready to punish me as soon as I did something wrong. 41:08 And now that I understand, you know, the real, the truth, 41:11 of what He really... 41:13 His character really is, 41:14 it really makes me appreciate Him even more, 41:16 you know, and to know that He is loving, 41:19 He wants the best for me. 41:20 Well, with my kids, 41:24 I don't know how many of you have helped young people 41:27 in their walk with the Lord. 41:29 I know that Dee has a lot of spiritual kids 41:33 'cause she is one of the teachers, 41:35 you know, at the church. 41:38 But with my kids, I said, "Sons, 41:41 I'm so sorry for failing you as a mom. 41:46 And I did not picture God's love 41:51 the way I should have pictured it to you, you know? 41:54 And the reality is that, yes, I'm not perfect. 41:58 Honey, I know, you don't know that, 42:00 but I'm not perfect." 42:03 But I tell my kids, "I'm so sorry, 42:06 I just wished that that today was..." 42:10 Back then, where I can improve in so many areas 42:15 because the picture that we picture of Christ 42:19 to our kids also has something 42:24 with your growth as parents, as adults, 42:28 I just wanted to share that because there are some parents 42:31 out there that are probably thinking, 42:34 "Now what do I do in order to help my children understand 42:38 God's great love, His forgiveness, His attention, 42:41 that His undivided attention, His omnipresence, 42:45 you know, the Almighty God 42:47 that takes care of you and is your provider." 42:50 So I praise the Lord that He has provided, 42:54 and this is the text that I wanted to share with you, 42:58 it's Galatians 5. 43:02 And we'll just go right to the verse 22. 43:06 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, 43:09 joy, peace, longsuffering, 43:13 gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 43:17 temperance, against such there is no law. 43:20 And they that are in Christ have crucified the flesh 43:27 with the affections and lusts. 43:29 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 43:34 Let us not be desirers of vain glory, 43:38 provoking one another, and being one another." 43:41 Yeah, that really speaks to me 'cause I think of... 43:44 If we could really nail down 1 Corinthians 13, 43:47 oh, my goodness, it would be incredible, 43:50 you know, like it says in verse 4, 43:52 "Charity or love suffereth long 43:53 and is kind, charity envieth not, 43:55 charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 43:58 does not behave itself unseemly, 44:00 seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked," 44:02 Oh that's a good one. 44:03 "Thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, 44:05 but rejoiceth in the truth," and said, "Beareth all things, 44:08 believeth all things, 44:09 hopeth all things, endureth all things." 44:11 I think these are. 44:12 And I tell the guys when I'm in prison, I said, 44:13 I believe that this is what it looks like 44:15 to be a godly man, right here. 44:17 And I take him in the Steps of Christ which it talks about 44:20 how Jesus, He looked in people's eyes, 44:22 and He even sense your weakness. 44:23 That just blows me away. 44:25 "How come you can't get together? 44:26 Come on, man, I mean, 44:28 get your boot straps on, let's go." 44:29 He didn't even do that, 44:30 he didn't even sense your weakness. 44:32 He's like, He looked at the people, 44:33 He saw what they could be. 44:35 That speaks to me, I'm like, "Wow, that's..." 44:36 Because what God wants us to be, 44:39 what He gave us to be is a reflection of who He is. 44:44 And that's how He treats us, and we don't recognize Him. 44:48 Exactly. 44:49 'Cause not even any of the disciples were perfect 44:51 whenever He picked them, 44:53 you know, they had faults of their own. 44:55 That's true. Right. 44:56 It's like... 44:57 But He saw the potential and what they were going to be 44:59 able to do later, you know, so, you know, it's like, 45:03 you know, you brought up 1 Corinthians 1:9, 45:07 the verse says, "God is faithful, 45:10 by whom you were called into the fellowship 45:12 of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." 45:14 Yeah. Amen. 45:16 You know, it's like God is faithful with His love 45:18 that He gives to us, you know, He's ever faithful. 45:21 Wow. 45:22 So that is the blessing in itself. 45:24 That's a good point. Wow. 45:25 Amen. I like that. 45:26 Made new every day. 45:28 Amen. 45:29 Well, we've been talking about many of the blessings 45:30 and there are multitudes more, 45:34 but in contrast with those that are not Christians, 45:38 you know, because the people that are not Christian, 45:40 they believe that God... 45:42 either they choose not to follow the Lord 45:45 or they think God does not exist. 45:48 It's interesting, those that worship the devil, 45:50 know that he exists for some reason. 45:53 And those that worship the Lord, 45:55 I'll say the majority know that He exists. 45:58 But those that are not Christians, 46:01 really this life is all they have 46:04 to look forward to, 46:05 while the Christian has a great and marvelous future 46:11 because when you think of John 3:16, it says, 46:15 "For God so loved the world 46:17 that He gave His only begotten Son, 46:19 that whosoever believes in Him will not perish 46:23 but have everlasting life." 46:26 Then you begin to... 46:28 your eyes begin to open, he says, 46:29 "Wait a minute, you mean, 46:31 this world is not all there is? 46:34 And you talk about everlasting life?" 46:36 That's life without end. 46:37 Yes. 46:39 And so I like to tell people that 46:40 when we're talking about life without end, 46:42 it's not life such as we have it today. 46:44 Yeah. 46:45 You know, if you had everlasting life 46:47 and it was being taxed, 46:49 having diseases come and go, and, you know, 46:52 the common cold, and insects coming over you, 46:55 and all of the different things that could happen. 46:57 And there are people that they fear being robbed, 47:01 so they get alarms for their cars, 47:04 they get alarms for their homes, 47:06 they put railings, 47:07 they put walls in their house, they put barbed wire, 47:10 and they get animals to protect their homes, 47:12 they even hire guards. 47:14 And there are people that live in buildings that are secure, 47:18 and before you get into the building, 47:20 you have to pass several checkpoints, and guards, 47:23 and there's somebody in the gate, 47:25 and, you know, and there's this fear. 47:28 And there are places you can go in some cities 47:31 that people tell you, "Don't go down there." 47:33 So if life on earth 47:36 was everlasting in this world the way it is, 47:38 God is going to create a new world 47:41 where none of this... 47:42 The sufferings of this world aren't there. 47:44 Amen. Yeah. 47:45 They will not be there. 47:46 Let me say it that way, they will not be there. 47:48 And so those that are not Christian, 47:50 this is all, in their mind, 47:52 they think this is all there is. 47:54 But there's much more than this world has to offer 47:58 and that's what God has to offer. 47:59 So my hope is that as people have been listening 48:03 to what we are saying, they'll say, 48:04 "Wait a minute, I'm missing out." 48:08 You're missing out. "I'm missing out." 48:10 And we have only begun, we have only... 48:12 not even begun to scratch the surface 48:14 of all the blessings of the Lord 48:16 because you're never alone. 48:19 You may be by yourself but you're not alone, 48:21 God is with you always, and perhaps, 48:24 we can talk about some more of these things that... 48:27 Sure. 48:29 Sure, something that I just recently read, 48:30 it was an article that I really wasn't thinking about reading 48:32 about but then this really felt impressed to open up 48:33 and this is how dark our minds have become 48:36 and who are chasing after the world, 48:38 they're now creating 48:39 what's called a digital eternity. 48:41 A digital eternity, what that means 48:42 is they're taking all of your different places 48:44 you've been to, social medias, off your YouTube, 48:46 all that stuff and are conglomerating this all 48:48 into one package, 48:49 and they are making avatars of human beings 48:51 who die so you can in a sense, 48:53 like they said this businessman when he loses his business 48:56 to someone can ask this avatar who is him to say, 48:59 "Well, is this a good decision?" 49:00 And this avatar who is you will say this is not good 49:03 or this is good. 49:05 You know, and this is what the world is coming to, 49:07 they're actually saying that you can even now put yourself 49:09 into a robot someday soon 49:11 that you'll be able to live on in a robot. 49:15 Just as man tried to build a tower to heaven, 49:19 they are now trying to create their own eternity. 49:22 Yeah. Yeah. 49:23 How sad. 49:25 Wow. Incredible. 49:26 And this is a sign of the emptiness, 49:28 the misdirection there is when you don't know the Lord. 49:31 I mean, when you know 49:33 that if you have citizenship in heaven, 49:36 that you have a better world to look forward to, 49:39 then you begin... 49:40 See there's this verse, I'm just going to quote it, 49:41 I'm not even going to look it up, 49:43 it's in Psalms 34, 49:44 so if I say the verse, then that's good, I mean, 49:48 I have it here in my notes, but Psalms 34, it says, 49:51 "O taste and see that the Lord is good." 49:56 Amen. Yes. 49:58 That's what we ask people, taste and see. 49:59 Test Him. 50:01 That the Lord is good. Yeah. 50:02 And, you know, in some companies, 50:05 when they want you to buy their product, 50:07 they offer you a 10-day trial or 30-day trial. 50:13 Then if you don't really like it, 50:14 you can return it, 50:16 you know, without any cost, you have to pay the shipping, 50:18 of course, and all those type of things, 50:20 but we're saying taste and see that the Lord is good. 50:23 Amen. 50:25 And when you taste, really taste 50:26 that the Lord is good, 50:28 you're not going to want anything else. 50:30 You know... I mean, we have... 50:32 Several of you have expressed that, 50:33 "I don't want what I had before, 50:34 I don't want the world, 50:36 I don't want the emptiness I had before, 50:37 the suffering I had before," because God changes your life, 50:40 changes your perspective, 50:42 and every day is a wonderful day 50:44 because you know that this world is not your world. 50:47 You have a better world that God has planned for you. 50:49 Right. 50:51 And this is a reality, you know, 50:52 it's a reality that we have to look forward to. 50:54 Amen. 50:56 Even this life is so much better with the Lord. 50:58 Even this life, that's right. 50:59 This life, in reality, 51:01 with everything that goes wrong, 51:04 and happens, and Satan's attacks, 51:06 this life with the Lord is so much better 51:10 than this life without Him. 51:12 And then of course, like you said, 51:13 there's eternity, 51:15 which is a real life in a real world 51:18 and not floating on a cloud with a harp. 51:21 With the little time that we have left, 51:23 I know you may have all something to share, 51:25 but we have such limited time now, I would, like, 51:27 just like to go down each one, give an opportunity, Brian, 51:30 if you were to say to someone that doesn't know Jesus, 51:34 what would you say to someone so that they may be encouraged 51:37 to try Jesus? 51:40 Well, the fact that we were talking about earlier 51:42 how things seemed to be a jail cell, 51:47 that you were talking about, you know, 51:49 that your friends told you that you must be living 51:53 in a confined space, 51:55 unable to experience joy 51:59 when the space that we have is an abundant amount of joy, 52:05 it is not confined at all. 52:07 It is boundless, you know, the joy that, you know, God... 52:12 The love that God gives us 52:13 is just an overflowing cup of joy, 52:17 you know, it really is. 52:18 You know, that, you know, 52:20 not being able to go to a wine retreat or something, 52:24 you know, waking up the next day bound to a bed 52:26 because your head hurts so bad, 52:29 that sounds like a bigger prison 52:30 right there myself, 52:32 you know, one that I've experienced in the past 52:34 and never going to go back to, so... 52:37 And how much we embarrass and humiliate ourselves, 52:39 those things too... 52:41 Dee, what would you like to share? 52:44 Romans 15:13, if you're not a Christian, 52:48 try the Lord but you have to try it 52:50 with your whole heart. 52:51 Yes. 52:53 And this is my prayer for you if you do that, 52:55 "Now may the God of hope 52:57 fill you with all joy and peace in believing 53:01 that you may abound in hope 53:04 by the power of the Holy Spirit." 53:06 The power of the Holy Spirit is powerful, 53:09 and if you will try the Lord and taste it, He is good. 53:14 He will fill you with a joy that you've never experienced 53:18 before, and a peace, and a hope, 53:20 He will give you life, instead of death. 53:23 Amen. Amen. 53:24 Donald. Yes. 53:26 Actually, it was your speaking that came to my mind, 53:28 it was Romans 12:1-2, I'll just read this real quick, 53:30 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, 53:32 by the mercies of God, 53:33 that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, 53:36 holy, acceptable unto God, 53:37 which is your reasonable service," 53:39 I really like that word. 53:40 Verse two is the biggest one, 53:41 "And be not conformed to this world, 53:44 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, 53:47 that you may prove what is that good, 53:49 and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." 53:50 That word "transformation" and I think for me, 53:53 that's what has spoken in my life 53:55 personally is that God has come in and transformed, 53:57 He's given me a whole new perspective 53:59 and a desire to see people know who Jesus is, 54:01 and that's what I want for our viewers, listeners, 54:05 whoever you are that this Word, 54:07 the gospel will really transform your life. 54:10 It'll give you a new hope, and new glimmer, 54:12 and a promise that He is going to complete the good work 54:15 that He's begun in you, so just renew you. 54:16 Amen. Amen. 54:18 Janelle. 54:19 I would just like to say that, 54:21 you know, for those out there that haven't tried the Lord 54:24 that maybe you've tried other things 54:26 to fill that hole we were talking about earlier. 54:30 And you've tried to fill it with things of this world 54:33 but God made you, He's your Creator, 54:35 and He knows how to fill that hole that you fill. 54:38 So I hope that you'll try Him today. 54:40 Amen. Yes. 54:42 Idalia, what would you like to share? 54:43 Oh, my mind is running, 54:45 but I think what I would like to share with you 54:51 is to just give God a chance. 54:53 Amen. 54:54 Give yourself a break, you know, 54:56 don't carry your burdens. 54:57 Give them to the Lord 54:59 and you're going to find freedom in the Lord 55:02 because this bondage of sin, of discouragement, 55:07 or frustrations, or whatever you're facing, 55:11 there's freedom from that and it's only found in Christ, 55:14 we cannot do it on our own. 55:15 That's right. Amen. 55:17 So I can do all things, 55:19 all things through Christ who strengthens us. 55:22 Amen. That's right. 55:23 And I would like to share that, you know, 55:26 be not afraid to come to Jesus 55:28 because you can come with confidence 55:32 knowing that you're not going to be rejected, 55:34 you're going to be accepted. Amen. 55:36 And John 6: 37, Jesus says, "He that comes to me, 55:40 I will in no wise cast out." 55:42 Amen. 55:43 So you can come 55:45 with your worries, your concern, 55:47 be not afraid to come to Jesus 55:49 because what He is going to do is accept you. 55:52 And, you know, some people say, "Well, 55:54 I don't think He's going to accept me 55:55 because I'm just so sinful." 55:57 Jesus Christ died on the cross 56:00 so that the worst person in the world 56:03 could be cleansed, forgiven, 56:06 and become a child of God. 56:08 Amen. 56:10 So I want to encourage you to come to Jesus, 56:11 give your heart to Him, and, you know, 56:14 there's this marvelous thing in John chapter 1, 56:17 I'm just going to say the chapter 56:18 so that at least you remember that 56:19 'cause if I say a verse, "Oh, where's that..." 56:21 John chapter 1. 56:23 It says there that "He came unto his own, 56:27 and his own received him not." 56:29 And this is the next part, it's interesting, 56:31 "But as many as received him," you see, 56:34 some people think 56:35 "Is the Lord going to receive me?" 56:37 "As many as received him," you see, 56:38 Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart, 56:42 inviting you to open the door so that he can come in. 56:46 Amen. 56:47 "And as many as received Him," so if you will receive Him, 56:52 you begin to taste and see that the Lord is good. 56:55 Amen. You really do. 56:56 And I want to encourage you to do that 56:58 because when you do that, 56:59 you will never want to go back to whatever it is 57:02 that you think you had before that was good 57:05 because there's nothing in this world 57:06 that's better than what God has to offer. 57:09 Amen. Amen. 57:11 And I encourage you, read in the Bible... 57:13 we didn't read... 57:14 Revelation 21, 57:16 "God is going to take away 57:17 all tears, all pain, all suffering." 57:19 Yes. 57:20 And I want to encourage you to follow Jesus, 57:22 give your heart to Him. 57:24 And as I like to say, 57:25 give your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ 57:27 and you will begin to have peace and joy 57:29 that begins in this world and continues forever. 57:33 We say happy Sabbath to you. 57:34 God bless you. Happy Sabbath. |
Revised 2018-11-26