Participants:
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP220813S
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00:11 >> Let's pray together. We have come into your house, 00:15 God, gathered in your name to worship you. 00:22 We would bless you today, God. We would bless you with hearts 00:28 filled with Thanksgiving and mouths filled with praise. 00:32 We would bless you. So we ask you to help us to arrest our thoughts, 00:40 imprison our minds, and, Holy Spirit, please be free to fill us 00:45 and transform us and teach us how to worship you in spirit and in truth. 00:51 We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. Please be seated. 01:02 >> Good morning, everyone. Happy Sabbath. We invite you to sing 01:06 and worship with us today as we sing "Friend of God." I mean, sorry -- stand. 07:50 >> At this time, we'd just like to invite anybody 07:52 who has a thanksgiving prayer or a petition 07:55 they'd like to make to God, this is your time 07:57 to come up front as we sing this next verse. 09:22 ♪♪ ♪♪ 09:34 >> ♪ Open my eyes ♪ That I may see 09:41 ♪ Glimpses of truth ♪ You have for me 09:47 ♪ Place in my hands ♪ A wonderful key 09:54 ♪ That shall unclasp and set me free ♪ 10:03 ♪ Silently now I wait for you ♪ ♪ Ready, my God, 10:12 your will to see ♪ ♪ Open my eyes ♪ Illumine me 10:23 ♪ Spirit divine ♪♪ ♪♪ 10:47 ♪ Open my ears, that I may hear ♪ ♪ Voices of truth 10:57 you send me clear ♪ ♪ And while the wavenotes fall on my ear ♪ 11:08 ♪ Everything false will disappear ♪ ♪♪ 11:23 ♪ Silently now I wait for you ♪♪ ♪ Ready, my God 11:36 your will to see ♪ ♪ Open my ears ♪♪ 11:47 ♪ Illumine me ♪♪ ♪ Spirit divine 12:02 ♪♪ ♪ Open my ears ♪♪ 12:18 ♪ Open my eyes ♪♪ 12:34 >> We're gonna stand up again, and we're gonna sing "He Lives." Something that's just a reminder 12:38 that Christ lives in us, Christ lives in you. And as we sing this song, 12:42 just think about all the blessings that he's done for you in the past month, 12:46 in the past year, as we sing together. Let's all rise. 17:06 >> The scripture reading will be taken from Psalms 42, 17:09 verses 1, 2, and 5. "As the deer pants 17:14 from streams of water, so my soul pants for you, 17:17 my God. 17:19 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 17:24 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, 17:30 and I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God." ♪♪ 22:31 >> You may be seated. ♪♪ 22:43 >> I think I've sung that one before. But those words, boy, they bring 22:47 tears to your eyes, don't they? 'Cause you're -- how did that go? 22:52 Your mercy and your grace, 'cause they go on forever. All glory to your name. 22:57 Hallelujah, hallelujah. They're sufficient for today. Hallelujah. 23:04 Oh, is God good or what? Amen. Thank you. 23:08 Elsie. Elsie and, singing with her, Sarah and Vicky 23:14 and the musicians. Wow. We needed that -- that new song. 23:19 At least, new for me. Beautiful. They go on forever. 23:24 They'll never run out. Never. His mercy and his grace. 23:30 In the field of economics, there's something called 23:33 Stein's Law, named after the famous economist 23:37 Herbert Stein in the 1970s, and it goes like this -- 23:42 "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop." 23:47 [ Laughter ] Well, that's a pretty profound 23:49 thought. "If something will not go 23:53 on forever, it will stop." Well, it's finally dawned 23:59 on Karen and me that the privilege and joy 24:03 of pastoring this parish cannot go on forever. 24:10 And so today, we announce that it will soon stop. 24:17 We praise God every day we wake up. Not just for waking up, 24:23 by the way. I'm happy every day I wake up, aren't you? 24:25 There's nothing wrong with that. But we praise God for the privilege it has been 24:33 to pastor this congregation we have come to love so deeply. And I'm talking about you. 24:38 I want to tell you that this has not been a job for me. This is not work for me. 24:43 This has been a joy -- for the both of us, for Karen and me. 24:47 You're people that have -- have been so patient with us. You have been so -- so loving. 24:54 You had a vision. You'd been driven by this commitment to serve God 24:57 all over this planet. And, oh, I just can't believe that... 25:03 Well, there's no campus congregation like this anywhere on the planet, 25:06 and I've been to a bunch of them. Which is why we've been 25:10 so privileged and humbled to serve here. What's hard to believe is that 25:14 39 years have flown by. [ Chuckles ] Man, oh, man. 25:20 39 years from -- from when we were this... [ Laughter, congregants "Aww" ] 25:27 39 years from when we were this to this right here. Don't look at the screen. 25:35 To this. [ Laughter ] Oh, boy. 25:41 And in a few days -- hard to believe -- but our 40th school year 25:45 will begin, in this pulpit and on this campus. And what a ride, 25:50 what a journey it has been. But the time has come for making the carefully laid plans 25:57 that are necessary to turn this congregation over to a new leader, 26:01 a younger leader. Back in May, I had the joy of sitting down 26:06 with my conference president. His name is Jim Micheff. He's a wonderful leader. 26:09 Just love the man. And I share shared with him what I'm sharing with you now, 26:13 our decision and explore with him what the next steps need to be. 26:17 And Jim reminded me of something you already know, and that is Pioneer 26:22 is an unusual congregation, not only serving this local community, not only 26:28 serving this local state, not only serving this local country. 26:32 This is a congregation that has been raised up by God to serve our world community 26:37 of faith, which means that the search process to find a new spiritual leader 26:44 will not only obviously be prayerful but must be methodical 26:48 and comprehensive, as well. Some of you are going to sit on that search committee. 26:51 And by the way, let me just say it right here -- I am going to have zero to do 26:55 with the search process, trust me. But they're going to need 27:00 some time to conduct a thorough search for the next pastor of this congregation. 27:06 And so Karen and I are actually really grateful for the nine months that we get 27:09 now, this school year that begins September 1. There'll be nine months. 27:14 That we get these nine months just to live life with you, to love on you a little more, 27:22 to go deeper with God a little more, to wonder what God's will is for our lives 27:30 beyond this moment, all of us. "Where Do We Go From Here?" is the title of this 27:35 little homily today. Where do we go from here? We told our pastoral staff -- 27:42 I shared with our pastoral staff this decision. By the way, the best pastoral 27:47 staff on this planet, bar none. You're lucky to have them. I shared this decision 27:52 with Andrea Luxton, who's -- with whom it's been, for me, it's been a joy to serve 27:57 these years. Shared this decision with our office team, as well. 28:03 And I want you to know, everybody is committed to working together 28:06 so that we might, together, all of us, finish strong. And as it turns out -- 28:14 I didn't know this till I was crunching the numbers after talking with 28:18 Jim Micheff, my president. I began my ministry -- As a single night, 28:23 got married to Karen, wet behind the ears, 21-year-old intern, 28:27 pastoral intern. I began my ministry on June 1, 1973. 28:31 Most of you were not even born then. 1973, June 1. 28:36 And as it would turn out, we began our ministry at Pioneer. 28:39 Had no idea this was happening, but we began our ministry at Pioneer on June 1 -- 28:43 I went on the payroll. June 1, 1983 -- 10 years go by, then we come here. 28:49 And so if you do the arithmetic, if we can just last till June 1, 2023, 28:57 it'll be 40 years here and 50 years in ministry, and that seems like a good place 29:01 to just say, "Some things can't go on forever," but praise God for the gift 29:05 He gave us in you. So the song we sing around our house is "Praise God, 29:10 From Whom All Blessings Flow." So this is not a goodbye, folks. Come on. We got work to do. 29:17 We got projects to finish, and we've got deeper to go with God. We got to just keep going deeper 29:23 with God. And so there will be time over these few months to love 29:29 on each other, stories to tell and all of that. But speaking of which, 29:34 there's -- speaking of work to do, I need to get a homily preached right now. 29:39 And with that, if it's alright with you, I'd like to pray and plunge 29:43 into the Bible together. Oh, God. Wow. What can you say? 29:49 You have been so good to us. Your grace, your mercy have been sufficient from the get-go. 29:55 And it will be that way forever. And the truth is, God, we've really grown up together, 30:00 this congregation and this pastoral couple. And you've been more -- you've 30:06 been more than gracious, and you have more growing up to do in Christ. 30:09 So -- So please make these final months and these moments right now 30:13 a part of that growing up so that we grow up in Jesus, our Redeemer, our Savior, 30:18 our forever friend in whose name we pray. Amen. 30:25 There's a beautiful narrative about Jesus that I got to share with you. 30:29 It's very rare. It only appears in one gospel. But I'm -- I've been convicted 30:36 over the summer. We need to spend the time that we have left together with 30:39 a laser-like focus on Jesus. There are four lines that I've memorized that I don't know 30:46 to whom to give the credit, but these four lines are sort of the desire of my heart. 30:51 "Since my eyes have looked on Jesus, I've lost sight of all beside. 30:59 So enchained my spirit's vision, gazing on the crucified." That's what I want for the 31:07 last months together. We'll start out with three Sabbaths on brooding with Jesus, 31:11 and then -- really excited about this when the new year begins -- chasing Jesus. 31:15 Three Sabbaths. And then we'll have pleading with Jesus 31:18 and triumphing through Jesus and -- and worshiping Jesus. So it'll be Jesus, front and 31:22 center. But for this one, as I say, only one little gospel, 31:30 and that's the gospel of Mark. So open to Mark 8. Only one gospel records this. 31:35 I can -- You might wonder, "Why in the world would such an unusual narrative be recorded?" 31:40 We got to find out, you and me. So come on, let's go. Mark 8. 31:43 We got work to do. Mark 8, drop down to verse 22. I'm in the New International 31:48 Version. And it reads in the NIV, "And they came to Bethsaida --" 31:53 that's Jesus and his disciples. "They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man 31:58 and begged Jesus to touch him." You know what I'd like to suggest? 32:02 I say that let's -- let's tear a page out of those anonymous friends' playbook. 32:08 Do you know somebody who's blind? I'm not talking about physically 32:10 blind. Do you know somebody who's spiritually blind? 32:12 You have a child, you got a roommate, you got a neighbor, you got a colleague on the job, 32:18 you got somebody across the street? Do you have a friend 32:20 who's blind? 'Course you do. Of course I do. 32:26 Why don't we just do like they did? Let's take that friend to Jesus. 32:31 Let me tell you something. If there's anything our friends need, 32:38 it's the Lord Jesus. And if there's anything Pioneer needs to be in the journey 32:43 that's left for with us is this -- this needs to be mother sh-- the mother ship for 32:48 salvation on the campus of Andrews University. Of course, people 32:52 are thinking about saving -- saving lives in the dormitory worships and in the chapels 32:57 and in the vespers and -- and in the classrooms, particularly. 33:02 But this church has to be front and center for that. Boy, I wish you'd had been here 33:08 last week, first service. Beautiful young woman. She was baptized. 33:12 Her name is Sarah Arica. And I'm learning, as she's giving her testimony 33:17 on the big screen, that that girl sat in this audience, this congregation one day, 33:23 and when that number came on the screen, text -- text to this number, she texted. 33:26 And do you know what she put in that text? "I want to be baptized." 33:31 When you come to those moments at the end, you say, "Well, I'm not gonna do anything." 33:34 There are people all around you for whom the spirit is saying, "Yo, boy, girl, 33:38 isn't this the time?" Preacher may say not a word about baptism, but the spirit 33:42 says, "Let's go." This mother ship needs to be all about salvation. 33:49 And the friends of this anonymous blind man, their prayer is simple. 33:52 "Please touch this friend of ours." Okay, read it again. 33:55 "They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 34:00 And He took the blind man by the hand, and he led him outside the village." 34:05 Isn't that something? Wow. Touch number one -- he took 34:09 the blind man by the hand, and he led him outside the village. 34:14 I love that. That is such a tender picture of Jesus. 34:16 You know, he could've come behind the blind man and said, "Listen, man, I've got you 34:19 by the shoulders here. I'm just gonna be pushing you. Just keep one step in front 34:22 of the other. I'll keep you from falling." He could have done that. 34:26 He could've moved on down there. "Yo! Just follow my voice! You -- You know where I'm going. 34:29 Just stay right behind me." Mnh-mnh. What does he do? 34:33 He reaches out that warm hand of Jesus and takes your warm hand, and he says, 34:38 "Listen, let's go together." Man, I'd love to know what they were talking about in that walk. 34:44 Somewhere along the way, there was a hymn written. You remember this? 34:48 ♪ He leadeth me ♪ O blessed thought ♪ O words with heavenly comfort 34:55 fraught ♪ ♪ Whate'er I do, where'er I be ♪ Still 'tis God's hand 35:04 that leadeth me ♪ Do you know that one? Come on. How's the chorus go? 35:08 ♪ He leadeth me ♪ He leadeth me ♪ By His own hand, 35:14 He leadeth me ♪ ♪ His faithful follower I would be ♪ 35:22 ♪ For by His hand, He leadeth me ♪ I mean, who wouldn't you want to 35:30 follow if his warm hand took yours and said, "Just stay with me, boy. 35:34 Just stay with me, girl. I know where we're going. Go with me." 35:39 And did you notice where Jesus led the blind man? What's it read here? 35:43 "He led him outside the village." Have you noticed somethi-- 35:47 something? Sometimes Jesus seems to work best in our lives 35:50 when he can get us outside the village and away from the crowd. Too much noise, 35:55 too much distraction. Now, I happened to be in church during my summer break. 35:58 A study break. I happened to be in church, and it had to -- it had to have 36:01 been in the second service when a young woman sitting right over there stood up, 36:05 and she turned around to where noise was coming from, and she spoke these words -- 36:10 "I can't hear, and I'm trying to concentrate on the preacher's message." 36:14 It was another preacher up front. "So would you please be quiet 36:17 so I can hear?" And I want to have you trust me, you could have heard a pin drop. 36:27 And by the way, let's be clear. Just because crowds get noisy, 36:31 that isn't because they're bad people, 36:32 but in their exuberance of being with each other, 36:35 the noise level goes up, and Jesus knows that. 36:38 So he says, "I need to take you away from the crowds. I need to get you out of 36:41 the village, just you and me." 36:45 Guess what. When you and I wake up in the 36:48 morning, he has the same longing. 36:52 "Hey, come on. You don't -- No, no, no. 36:54 Don't look at that newsfeed. You don't have to check 36:57 your social-media posts. Come on, leave that radio off. 36:59 You got a clock radio? Leave it off. You don't need to catch anything 37:02 right now." How about no crowd? Just you and me. 37:08 Every morning. Our problem is the crowd is always with us. 37:14 Electronic devices, the noisy social-media friends. Excuse me, devices. 37:20 You got to be as courageous as this young woman was -- I was proud of her. 37:23 You just had to -- You just have to announce, "Hush." 37:28 Nobody. "This is me and Jesus' time." Hmm. 37:34 Be brave, give the speech, and never regret it. Let's keep reading. 37:37 So, "He took the blind man by the hand, and he led him outside the village. 37:41 And when he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, 37:44 Jesus asked him, 'Do you see anything?'" Now this is the yuck factor 37:48 that gets introduced into this miracle. You can't believe it. 37:52 [ Clears throat ] On the man's eyes, and then he touches them. 37:57 Imagine my surprise to learn this from The Boston Globe. This is something else. 38:01 "You may think of saliva simply as lubrication for your tongue or a good adhesive 38:05 for spitballs. But it's a surprisingly active substance 38:08 with immune properties. It contains immune cells, anti-microbial and antifungal 38:14 proteins and growth factors that promote wound healing. Quoting someone, "'There's a 38:20 a medicinal value in saliva that's not appreciated,' explains David Wong, 38:24 a saliva expert and director of the Dental Research Institute at the UCLA, University 38:30 of California, Los Angeles. That helps explain why a burn or cut in your mouth 38:35 will heal five times faster than a similar wound on your skin, 38:39 and it won't leave a scar." You've noticed that. Now, Jesus is playing along to 38:44 the to the cultural folklore, medicinal belief, and that is, "There's something 38:51 healing in this spit." And so He says, "Okay, we'll do spit then." 38:55 The miracle was not the spit. It was in that touch. And then Jesus asked, "Yo, 39:05 you see anything?" This is where the story turns fascinating. 39:09 Unbelievable. And he looked up, the blind man did, 39:12 and he said, "Yeah, yes, I do. I see people, and they look like trees walking around." 39:18 Now, if you're the ophthalmologist, is your work over yet? 39:23 Clearly not. Keep reading. And so once more, Jesus put His hands on the man's eyes. 39:28 Then his eyes were opened. his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 39:36 My, oh, my, oh, my. That great gospel hymn writer. How did he put it in that 39:43 classic, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound." He made sure John Newton 39:47 did -- that before the first stanza is over, we're going to sing the words, 39:51 "I once was lost." How's it go? "But now I'm found. 39:55 Was blind, but now I see." "Do you see anything now?" "I can see clearly now. 40:07 I can see clearly now." Wow. What's going on here? This is the only 40:14 two-stage miracle Jesus ever performed in the Bible. Two stages. 40:20 Touch one, He takes him by the hand. Touch two, He spits in his eyes 40:23 and touches him. But touch three, Jesus retouches the partially blind man's eyes, 40:28 and then he declares, "I can see clearly now." There has to be a reason 40:32 for this rare two-stage miracle. Maybe if we sat around long enough, you and I, we'd 40:37 come up with three or four or five. Let me just share two with you. 40:40 Alright? Reason number one, could it be? "Yet the reason the miracle 40:46 is recorded is that you and I tend to be stage-one blind people." 40:52 But that doesn't mean we hurry into Jesus' presence each day. We know where the power 40:56 comes from. We come begging Jesus to grant us this healing touch in our 40:59 minds, our lives, our hearts, and God Bless the Savior, He does that. 41:03 He touches us, and we sense something in our souls. And the moment 41:07 we feel that touch, we are off our knees. "Turn the crowd back on. 41:10 Let me hear that music. Come on, let's go. I got touched." 41:15 No, you have half a miracle. Which is why you are half blind most of the time. 41:23 What are we blind to? We're blind to how we misjudge people's motives. 41:30 We misunderstand them. "Well, she meant this." "Well, he meant that." 41:35 Hmm. We mess up many a relationship -- in the home, 41:38 on the job -- because we don't have time to brood very long in 41:41 Jesus' presence each morning. How sad. Doesn't Jesus -- Doesn't He use 41:47 the word "abide in me"? The NIV translates it, "Remain in me." 41:53 In others, "Linger in me." "Come on. Stay, stay, stay." Do you know that some food 41:58 is only good when it is slow cooked? Isn't that true? 42:04 Yep, some stews, some broth, some pot roast is not good 42:12 unless it's slow cooked. Guess that's true about Jesus, too. 42:20 Okay, I'm going to suggest there's two reasons, so here's reason number two. 42:24 Could it be this two-stage miracle is intended to be a reminder that not all 42:29 God's doings, His intervenings are finger-snapping quick? "Yo, got it." 42:36 No. Could it be that sometimes God draws out 42:41 His response to our prayers? God draws out His response to our pleadings 42:45 in order to test our faith, in order to toughen our trust? 42:49 Draw it out. Don't give them yet. Don't give it to them yet, no. 42:54 I mean, why else did it -- hey, listen, Come on, you tell me. 42:56 Why else did Elisha to tell that pagan Syrian general named Naaman, 43:03 "Go down to that dirty Jordan, and I want you to dip," how many times? 43:07 Seven. Why didn't he just say, "Go down and dip once. 43:10 It's Israel's water." No. Why does he say seven? Would two not have been enough? 43:16 Would three not have been enough? He remembered the name 43:19 and went grumbling. He went grumbling and his servant said, 43:21 "Yo, master, please. If he had told you to do something like climb 43:25 Mount Everest, you'd have done it, so this is simple. Why can't you do it?" 43:29 So Naaman goes down once. The leprosy's still on him. Twice, three, four, five, 43:34 six times. "[ Sighs ] No, it's still here." What's going on? 43:40 The mighty God of the universe has taken that pagan heart, and He said, "Come on, boy, 43:44 you got to trust me. Come on. Let's grow this thing. 43:48 Now. Seven." Pssht! Pah! 43:53 Healed. Maybe that's why God doesn't give us quickly what we want, 43:59 even in prayer. I mean, take Elisha's predecessor. 44:03 So who is Elisha's predecessor? What's his name? 44:06 Elijah, right? I mean, Elijah. You remember Elijah 44:10 on the summit of Mount Carmel? God, in answer to one very short, simple prayer, 44:15 God nukes that summit. Boom. The evening sacrifice is 44:21 obliterated. One hour later, same prophet, same prayer, 44:27 kneels down on the summit of Mount Carmel and says, "God, it's good to have the fire, 44:33 but this land needs healing. We desperately need water. You promised me there'd be 44:37 water. The famine, the drought, stop it. 44:41 Send rain. Isn't it amazing? Elijah -- the great 44:47 Elijah kneels down, and in one prayer that God brought fire, guess how much rain it brought? 44:52 Zero. Nada. Nothing. He says, "Servant, go back." Guess how much rain 44:58 comes with two prayers. Nothing. You know that it goes all the 45:01 way through six. And after six times, He says, "Go look one more time," 45:05 and down he goes to pray the seventh prayer. And what happens? 45:08 Ellen White draws the veil aside about the dramatic battle going on in 45:13 Elijah's mind while he's praying seven times. Watch this. 45:18 "The servant watched while Elijah prayed six times. That servant returned 45:22 from the watch, saying, 'Yo, master, there is nothing, no cloud, no sign of rain. 45:26 But the prophet did not give up in discouragement. He kept reviewing his life 45:30 to see where he had failed to honor God. He confessed his sins 45:34 and thus continued to inflict his soul before God, while watching for a token that 45:39 his prayer was answered, and as he searched his heart, Elijah seemed to be less 45:44 and less, both in his own estimation and in the sight of God 45:49 until it seemed to him --" This is where God is always going in your life. 45:53 This is where He's always going in my life. "Until it seemed to him that he, 45:57 Elijah, was nothing and that God was everything. Then when he reached the point 46:03 of renouncing self while he clung to the Saviour as his only strength and 46:08 righteousness, then the answer came." Some of you have been praying 46:14 for something, and only you know what that something is, you and God. 46:18 You have been praying for something for years. Don't quit praying. 46:26 Don't quit praying. Two stages are going on here. God is drawing you closer. 46:34 He's driving you in, saying, "Hey, sir, don't give up on that prayer. 46:38 Madam, why are you stopping now? Keep searching your heart. Keep renouncing 46:43 any selfish motive in me. Oh, God, help me to keep renouncing anything 46:46 that's obstructing Your ability to answer my prayer." Never give up. 46:51 If it's a two-stage prayer or a seven-stage prayer or a 10-stage prayer, 46:55 you never give up. You know why? Because every unanswered prayer 47:00 is God's opportunity to grow your faith in Him. That's why. 47:05 He's growing you. He's growing me. "No, don't give that to her. 47:10 Don't you give that to her yet. No, no, no, no, no. But you keep praying. 47:17 You keep praying." So where do we go from here? The few months that you and I 47:22 have together. Shall we not seize this divine opportunity together 47:28 to go deeper with Jesus? Hmm? I'm going to be candid with you 47:33 right now. There's one prayer I'm not sure has been answered yet. 47:39 For 39 years, I have prayed this prayer. Off and on, I'm sure, perhaps 47:47 even more off than on. But I have prayed for God. To send a mighty spiritual 47:56 revival to Andrews University and Andrews Academy and to Ruth Murdoch Elementary School 48:04 and to the Pioneer Memorial Church. I have prayed and prayed. 48:09 And I must confess, I have wondered, 48:15 "Am I not praying enough?" 48:19 I have wondered, "Are there not enough of us praying? Is there sin in my life? 48:28 Too much self? Too much ego?" "Man, if we gave Dwight this, 48:32 He'd say, 'See what I did?'" 48:36 Ah. "Am I not trusting Jesus enough?" 48:44 I'm not asking you to answer my own personal questions, but I'm telling you, I, too, 48:49 need this two-stage miracle from the Lord Jesus Christ. 48:54 I need a miracle to draw me deeper, closer, 49:04 stronger, please. "Come on, Dwight. 49:09 What's your hurry?" "Peter, could you not have watched with me 49:15 for one little hour? Stay with me. Stay with me, 49:26 and I will be the God of promises kept. if you'll stay with me." 49:34 "I am the Vine and you are the branches. If you abide in Me," 49:39 Jesus says, "and I in you, you will bear much fruit. for, apart from me, Dwight, 49:46 apart from me, Pioneer. apart from me, Andrews, you can do nothing." 49:53 Zero, nada. Nothing. At CFE? Nothing. "Nothing apart from me. 50:02 So make your great plans, and chart out your objectives for the year. 50:10 But if I'm not in it, nothing. Nothing." 50:19 "Once more, Jesus put His hands on the man's eyes, and then his eyes were opened 50:24 and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly." That's my prayer for you. 50:34 That's my prayer for me today. Amen. >> Amen. 50:41 >> Amen. I would like to know if you'd be willing to commit 50:48 to me to pray the prayer that I just told you about for 39 years 50:51 that I've prayed. Would you be willing to commit to it? 50:54 I'm going to put a number on the screen. Just text "Brooding1" 50:59 to that number. 51:01 269-281-2345. And click the first box 'cause 51:06 there are only two boxes, but just click the first one, 51:10 and by that I will know I got some prayer partners 51:15 in this. We're going to stick around 51:18 for the second touch or the third touch 51:21 or the fourth touch. It doesn't matter. 51:24 But we're going to stick around. Would you do that? 51:27 If you text that -- you're watching on livestream right 51:30 now, just text the word "Brooding1" to 269-281-2345, and 51:35 it'll say, "My next step today is..." and here's the first box. 51:38 "I'll join you, Dwight, in praying for a Jesus 51:41 revival on this campus and in this congregation." 51:45 Some of you are far away, and maybe you need to be praying 51:48 for the revival of your own church or your own campus, 51:50 but if you want to include us, we'd be honored. 51:54 "I'll join you in praying for a Jesus revival on this campus 51:57 and in this congregation." And then the other box 51:59 is simple. "I want Jesus to touch my heart 52:04 so that I see what He sees and love whom He loves 52:07 and trust as He trusted." Just put a checkmark to 52:15 let me know that you're praying. Hit send. 52:22 And God himself will register our willingness 52:26 to stay with Him for the long haul, 52:30 whatever it shall be. 52:33 I want to pray with you right now and then to sing a beautiful, little hymn. 52:36 Oh, God, please. This is about Jesus. And He chose to do this 52:43 two-step miracle to teach us something, and we get it. It's not rocket science. 52:47 We get it. And I pray that You will draw our hearts away from the crowd, 52:53 away from the noise and the hurry. Every morning, 52:56 the first voice we hear, the first face we imagine we see is our Savior. 53:05 And then, oh, God, don't let us stop praying. Keep us coming back with 53:10 the same prayer again and again until one day You open the windows of heaven. 53:16 And there will come such an outpouring that there will not be room enough to receive it. 53:21 Oh, God, keep us faithful whether we're together or not. Keep us faithful till the last 53:28 prayer is prayed and answered. In the name of our beloved Lord Jesus, we pray. 53:36 Amen. I got to sing this with you. It's one of my favorite hymns, 53:40 and I love the chorus. Open your hymnal to hymn number 492, 53:46 "Teach me, father, what to say. Teach me, father, how to pray." Aw, this is so good. 53:51 It's the chorus. We'll sing the chorus several times, 53:54 but will you find it? I'mma stay right here, and I'm gonna invite you to stand. 53:58 There's no preparation here. We just need a chord, and we'll start singing 54:02 together right now. Let's stand together, would you, please? 54:10 Okay, need the words on the screen. 54:11 There we go. 56:02 And now let's sing that last stanza. 56:04 We'll sing it a cappella, and we'll sing it as our prayer, 56:07 alright? 56:41 >> Amen. 56:42 >> And now for the benediction. To Him 56:48 whose power working in us can do infinitely more than 56:55 we can ask or imagine. 56:59 To God, from generation to generation in the church and in Christ Jesus. 57:07 Forever and ever. Amen. >> Amen. 57:10 >> Please be seated. 57:15 >> I want to take an extra moment to thank you for joining 57:17 us in worship today. It's by the continued support 57:19 from viewers like you that we're able to bring you this program. 57:22 Today, I want to invite you, though, to share with us how 57:25 this ministry has blessed you. I get inspiring notes, 57:28 e-mails from viewers literally all over the world 57:30 telling me, "Look, Dwight, God has been blessing me this way. 57:33 He's been doing this. I would love to hear from you, 57:35 as well. Just visit our website -- 57:37 you know it -- newperceptions.tv, 57:40 and click on the contact link at the top of the page. 57:42 Send me a note. Let me know what God has been 57:44 doing right now in your life. Once again, thank you for being 57:48 with us today. I hope you'll join us right here 57:51 next time, and until then, may the God 57:53 of grace journey with you every step of the way. 57:58 ♪♪ ♪♪ 58:17 ♪♪ |
Revised 2022-08-24