New Perceptions

Renovate: Under The Roof with a Clever Prophet

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: NP

Program Code: NP181027A


00:11 Happy Sabbath church.
00:14 So I have a few statements and all you need to reply with
00:16 is with an amen.
00:18 So I'm going to ask you,
00:19 if you believe we have a great God, say amen.
00:23 Amen.
00:24 If you believe we have a big God, say amen.
00:27 Amen.
00:28 If you believe we have a God who can do all things,
00:32 say hallelujah.
00:33 Hallelujah. All right.
00:35 So as we begin our worship and praise,
00:37 I invite you to stand with us as we sing
00:40 about how amazing and great our God is.
01:03 Water You turned into wine
01:07 Opened the eyes of the blind
01:10 There's no one like You
01:14 None like You
01:20 Into the darkness You shine
01:24 Out of the ashes we rise
01:27 There's no one like You
01:32 None like you
01:37 Our God is greater our God is stronger
01:41 God You are higher than any other
01:46 Our God is Healer Awesome in Power Our God!
01:51 Our God!
02:03 Into the darkness You shine
02:07 Out of the ashes we rise
02:10 There's no one like You
02:14 None like you
02:20 Our God is greater our God is stronger
02:24 God You are higher than any other
02:29 Our God is Healer Awesome in Power Our God!
02:34 Our God!
02:37 Our God is greater our God is stronger
02:41 God You are higher than any other
02:46 Our God is Healer Awesome in Power Our God!
02:52 Our God!
02:55 And if Our God is for us Then who could ever stop us?
02:59 And if our God is with us Then what can stand against?
03:03 And if Our God is for us Then who could ever stop us?
03:07 And if our God is with us Then what can stand against?
03:12 And if Our God is for us Then who could ever stop us?
03:16 And if our God is with us Then what can stand against?
03:22 What can stand against?
03:27 What can stand against?
03:31 What can stand against?
03:37 Our God is greater our God is stronger
03:41 God You are higher than any other
03:45 Our God is Healer Awesome in Power Our God!
03:51 Our God!
03:54 Our God is greater our God is stronger
03:58 God You are higher than any other
04:03 Our God is Healer Awesome in Power Our God!
04:10 Our God!
04:13 Our God!
04:16 You may be seated.
04:18 Our God is indeed great and He is faithful.
04:22 This song may be familiar to many of you
04:25 or it might be new to some of you,
04:28 but we just invite you to sing,
04:30 we're going to sing the chorus first,
04:32 and then go through the song.
04:33 But it reminds us that
04:34 we can continue to claim God's promises
04:37 and that He is faithful.
04:39 So join us as we sing.
04:50 Your promise still stands
04:53 Great is Your faithfulness
04:57 Faithfulness
05:02 I'm still in Your hands
05:05 This is my confidence
05:08 You never failed me yet
05:25 Walking around these walls
05:31 I thought by now they'd fall
05:36 But You have never failed me yet
05:47 Waiting for change to come
05:53 Knowing the battle's won
05:59 For You have never failed me yet
06:09 Your promise still stands
06:13 Great is Your faithfulness faithfulness
06:20 I'm still in Your hands
06:24 This is my confidence
06:27 You never failed me yet
06:43 I know the night won't last
06:48 Your Word will come to pass
06:53 My heart will sing Your praise again
07:04 Jesus, You're still enough
07:09 Keep me within Your love
07:15 My heart will sing Your praise again
07:25 Your promise still stands
07:28 Great is Your faithfulness faithfulness
07:35 I'm still in Your hands
07:38 This is my confidence You never failed
07:45 Your promise still stands
07:48 Great is Your faithfulness faithfulness
07:56 I'm still in Your hands
07:58 This is my confidence You never failed me yet
08:35 I've seen You move come move the mountains
08:40 And I believe
08:42 I'll see You do it again
08:44 You made a way where there was no way
08:49 And I believe I'll see You do it again
08:54 I've seen You move You move the mountains
08:59 And I believe I'll see You do it again
09:04 You made a way where there was no way
09:09 And I believe I'll see You do it again
09:13 I've seen You move You move the mountains
09:18 And I believe I'll see You do it again
09:23 You made a way where there was no way
09:28 And I believe I'll see You do it again
09:35 I'll see You do it again
09:40 I'll see You do it again
09:45 I'll see You do it again
09:53 Your promise still stands
09:55 Great is Your faithfulness faithfulness
10:03 I'm still in Your hands
10:06 This is my confidence
10:10 You never failed me yet
10:15 And I never will forget
10:20 You never failed me yet
10:25 And I never will forget
10:39 Great is Thy faithfulness
10:44 O God my Father
10:49 There is no shadow of turning
10:55 With Thee
10:58 Thou changest not
11:02 Thy compassions they fail not
11:08 As Thou has been
11:12 Thou forever will be
11:18 Great is Thy faithfulness!
11:23 Great is Thy faithfulness!
11:28 Morning by morning
11:33 New mercies I see
11:39 All I have needed
11:43 Thy hand hath provided
11:49 Great is Thy faithfulness!
11:54 Lord unto me
12:00 Summer and winter
12:04 And springtime and harvest
12:10 Sun, moon and stars
12:13 In their courses above
12:19 Join with all nature
12:23 In manifold witness
12:29 To Thy great faithfulness
12:34 Mercy and love
12:37 Great is Great is Thy faithfulness!
12:44 Great is Thy faithfulness!
12:48 Morning by morning
12:53 New mercies I see
12:58 All I have needed
13:02 Thy hand hath provided
13:08 Great is Thy faithfulness!
13:13 Lord unto me
13:18 Pardon for sin
13:21 And a peace that endureth
13:28 Thine own dear presence
13:32 To cheer and to guide
13:38 Strength for today
13:42 And bright hope for tomorrow
13:48 Blessings all mine
13:52 With ten thousand beside
13:58 Great is Thy faithfulness!
14:03 Great is Thy faithfulness!
14:07 Morning by morning
14:12 new mercies I see
14:17 All I have needed
14:21 Thy hand hath provided
14:27 Great is Thy faithfulness!
14:32 Lord unto me
14:35 Great is Great is Thy faithfulness!
14:42 Great is Thy faithfulness!
14:46 Morning by morning
14:50 New mercies I see
14:56 All I have needed
15:00 Thy hand hath provided
15:06 Great is Thy faithfulness!
15:11 Great is Thy faithfulness!
15:16 Great is Thy faithfulness!
15:23 Lord unto me
15:35 Before we pray, would you open your Bible
15:37 to a book that's going to be very hard for you to find,
15:39 it's Haggai.
15:41 When we ever been to Haggai before?
15:43 Probably never.
15:44 But if you'll find the Old Testament,
15:47 you go to the last book
15:48 of the Old Testament is Malachi,
15:49 come back a book that's Zechariah,
15:51 and one more book behind that is Haggai.
15:54 You didn't bring a Bible, pull the pew Bible out,
15:57 it's page 636.
15:58 We're just going to read this.
15:59 Nothing on the screen, I want to read this passage.
16:02 We'll have a prayer and plunge into
16:05 our moments together.
16:07 All right, Haggai 2.
16:14 Haggai 2.
16:15 I want to pick it up please in verse 6.
16:19 This is what the Lord Almighty says,
16:23 "In a little while I will once more
16:24 shake the heavens and the earth,
16:26 the sea and the dry land.
16:29 I will shake all the nations.
16:32 'And what is desired by all nations will come.
16:36 And I will fill this house with glory'
16:38 says the Lord Almighty,
16:40 'the silver is mine and the gold is mine,
16:42 declares the Lord Almighty.
16:44 The glory of this present house will be greater
16:46 than the glory of the former house,'
16:47 says the Lord Almighty.
16:49 'And in this place I will grant peace
16:51 declares the Lord Almighty.' "
16:55 Let's pray.
16:57 Oh, God, there's a time coming is there
16:59 when you will shake the nations.
17:02 It was a bit shaking just to learn
17:04 before walking out on to this
17:07 sanctuary.
17:11 Now that tragedy in Pittsburgh this morning in a synagogue.
17:16 There's a bond between Sabbatharians,
17:18 no matter where they live on the planet.
17:23 There's a whole lot of shaking going on, Father,
17:26 in the nations of this earth,
17:28 what is this that we just read something,
17:31 someone is coming that all the nations will desire.
17:35 That has to be true.
17:38 And we know who that someone is,
17:41 as we worship in the midst of a shaken world, speak to us,
17:46 I'm humbly praying in Jesus' name, amen.
17:52 Did you notice it tucked into that,
17:53 rather shaking passage is a single line.
17:57 I put it on the screen for you.
17:59 If your Bible still open, you'll see it.
18:00 It's verse 8, this is God Almighty Himself,
18:03 the Lord of hosts speaking,
18:05 "'The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,'
18:09 says the Lord."
18:11 One translation says,
18:12 that's the Lord of angel armies,
18:14 it's all mine, the silver and the gold.
18:16 Are you talking to us, God, because if you are,
18:18 we are a bunch of Americans, here most of us,
18:20 well, we have some Brazilians here, we have...
18:21 I guess we have 90 other nations,
18:23 but you know what?
18:24 In this country we do silver and gold, just fine.
18:29 What do you think about our jackpot,
18:30 the Mega Millions jackpot.
18:32 That's pretty good, won't it?
18:34 did you follow that story by the way,
18:35 the Mega Millions jackpot, unless you were sleeping.
18:39 Some dear so...
18:40 I'm not going to say lucky
18:42 because you know what they've done research,
18:44 they have found that those who win the giant jackpots
18:49 actually end up many of them with tragic, tragic endings.
18:53 I tell you why.
18:55 It's not worth having that kind of money.
18:56 What kind of money you're talking about, Dwight.
18:58 I guess I slipped through that headline,
18:59 "Oh, a little soul down in," what was it Simpsonville,
19:02 South Carolina had the right
19:04 line up in numbers and won
19:07 $1.537 billion,
19:12 a billion dollars.
19:14 Anybody here know that kind of money?
19:15 No, I don't know that kind of number at all.
19:18 But I'm saying, "Try me, try me, try me.
19:21 Just once try me."
19:23 Come on $1.537 billion.
19:31 Would that mean the silver and the gold that God also has?
19:35 Apparently.
19:37 It reminds me that moment when Peter and his bud John
19:40 because whenever Peter shows up in the gospels,
19:42 you will always see in the Gospel of John,
19:45 you will always see John boy there,
19:47 they just were buds, they were fisherman.
19:48 John's young, Peter's little older.
19:50 But they hung around together.
19:52 And this particular afternoon, after Jesus
19:54 rose from the dead and ascended back to heaven,
19:57 3 o'clock,
19:58 it's 3 o'clock in the afternoon and you know what?
20:00 That's the prayer hour, and Peter and John
20:02 are hustling up the stairway
20:04 into a gate called beautiful, and it's beautiful
20:06 because there is embedded into the facade a vine
20:12 with gold and silver grapes.
20:14 And we've been talking about a vine for a few weeks
20:17 this new season.
20:19 They're going under the gate beautiful
20:21 because they're going to prayer meeting.
20:22 I love it when friends go to prayer meeting together.
20:24 We got it by the way 7 o'clock in the morning,
20:26 if you'd like to come early 7 o'clock in the evening,
20:29 bring a friend with you.
20:30 That's what prayer meeting is for.
20:32 So Peter and John are hurrying
20:33 because they're running just a little bit behind
20:35 but a professional beggar
20:36 because he's been laying for 40 years from birth
20:38 is sitting there and is,
20:40 instinctively his wrist goes out, alms for the poor.
20:45 Peter's about to hurry by, when he hears that pitiful cry,
20:48 he stops.
20:50 And Peter locks his eyes on that lame man
20:53 and he uses words that raise huge expectation
20:57 in that lame heart.
20:58 Look at me, look at me,
21:04 silver and gold have I known,
21:05 but what I have I now give you
21:07 in the name of Jesus of Nazareth,
21:09 get up and walk and that fisherman's hand
21:11 comes down, and grabs the bony wrist,
21:13 and somewhere between,
21:14 half way between down and up, two brand new legs.
21:21 Now what did Peter say?
21:23 The exact opposite of God.
21:25 Peter comes along and says, "Silver and gold have I," what?
21:27 "None."
21:29 God comes along, you have your Bible still open
21:31 to Haggai 2:8, put it on the screen again.
21:33 God says,
21:34 "The silver is mine and the gold is mine."
21:37 Silver and gold have I none.
21:39 Peter confesses silver and gold have I all,
21:42 God declares, it's all His.
21:47 Look, if you need any money, and who here isn't.
21:51 If you're in trouble right now when you need some money,
21:53 you need to know that what God has just spoken.
21:55 That's our one liner today.
21:56 What God has just spoken is hugely great news for you.
22:00 No matter what it is you're going through,
22:02 if you're in trouble and you need this God.
22:08 This God to saying,
22:11 "Why all these anxiety?
22:13 I have the gold.
22:15 I have the silver. Don't worry, girl.
22:16 Boy, don't worry I have you covered.
22:19 Just put your hand in mine."
22:23 Put your hand in the hand of the man
22:25 who stilled the waters.
22:28 Put your hand in the hand of the man
22:29 who calmed the sea.
22:32 Take a look at yourself
22:33 and you will look at others differently.
22:35 If you put your hand in the hand of the man
22:37 from Galilee.
22:40 Remember that one?
22:42 That be baby boomers to remember.
22:46 And that is the Jesus.
22:49 Poorer as the church mass by the way, Lord Jesus.
22:52 Poorer than the widow who dropped in two mites,
22:54 Jesus didn't have a coin on him one day
22:56 when they wanted a little illustration,
22:58 He had nothing.
23:00 That's the Jesus who is God in disguise
23:03 and that's what God's talking about
23:05 when He's talking about His house
23:06 one day is going to have greater glory
23:07 than the house has ever had.
23:10 It's talking about Jesus.
23:12 In fact I want you to see that.
23:13 Let's read verse 7 again.
23:15 This is Haggai 2:7, "And I will shake all nations,
23:18 and what is desired by all nations."
23:20 Oh, we know the Desire of Ages, don't we?
23:22 The one who is desired by all nations will come
23:25 and I will fill this house for the glory
23:26 says the Lord Almighty,
23:28 "The silver is mine and the gold is mine
23:29 declares the Lord Almighty."
23:31 Verse 9, "And the glory of this present house
23:33 will be greater than the glory of the former house,'
23:34 says the Lord Almighty.
23:36 'And in this place I will grant peace, '
23:37 declares the Lord Almighty.' "
23:39 I am the God of the angel armies.
23:42 I am telling you this is My house
23:47 and He's going to show up.
23:50 I mean you look at the house right now
23:51 when God is speaking these words, it's a mess.
23:54 They've been gone for 70 years.
23:55 When Nebuchadnezzar came right in with that raging
23:58 serious Babylonian horde, they took
24:01 every man, woman, and child they could see still alive,
24:04 captive chain gang, their chain
24:07 winding through the desert to Babylon.
24:09 Seventy years ago,
24:12 and then comes a new king called Cyrus the Mede,
24:15 he comes in, sets them,
24:17 tells the religions of his empire
24:19 I have respect for your religions.
24:21 The Holy Spirit has even mentioned
24:23 Cyrus by names.
24:24 So he's operating under divine instructions
24:26 and he tells the Jews,
24:27 "Yo, go home,
24:30 I want the band of you to go back,
24:31 get the place ready."
24:33 And so this intrepid band of exiles,
24:35 Jews, they have come back.
24:38 And there's good news, but I had to tell you
24:40 there's a little bit of bad news first and that is,
24:42 that God has been looking for them to come in back
24:44 as He could hardly wait to renovate His house.
24:46 He wants to get His house re-renovated again.
24:50 They get back and guess what they do?
24:53 Immediately start working on their own houses.
24:56 And they are putting up some fine material.
24:59 Yes, they are.
25:01 And God is saying wait a minute, wait a minute,
25:03 wait a minute, time out.
25:06 What's going on?
25:08 And one author by the way calls
25:09 what they were putting up mansions.
25:13 Go back to chapter one. Take a look at this.
25:15 So here's the bad news.
25:17 We will get right back to the good news
25:18 because God says in verse 2, this is what the Lord Almighty,
25:21 the Lord of hosts says, "These people say to me."
25:23 Haggai.
25:24 The exiles who came back with you.
25:26 "These people say to me, 'The time has not yet come
25:27 to rebuild the Lord's house.
25:29 Then the word of the Lord,'" verse 3,
25:31 "came through the prophet Haggai:
25:32 'Is it time for you yourselves
25:34 to be living in your paneled houses,
25:37 while this house remains
25:40 a ruin?' "
25:43 Talking about a rhetorical question.
25:45 Verse 5, "Now this is what the Lord Almighty says:
25:48 "Give careful attention, careful thought to your ways.
25:50 You have planted much, but have you noticed
25:52 you've harvested little.
25:54 You eat, but never have enough."
25:56 I wonder if something's going on here.
25:58 "You drink, but never have your fill.
25:59 You put on clothes, but you're not warm."
26:01 Must have lived in Michigan.
26:03 "You earn wages, only to put them in a purse
26:06 with holes in it."
26:08 I had someone visit me in my office the other day.
26:10 And while I'm standing up in my office,
26:12 kind of moving around
26:13 while I'm talking to this person,
26:15 and I looked down,
26:16 and I noticed a tick-tack on the floor.
26:17 I said, "Oh, great."
26:19 And I kept moving and I noticed
26:21 just more and more tick-tacks on the floor
26:24 and I didn't dare look down,
26:25 I didn't dare to lean over and say,
26:26 let me pick these up, excuse me just a bit.
26:29 Obviously, I had a hole in my pocket
26:30 and tick-tacks were just dripping out like crazy.
26:32 How embarrassing.
26:36 The guy says, "You got purses,
26:37 what's the problem with your purses?
26:39 How come they're all leaking?
26:40 You have no money left, do you?"
26:44 Verse 7, "This is what the Lord Almighty says:
26:46 'Give careful thought to your ways.
26:48 Go up to the mountains and bring down timber..."
26:50 Come on, guys, "We're going to build my house
26:53 so that I can take pleasure in it
26:54 and be honored again."
26:56 We're going to renovate My house.
26:58 Do you understand? We got it, God.
27:00 And that's exactly what the people do.
27:01 That's the good news, now the bad news is over.
27:04 Verse 13 "Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger,
27:08 gave this message to the Lord, from the Lord
27:10 rather to the people:
27:11 'I am with you," guys, I love this.
27:13 I love this.
27:14 You're moving to renovation, let me remind you
27:16 I am with you declares the Lord.
27:18 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel,
27:20 that would be the governor of Judah, and Joshua,
27:23 that would be the high priest,
27:24 and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people.
27:27 They came and began to work on the house
27:29 of the Lord Almighty, their God.' "
27:30 Now get this, verse 15, very interesting,
27:33 "On the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month..."
27:37 May I tell you something, guess what?
27:39 Scholars and archaeologists have calculated that date,
27:41 and I want to give it to you right now.
27:43 No study guide today, so lock it in your mind.
27:46 That date is September 21,
27:49 530 BC.
27:52 They begin to renovate the house of God and you say,
27:57 "Dwight, how many years ago was that?"
27:58 Well, you take 2018 AD minus 530 BC and you get 2,548.
28:03 But then you crossed over from BC to AD,
28:05 so there's no zero.
28:07 You take one off, that's 2,547 years ago,
28:11 last month they began to renovate the house of God.
28:15 And here we are 2,547 years later,
28:18 about to do the same thing.
28:21 Amazing.
28:22 And by the way God says, "Yo, yo, yo, yo, don't worry.
28:25 Don't worry.
28:26 The silver is mine and the gold is mine.
28:30 I got you covered."
28:31 Listen, that line,
28:33 the silver is mine and the gold is mine.
28:34 That's not a divine scolding, that's a divine promise
28:37 that I'll take care of you.
28:39 Wow.
28:41 I'd say that's great news for this little campus church.
28:45 It's like the band of exiles 2,547 years ago right now,
28:49 sets out to renovate the house of God.
28:52 You know when I think of the Pioneer Memorial Church.
28:56 I love this church.
28:58 And every time I come to Psalm 26.
29:01 Psalm 26:8
29:04 because I read these psalms every day, cycle of...
29:08 I'll come across it at least two times a year.
29:12 Every time I come to Psalm 26:8.
29:17 In fact I've scribbled on my margin, Pioneer.
29:18 Let me put Psalm 26:8. Is this great?
29:20 Hey, let's do this one out loud together.
29:22 The Psalmist is in just in love
29:24 and you're going to see with what?
29:26 Okay, let's read this out loud together.
29:27 "Lord, I love the House where You live,
29:31 the place where Your glory dwells."
29:35 Oh God, I love Your house.
29:39 I'm going to tell you for these little pastor's heart,
29:42 those bricks.
29:44 Those bricks are not only sacred to me.
29:47 And this timber, this place is precious.
29:51 Sometimes I come in here all alone, middle of the night,
29:55 this place is dark.
29:57 I'll sit where you're sitting right now.
30:00 And if you sit quietly enough in the middle of the night,
30:04 I'm telling you, God is here,
30:08 you can almost hear His voice in the darkness.
30:11 He say, "Hey, I'm here.
30:16 I'm so glad you came."
30:19 And He'll talk to you.
30:22 This is His house.
30:24 This is not my house.
30:26 He's always in this place.
30:30 Wow.
30:32 I love this place.
30:33 I know you love it too.
30:34 Oh, I know you love it.
30:36 Pioneer Memorial Church
30:38 on the campus of Andrews University.
30:43 And when we overhear God talking to the exiles come back
30:47 and He says, "Hey guys, what's the problem?
30:49 I got a house, don't you care about My house?
30:51 Anybody here care about My house?"
30:53 When we overhear Him say that,
30:55 we know immediately
30:56 God also loves this house.
31:01 You love it. I love it.
31:04 And through the miracle
31:05 of what happens behind these lenses,
31:08 do you know what?
31:09 Hundreds of thousands of people
31:13 keep coming to this house of God,
31:16 every single week, all over the world.
31:21 Brazil, glad you're here.
31:25 Why?
31:26 Because this house has become dear to them.
31:28 I'm talking about our alums,
31:30 when they graduate and go away,
31:32 they still come back through that.
31:35 It's not just me and you that love this place,
31:37 there are people...
31:39 When I travel across the nation,
31:40 I have people come up to me, they say, "Yo!
31:43 Pioneer Memorial Church, that's my church."
31:45 I say, "Really?"
31:49 All over the world, that's my church.
31:54 Oh, how I love.
31:55 Put it on the screen again.
31:57 "Oh, Lord, how I love the house where You live,
32:01 the place where Your glory dwells."
32:04 I'm telling you what?
32:05 So it's truly good news when God says to us,
32:07 let me remind you,
32:08 "The silver is mine and the gold is mine."
32:12 Don't you worry.
32:13 I have all the resources you need to fix this place up.
32:17 I have all the resources you need to fix
32:19 the leaking roof in your church.
32:24 There used to be a cooper lawn on top,
32:25 that's called the steeple.
32:27 You know where it is right now?
32:28 It's parked right there, right outside that wall,
32:30 in the corner there because we had to go up there,
32:33 rip the roof apart to patch just one hole.
32:37 There are holes all over this place,
32:39 it's still leaking
32:40 'cause I have enough resources to help you there.
32:42 I have enough resources to help you
32:44 with this shag carpet.
32:46 You see it's a shag carpet though nobody intended it
32:48 to be a shag carpet.
32:49 What's up with that?
32:52 Because I can help you with the shag carpet
32:54 because says,
32:55 I have the resources to help you
32:57 with these hard wooden pews.
32:59 For 60 years,
33:00 people have been sitting hard on these hard wooden pews.
33:02 How would you feel if you were a pew?
33:07 God says, "I'll help you with that,
33:08 I'd buy that sound system."
33:10 That sound system.
33:11 Let me tell you something, I have something,
33:13 it does need work so that every year and every pew
33:15 can hear both voice and music with clarity,
33:17 no matter where you sit in this church.
33:20 I'd talk about that in a moment.
33:21 "The silver is mine and the gold is mine."
33:25 So I'm asking you returning exiles
33:27 to help me repair and renovate my house of prayer
33:30 for all people.
33:33 And how do Haggai's people respond?
33:35 One more line, verse 12, "Then Zerubbabel, and Joshua,
33:40 and the whole remnant of the people
33:42 obeyed the voice of the Lord their God
33:44 and the message of the prophet Haggai,
33:45 because the Lord their God had sent Him,
33:47 and the people feared, they revered God."
33:50 And they said, "God, you got it.
33:54 Not our houses, it's Your house."
33:57 That has front and center attention now.
34:00 And that's why I'm excited this Sabbath by the way
34:02 because our building committee
34:04 has been working for a year and a half
34:05 to make this beautiful brochure possible.
34:08 Take it out please.
34:10 You were handed this.
34:11 If you didn't get one, then put your hand up.
34:13 We will get some ushers, we'll get you this.
34:14 This is a beautiful brochure.
34:16 By the way I want to thank Brittany Doyle,
34:18 our graphics designer.
34:20 She worked with Troy Homenchuck,
34:22 who did the architectural artwork,
34:24 just beautiful, beautiful.
34:26 I'm so excited about this.
34:28 Would you take it out right now?
34:29 And I want you to notice by the way,
34:30 I put on the cover for you. There you go.
34:32 I want you to notice that
34:34 this is called Renovate Heart and House.
34:37 You see, we've been spending time
34:39 all this new season with the heart.
34:41 You remember,
34:42 before the students even got here,
34:44 we pulled this big sign down, it says, "Renovate."
34:45 You know, how many faculty and staff were on that?
34:47 They were covering that, those signatures,
34:49 plus the freshman,
34:51 that's what we were focusing on,
34:53 we want our hearts ready to become moral leaders
34:55 on this campus.
34:57 For weeks now, we've been talking about Jesus.
34:58 I am the vine, you are the branches.
35:01 If you abide in me and I in you,
35:02 the heart will be fine, you'll bear much fruit.
35:05 But there comes a time as God has just reminded us
35:08 when it's not just heart, there has to be house,
35:12 renovate heart and house.
35:14 And now we move to house.
35:16 You didn't get a brochure, just put your hand up,
35:18 they're coming up and down the aisle for you.
35:20 House.
35:23 Wow.
35:27 So I feel very comfortable talking about this by the way
35:32 on the Sabbath because God did it first.
35:34 He said, "Go, get some wood for me.
35:36 Let's talk about the plans for this house of mine."
35:38 And He did it.
35:40 He was in church.
35:41 Is He in church right now?
35:43 We're reading His words.
35:45 I want to talk for a moment.
35:46 Just think out loud with me for a moment.
35:50 I remember the night when Carey Carscallen,
35:51 the chairman of our building committee,
35:55 calculated the bottom line.
35:56 So we're all sitting there. Okay.
35:57 What's it going to be? What's it going to be?
35:59 You see the building committee hired a roofing engineer,
36:01 a consultant.
36:02 This guy does it for a living.
36:04 He crawled all over this roof.
36:05 Do you know that there are 36,700 square feet up there,
36:08 it's 8 tenth of an acre.
36:10 Just the roof, 8 tenths of an acre.
36:13 And this is a very dangerous pitch,
36:16 and he's taken pictures, 51 pictures he took.
36:19 He put it into an eight page report,
36:22 I've read the report.
36:24 And when Carey came to that bottom line,
36:26 I must admit I did what the Japanese do
36:28 because I've grown up in Japan, I just sucked in there.
36:36 A little over a million dollars.
36:42 On that shack carpet,
36:44 guys, we have to change the shag carpet.
36:46 Okay.
36:48 They added it.
36:49 Put that picture. There you go.
36:51 So this is the artist now saying,
36:53 look what it's going to be without a shag carpet,
36:55 look at those pews by the way, they're padded.
36:57 Are you serious,
36:59 these pews are going to be padded now?
37:00 Yeah, only the bottoms. Yeah.
37:03 But the bottoms will be
37:04 and by the way the ergonomic shape
37:06 of this new pew, you're going to love it.
37:08 It's cheaper by the way to replace the pews
37:10 than to renovate the pews.
37:11 And we're going to make wider aisle.
37:12 Show me the next picture.
37:14 We're going to make wider aisle
37:15 so that a wheelchair can go rolling down the side,
37:18 two people can pass in the aisle.
37:20 Now it's just one person and...
37:23 No more we're going to...
37:25 We're going to shorten the pews to make sure
37:28 that there'll be plenty of space.
37:30 And I want to keep looking at that
37:31 because do you see in the bottom picture,
37:34 do you see something gray hanging down
37:36 over the bricks in these blank brick spots?
37:39 Guess what that is?
37:41 The building committee hired audio engineers,
37:43 they came in and did a massive study
37:45 on this large sanctuary,
37:48 that is the cause of sound waves
37:50 bouncing around us and making voice and music
37:52 sometimes difficult to understand.
37:54 Our forefathers and foremothers,
37:57 when they brought forth this church 60 years ago,
37:59 this coming Valentine's Day.
38:01 When they brought forth this church,
38:02 they just were not prepared for the echo chamber.
38:05 People say don't call it an echo chamber.
38:06 Well, that's what's happening.
38:08 There's reverb happening.
38:10 The engineers said,
38:11 "You got to slow that reverb way down,
38:13 guys, it's too long.
38:14 You've got to reduce the length of reverb."
38:17 So those little padded curtains,
38:20 electronic just like X-Pac,
38:24 go back up again.
38:25 We can control the sound in this space
38:27 so that voice and music together
38:29 become intelligible anywhere you sit.
38:34 So okay, and by the way the outer engineers say,
38:37 "Nice sound system,
38:38 but you need a new one, big time."
38:40 So we've shown that in as well.
38:42 The lights,
38:44 you can't even get the light bulbs
38:45 to replace these lights.
38:46 These are 60-year-old lights.
38:48 Everything's gone LED. We're not LED.
38:50 We want lights that will have restart,
38:51 so you can control the lightness to a perfection.
38:56 Buy the time you got to the bottom-line, Carey says,
38:59 "All right, hit the total button."
39:04 Two million dollars. Two million dollars.
39:09 Wow. But I tell you what?
39:10 The news gets even better.
39:12 Hold on now because we already have.
39:13 Listen to this.
39:15 We already have $3,352,111
39:19 cash on hand for this project to begin.
39:22 We already have 3,352,000.
39:25 And by the way,
39:26 I've visited with the president of Michigan Conference,
39:28 the new president, he said,
39:30 "Dwight, we're going to be helping you, you bet."
39:32 I visited with the president of this university.
39:34 I've visited the CFO,
39:35 both of them were in the first service.
39:36 They both said,
39:38 "Don't worry, we're going to be taking care of you,"
39:39 because you know
39:41 the university has something very beautiful over here
39:42 called the Health and Wellness Center.
39:44 And it's embarrassing, I'm sure to have a church
39:46 with a leaky roof right next to so beautiful building.
39:49 I mean, please folks,
39:50 don't go in that church, you'll get wet.
39:52 Stay over in the Health and Wellness,
39:54 that the university doesn't want to do that.
39:56 It's a no, come on.
39:57 This is our church, this is our campus.
39:59 We'll help you. God bless them.
40:01 We talked to the treasurer of the Lake Union Conference,
40:04 who is a member of this church and he assures us that
40:06 they will have a part in this project.
40:08 So we are well on our way
40:11 to renovate heart and house.
40:15 In fact, may I tell you this, we already have,
40:18 this is the best news of all.
40:20 We already have the 2 million.
40:26 Praise the Lord is right.
40:28 He said, "Where is it, Dwight?"
40:31 It's in your pocket.
40:33 It's in your...
40:36 Right, that face would...
40:39 Yeah, it's in your pocket, not in all my pocket, no,
40:42 but put all our pockets together.
40:43 Yeah, I told you, the news just keeps getting better.
40:46 That's why the building committee
40:47 and the church board voted last Monday night.
40:49 Listen to this, they said, you know what?
40:51 "We're doing the whole thing this spring summer.
40:54 We're doing the whole thing this spring summer."
40:57 And by the new school year, there will be
40:59 a new refurbished church
41:04 to welcome the students back to Andrews University.
41:07 What do you say to that?
41:08 I say, "Amen." I say, "Amen."
41:13 Sixty years old.
41:15 Sixty years old, Valentine's Day.
41:17 1959, 60 years later will be Valentine's Day, 2019.
41:22 I say, "Let's give to God
41:25 a one million dollar cash,
41:28 birthday present
41:30 for the Pioneer Memorial Church.
41:32 It's His house, why not?
41:35 That's why I'm excited about this Sabbath.
41:40 And everything that
41:41 this beautiful little brochure represents.
41:43 So okay. Oh, Lord, I love Your house.
41:45 Okay, Lord, let's just get this clear,
41:47 I love the house where You live
41:48 and the place where Your glory dwells.
41:52 Which means the question deserves to be asked.
41:54 Yo, Dwight, how much you're going to do?
41:58 Dwight, I'm talking to you, how much are you going to do?
42:02 And the question that reverberates in your own mind,
42:04 I wonder how much I should do
42:06 to renovate God's house at Pioneer.
42:08 Karen and I came back from Hong Kong this summer
42:11 in July, preaching mission.
42:13 We got back at our house, I'm telling you,
42:15 we opened the door, oven, humid, hot,
42:20 what's wrong with our air condition.
42:22 Called a reputable firm up in St. Joseph,
42:23 they sent a rep out here, and he says,
42:25 "I had to tell you,
42:27 but this outdoor AC thing is dead.
42:29 It's gone."
42:31 And by the way, he said,
42:32 "I was just looking at your electric furnace,
42:34 that thing 40 years old, it's on its last legs,
42:38 you need to replace that, and might I suggest gas."
42:42 And I said to him,
42:43 "Okay, so what would the bottom-line be?"
42:45 And he showed it to me.
42:49 Are you serious?
42:51 I said, "We need some time to talk."
42:53 So Karen and I got alone together,
42:54 we huddled up, then we huddled up and we said,
42:57 "What can we do?"
43:00 But you know what?
43:02 If you do some half baked concoction,
43:04 you're not going to be happy with that,
43:05 it's going to break all over again,
43:07 you're going to have to do this right
43:08 or don't do it at all.
43:09 And that's what we decided.
43:11 And so you know what we had to do
43:13 into our hard earned carefully protected life savings
43:19 we withdrew the amount
43:21 to make our house livable again.
43:27 God comes to the friends of Haggai and He says,
43:30 "Hey guys, I'm just saying.
43:34 I need you to do the same thing for My house."
43:36 And so logically thinking, I mean why couldn't I?
43:39 Why couldn't I decide to be just as quick to draw out money
43:42 in order to...
43:43 If I pay for my own home, why couldn't I be
43:45 just as resolute to draw money
43:46 from hard earned savings to repair God's house?
43:51 I mean, if it were my house that were leaking,
43:53 you think I'm going to say, "Hey, Karen, go to Walmart,
43:55 get some more buckets, we can do this,
43:57 just stray them out here, who cares.
43:59 Just use buckets."
44:02 The chairman of the board of Andrews University,
44:04 Artur Stele was preaching last November,
44:08 for reformation Sabbath, he preaches his heart out.
44:11 I'm sitting right there in second service,
44:13 and we have this humongous thunderstorm come over.
44:16 And while he's preaching, there are deacons tiptoeing out
44:20 putting buckets all along.
44:22 And I'm thinking, "Artur, don't look back,
44:24 just don't look back, don't worry about it,
44:25 we've got it."
44:27 And I'm sliding lower and lower,
44:28 it's embarrassing.
44:30 You don't leave a leak,
44:32 you fix it if you value the house.
44:37 Oh, okay.
44:40 Oh, by the way God says,
44:42 "Did I tell you, I'm going to take care of you
44:43 because all the silver is mine and all the gold is mine."
44:47 And by the way just relax,
44:49 God is not talking about equal gifts,
44:52 He's talking about equal sacrifice.
44:54 We can't all give the same, you kidding.
44:57 But we can all sacrifice the same
45:00 because you know what
45:01 my sacrifice is not determined by the amount I give,
45:04 rather it's determined by the amount
45:06 I have left over after my gift has been given.
45:09 That's how you tell whether it's sacrifice or not.
45:11 Which is why Jesus could look down at that
45:14 those coffers of offerings and say,
45:16 "That little woman who gave all her two little mites,
45:21 she's given more than everybody today
45:24 because she had nothing left.
45:27 And the God of the universe in human flesh said,
45:30 "I see that, that woman with her two mites
45:32 has raise money in the trillions ever since.
45:37 He took her sacrificial act and by His stage
45:40 whisper proclaimed it to the universe.
45:43 And we all know the story.
45:45 And if she can do it, what can I do for You, Jesus?
45:50 Well,
45:54 so anyway, your pastors two Mondays ago,
45:58 we huddled around our little table,
45:59 we're short two pastors, okay?
46:01 So we're short, we're hiring them.
46:03 We're short right now, we sat around this round table
46:06 where we meet, and we ask ourselves
46:08 how much are we willing to give to the Renovate Heart
46:12 and House project.
46:14 After all, leaders lead the way,
46:15 leaders don't follow, leaders are ahead,
46:17 saying, "Come on, I believe in this."
46:20 So everybody went home with this little envelope
46:24 like you have right now,
46:25 everybody, all the pastors go home with it, okay,
46:27 everybody in our staff.
46:29 We spend the week talking to our family,
46:30 we spend the week talking to God,
46:33 and we came back with this envelope sealed,
46:35 we wrote an amount on this envelope.
46:37 I didn't know, I don't know.
46:40 But we put all the envelopes in the middle of the table,
46:43 we put our hands on top of them,
46:44 and we said, "God, this is awfully humble,
46:46 I know, but please would You use this
46:48 as a seed for Your kingdom."
46:51 We took the envelopes, I gave to JoAnn,
46:52 our church accountant/treasurer.
46:55 I said, "JoAnn, give me the total
46:57 by the end of the afternoon, please."
46:58 She handed me a little yellow posted slip.
47:00 And on that posted slip
47:02 were these numbers $45,510.
47:08 A bunch of pastors, are you serious,
47:11 tears just came into my eyes.
47:15 That night, I shared that number
47:17 to our church board,
47:19 these are the leaders of the Pioneer Memorial Church.
47:22 I share that number, we sent the envelope home
47:25 with all the leaders,
47:26 and if you're going to be around this week,
47:28 you're not traveling,
47:29 drop by the church office with envelope,
47:30 if you wish by Friday.
47:33 Twelve families drop by noon yesterday
47:36 when the door is closed.
47:37 JoAnn gave me another little yellow posted note.
47:40 And it read $64,600.
47:45 When you add up those humble little pledges,
47:47 $1,10,110.
47:51 Wow.
47:53 Why am I bragging about this? Are you kidding?
47:56 I'm just telling you, that nobody is asking you to do
48:00 what your leaders are not already doing.
48:04 They're going on a limb with God
48:06 because God says,
48:08 "The silver is mine, don't you worry,
48:09 the gold is mine, don't be anxious.
48:12 I'll take care of you.
48:14 This is My house, I'll honor, I'll honor that."
48:18 Do you know what?
48:20 If you take a $1,10,110 and you put it with the 352,
48:24 we're short of half a million dollars already.
48:30 Already as a bottom-line.
48:37 So we're appealing to you today,
48:39 to consider that bottom-line as well,
48:41 it's God's house which you worship in.
48:44 We are privileged to worship together
48:46 and take this little envelope.
48:48 Come on, do you mind just pulling it out.
48:50 It's just two sentences, just two sentences.
48:52 This isn't signing your life away,
48:54 this isn't taking fingerprints, this is just a pledge.
48:57 Notice how it begins,
48:59 pull it out by the grace of God, all right
49:00 so if my life just keeps continuing as it is.
49:03 And by the way these are all over three years,
49:04 it's over three years.
49:06 By the grace of God I/we want to participate
49:10 in making a sacrificial offering
49:12 to Pioneer's Renovate Heart and House campaign.
49:15 Here is my/our prayerful pledge of support
49:19 total over three years
49:20 for Pioneer's renovation project.
49:23 That's it.
49:25 You put a little number
49:26 and bring this back next Sabbath.
49:28 Let just have it, we won't know what's on it, nobody will know.
49:31 But we will have a joyous celebration before God
49:36 that He has called us to join with Him
49:40 in renovating His favorite house
49:43 on this campus.
49:45 Why not?
49:47 Hey, Ellen White, 100 years ago, on the screen,
49:50 "Everything God could do has,
49:51 was done to save a perishing world."
49:53 "God so loved the world
49:55 that He gave His only begotten Son,
49:56 John 3:16, that whosoever believeth in Him
49:58 should not perish, but have everlasting life."
50:00 Keep reading.
50:02 God has made it impossible for it to be said
50:04 that He could have done more than He has done
50:08 for you and me and the fallen race,
50:11 when He gave us His Son...
50:13 Oh, I love this.
50:14 "He gave Himself.
50:15 In one great gift He poured out the whole treasure of heaven."
50:19 Last line is the joyous one.
50:22 "He has revealed a love that defies all computation,
50:27 a love that should fill our hearts and lives
50:30 with gratitude."
50:31 He says, "You can't crunch the numbers,
50:33 get the adding machine going.
50:34 Let's find out how much God has really done for us."
50:36 You can't do it, it defies all computation.
50:40 The silver is mine.
50:43 The gold is mine.
50:45 Yo, I'll take care of you, that's my point.
50:48 I'll take care of you.
50:50 I need you to help me
50:52 fix My house, please.
50:56 Just look at Calvary,
50:58 crunch the numbers at the foot of the cross.
51:02 Just for me, He was willing to go through
51:04 empty His treasury.
51:08 Wow.
51:09 So, "Oh, come on, Dwight, how much it cost you,
51:12 don't even talk to me about giving."
51:13 Oh, you're right, don't give,
51:16 unless you'd be willing to do this.
51:18 Here's the deal, you're college student.
51:20 "Oh, Dwight, I'm a graduate student here,
51:22 we're just a beautiful little family,
51:23 the Gomez family.
51:24 I'm a graduate student, you know,
51:26 how tight it is for a graduate student."
51:27 I understand, I was a grad student here.
51:30 Here is a deal for you, one pizza a week, medium size.
51:36 You go without $10 a week.
51:40 If you go without one pizza,
51:41 we can give that $10 to God Himself,
51:43 that's 10, that's four times, it's $40 a month,
51:46 that's $480 a year,
51:48 and it's only three years that would be $1,440, $1,440.
51:54 You will have quietly been investing in this house of God
51:57 as a student on the campus of Andrews University.
52:00 Yeah, Dwight, but I don't use checks
52:01 and I don't use tied envelopes.
52:03 Oh, good, well, we're ready for that.
52:05 Would you put on the screen please the brand new,
52:08 this just came out, the Adventist giving app.
52:10 I just downloaded it yesterday.
52:12 Go to your store, go to your app store,
52:14 you get it.
52:15 It's so simple and renovate,
52:17 when you type in Pioneer Memorial...
52:18 They'll ask you to pick the church
52:20 'cause it reads where your location,
52:22 and it will give you one of the choices in town,
52:24 and it'll be Pioneer.
52:25 Just tap on that, you've got the rest.
52:27 Line number three is renovate,
52:30 $10 a week from your debit card.
52:32 Your debit card will not even feel it.
52:36 Given the way you spend it best buy.
52:44 You say, "Dwight, I'm not into apps.
52:45 I really don't like apps."
52:47 Okay, you're watching it now and we have live streamers
52:49 who are online with us right now.
52:52 You know what?
52:54 I'm gonna put on the screen, you can see it pop
52:55 in front of your laptop right now.
52:57 You see that website that just went up yesterday,
53:00 pmchurch.org/renovate.
53:03 Anywhere in the world, just go to that,
53:05 you have this whole booklet, summarize, you get the booklet,
53:08 and when it drops down you'll see donate,
53:10 click donate, you can donate whatever you wish.
53:13 And if you're an alum from Andrews University,
53:15 we'd love to have you be a part of helping your old church
53:19 when you are here, why not, it's God's house,
53:23 and He needs you.
53:24 You say, "Dwight, I'm not into this electronic stuff."
53:27 Okay, tide envelope, you come next Sabbath,
53:29 there'll be a line on the tide envelope,
53:31 renovate."
53:33 Do it the old fashioned way,
53:36 that's the way I do it.
53:38 Turned the tide envelope in.
53:40 And by the way hold on, nobody's given gifts,
53:43 we're not asking for anything next Sabbath.
53:45 Next Sabbath is just this.
53:47 There's no cash in this.
53:49 We won't be looking inside, is there any...
53:50 No, this is it.
53:52 Bring this back next Sabbath and with joy before God,
53:55 let's stand
53:57 and let's sing the doxology of what God has done
53:59 and I believe because I know God
54:02 and I know you that this church will rise up
54:05 125th of our operating income a year,
54:07 personally we can do it,
54:09 piece of cake through the power of the Holy Spirit.
54:13 Not equal giving, but equal sacrifice.
54:19 Yeah, next Sabbath.
54:20 Oh, by the way come Tuesday night,
54:22 Tuesday night over there in the youth chapel,
54:23 Carey Carscallen, the chair of our building committee,
54:25 Pastor Jose, who chairs our Renovate campaign at com team,
54:30 they'll be here, there'll be some materials
54:32 you can get up close and check it out.
54:35 Ask any question you wish, 7 o'clock, next Tuesday.
54:39 The next Sabbath we come, we should come rejoicing,
54:43 bringing in the sheaves as the scripture sings.
54:49 He's able.
54:51 God will bless you, I know.
54:53 Let me end by telling you that a few years ago,
54:54 Madeline Johnston,
54:56 one of our faculty here retired now,
55:00 but it is years ago, she told me about
55:02 when their little daughter,
55:03 when their daughter Elizabeth was a little tike,
55:05 and she went to Sabbath school,
55:06 and she learned her Sabbath school lesson,
55:09 "God loves a cheerful giver, " that be 2 Corinthians 9.
55:12 All right. "God loves a cheerful giver."
55:14 Do you get that, Elizabeth? I get it.
55:16 "God loves a cheerful giver."
55:18 So all week long, she's repeating,
55:20 she's reciting the memory verse,
55:22 "God loves a cheerful giver."
55:24 But one morning
55:25 when Madeline went by little Elizabeth's bedroom,
55:27 she heard her,
55:28 and instead of saying God loves a cheerful giver,
55:32 she got a little confused and she was saying,
55:35 "God is a lovely, cheerful giver."
55:41 "God is a lovely, cheerful giver."
55:42 You know what? The girl got it right.
55:45 He's right, Paul, God loves a cheerful giver.
55:49 But I say next Sabbath,
55:50 let's bring these little envelopes to the God
55:54 who is a lovely cheerful giver.
55:58 "The gold is mine, the silver is mine,
56:01 don't you fret.
56:03 I've got you covered."
56:04 Amen.
56:15 [indistinct song]
56:53 And now to Him who is able to do immeasurably
56:55 more than all we ask or imagine.
56:59 According to His power that is at work within us,
57:02 "To Him be glory in the church,
57:05 and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations
57:09 forever and ever."
57:11 Amen.
57:15 I want to take an extra moment to thank you for joining us
57:17 in worship today.
57:19 It's by the continued support from viewers like you
57:21 that we're able to bring you this program.
57:22 Today, I want to invite you though
57:24 to share with us
57:25 how this ministry has blessed you.
57:27 I get inspiring notes, emails from the viewers,
57:29 literally all over the world telling me,
57:31 "But Dwight, God has been blessing me this way.
57:33 He's been doing this."
57:34 I would love to hear from you as well.
57:36 Just visit our website, you know, at newperceptions.tv,
57:40 and click on the contact link at the top of the page.
57:42 Send me the note, let me know what God has been doing
57:45 right now in your life.
57:47 Once again, thank you for being with us today.
57:49 I hope you join us right here next time.
57:52 And until then,
57:53 may the God of grace journey with you
57:55 every step of the way.


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Revised 2018-11-19