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Series Code: SSH
Program Code: SSH022104S
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00:10 ♪♪ 00:20 ♪♪ 00:30 ♪♪ 00:35 Jëan Ross: Good morning, friends, 00:36 and welcome to Sabbath School Study Hour, 00:38 coming to you here from the Granite Bay Seventh-day 00:40 Adventist Church in Sacramento, California. 00:43 We like to always mention where we're recording these programs 00:46 because there are folks watching in the Sacramento area for years 00:49 and they don't know that we're located right here. 00:52 So if you are in the Sacramento area and would like to visit us, 00:55 feel free to do so. 00:56 We'd like to greet our many friends who are joining us 00:58 across the country and around the world, 01:00 as well as our regular church members who are tuning in online 01:04 and our online members. 01:06 We're glad that you have chosen to come study with us today. 01:09 We have a very important lesson. 01:11 We've just started it a few weeks ago. 01:13 It's on the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. 01:16 Today we find ourselves on lesson number four, and it's 01:20 entitled, "The Hard Way." 01:22 And we're going to learn about that as we get 01:23 into the book of Isaiah. 01:25 We do have a free offer we'd like to tell you about. 01:27 It is a book entitled, "Remember Lot's Wife," and if you'd like 01:31 to receive this book, we'll be happy to send it to you 01:33 for free. 01:35 All you need to do is call the number 866-788-3966 and ask for 01:40 offer number 108 and we'll get it in the mail 01:43 and send it to you. 01:45 If you'd like a digital download of the book, 01:47 you can text the code "SH054" to the number 40544 and you'll be 01:56 able to get a digital download of the book that's entitled, 01:59 "Remember Lot's Wife." 02:01 Well, before we get to our study this morning, 02:03 we have a treat. 02:05 We're going to be having a special musical item. 02:06 I'd like to invite Jack Fonslow to come forward. 02:11 ♪♪ 02:21 ♪♪ 02:31 ♪♪ 02:37 ♪ I'll walk with God ♪ 02:43 ♪ from this day on ♪ 02:48 ♪ His helping hand ♪ 02:54 ♪ I lean upon ♪ 02:58 ♪ This is my prayer, ♪ 03:03 ♪ my humble plea, ♪ 03:07 ♪ may the Lord ♪ 03:10 ♪ be ever with me ♪ 03:17 ♪ There is no death, ♪ 03:22 ♪ though eyes grow dim ♪ 03:26 ♪ There is no fear ♪ 03:30 ♪ when I'm near to Him ♪ 03:35 ♪ I'll lean on Him forever, ♪ 03:43 ♪ and He'll forsake me never ♪ 03:52 ♪ He will not fail me ♪ 03:57 ♪ as long as my faith is strong ♪ 04:04 ♪ Whatever road I may walk along, ♪ 04:19 ♪ I'll walk with God ♪ 04:24 ♪ I'll take His hand ♪ 04:29 ♪ I'll talk with God, ♪ 04:34 ♪ He'll understand ♪ 04:38 ♪ I pray to Him, ♪ 04:42 ♪ each day to Him, ♪ 04:46 ♪ and He'll hear the words that I say ♪ 04:55 ♪ His hand will guide my throne and rod, ♪ 05:04 ♪ and I'll never walk ♪ 05:06 ♪ alone while I walk with God ♪ 05:20 Jëan: Appropriate song for our study for today. 05:23 Let's begin with a word of prayer. 05:25 Dear Father, we are indeed so grateful 05:26 for Your many blessings. 05:28 Thank You for bringing us through this past year 05:29 and here we are at the first Sabbath of the new year. 05:33 We want to ask Your special blessing to be with those who 05:35 are joining us online and those who are here in person. 05:38 And Father, as we open up Your Word, 05:39 we always pray for the Holy Spirit to come and guide our 05:42 hearts and our minds. 05:43 Impress upon us those truths that we need to have and 05:47 understand and know, 05:48 for we ask this, in Jesus's name, amen. 05:51 Our lesson today is going to be brought to us 05:53 by our youth pastor, Pastor Luccas Rodor. 05:56 Luccas Rodor: It is a joy to be in the house of the Lord 05:59 this Sabbath, especially after a year where we had a difficult 06:03 time sometimes coming to church, huh? 06:06 So it's so good to be here and to study the Word of God, 06:11 especially the book of Isaiah that is such a beautiful book 06:14 in the Bible. 06:15 I'm so glad that we're studying this book, because there are so 06:18 many lessons to be learned through the study of this 06:22 Old Testament Gospel. 06:24 You know that the prophet Isaiah is considered to be 06:27 the evangelist prophet, and so I'm just so happy that we're 06:32 studying this lesson and so, welcome to everyone here. 06:35 Welcome to those that are watching online. 06:36 I do want to begin with a word of prayer. 06:38 I know Pastor Jëan just prayed 06:39 but prayer is never enough, right? 06:40 So let's say a word of prayer. 06:42 Dear Lord God, thank You so much for Your blessings and thank You 06:44 so much for bringing us here. 06:46 For those that here-- that are here locally, 06:48 Father, thank You because they were able to come and those that 06:52 are watching from home or from wherever, 06:54 Lord, perhaps someone watching from church, 06:56 a church service that is streaming us right now, 06:58 Lord, just please bless them, guide them, 07:00 fill them with Your Holy Spirit, Lord, 07:02 and just open our minds and our hearts and our ears to learn the 07:07 lesson that You have from this difficult lesson. 07:11 I thank You, in Jesus's name, amen. 07:13 The reason why I say this is a difficult lesson, 07:16 it's not so much in the complex sense but in the message sense. 07:21 The title of this week's lesson is what? 07:25 Who studied their lesson and remembers the title 07:27 of this week's lesson? 07:29 "The Hard Way." 07:31 "The Hard Way." 07:32 And that hard way, unfortunately, 07:35 it's not something that is exclusive to the children of 07:38 Israel, but this is something that all of us go through at 07:40 one point or another in our life, where we choose the harder 07:45 way, the more difficult way. 07:47 Instead of choosing the better way that God provides, 07:50 sometimes we do choose the harder way. 07:53 A harder way that might seem simpler and easier at a first 07:58 glance but that at hindsight we see that it was more difficult. 08:02 It brought more pain, it caused more suffering. 08:05 The memory verse for this lesson is Isaiah chapter 8, 08:08 verse 17, and it says: 08:10 "I will wait on the Lord, who hides His face from the house 08:13 of Jacob, and I will hope in Him." 08:15 So this is a very, you know, at a first glance it can seem kind 08:19 of contradictory, because it's saying that I'm going to wait 08:21 in the Lord as He hides His face from the house of Jacob. 08:25 Now, wasn't Isaiah part of the house of Jacob? 08:29 He was, and so it's a very deep verse. 08:35 Now, the way that this lesson is organized is that it studies 08:39 Isaiah, part of chapter 7 all the way through chapter 8. 08:42 And so basically, we're going to go through each day as the text 08:46 that it provides. 08:47 So on the first day, we're going to go through Isaiah chapter 7, 08:50 verse so-and-so, and then that's how we're going to study this 08:53 lesson and emphasize the different things that the 08:55 lesson brought and taught us this week. 08:57 Now, before we start the lesson, I would like to give a little 09:00 bit of context because, well, you know me by now, 09:03 I like the context of what we're talking about. 09:05 And so we're on the fourth lesson. 09:06 The three lessons up to here have been studying everything 09:09 that's happening in the times of Isaiah, and you must have read 09:13 it already in the lesson, but as you read Isaiah, 09:15 you can kind of go through the same chapters that are mentioned 09:18 in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, 09:21 and we can kind of see what's going on: 09:24 Why is Isaiah saying what he's saying? 09:26 Why is God revealing what He's revealing to Isaiah? 09:29 Why is--what is the context that is going on in Judah, 09:33 especially Judah, and at large in the Middle East 09:36 in the times of Isaiah? 09:37 And so you can kind of do that correlation. 09:39 But Isaiah is one of the most beautiful books 09:41 of the entire Bible. 09:43 Isaiah lived during the 8th century, 09:46 before Christ, and he is known as the evangelist 09:49 prophet, as I've already mentioned. 09:52 Isaiah's considered to be a representation, 09:54 a symbol, of the entire Bible. 09:58 You can divide his book into two parts, 10:00 into two segments. 10:02 You can divide chapter 1 through 39, and that's kind of like the 10:05 Old Testament. 10:06 The message that is coming, the revelations of God, 10:10 they're very similar. 10:11 They're representative and symbolic for the Old Testament. 10:14 And then from chapter 40 through 66, 10:16 you'll find the New Testament message, 10:19 a message that is more focused on a different reality, 10:22 or it shifts in its message. 10:24 And then you have 39 books in that first segment for the 39 10:27 books of the Old Testament, and then you have the following 27 10:30 books as kind of the representation 10:32 of the New Testament. 10:34 The portion of the New Testament from verse-- 10:37 from chapter 40 onward, it starts with four Gospels from 10:41 chapter 40 through 43. 10:43 You kind of find four Gospels where we have referencing to the 10:48 Savior, the Messiah, the suffering servant, 10:51 and everything that's entailed in that message. 10:53 That's where we find the foretelling of John the Baptist 10:57 as one--as a voice who cries out in the desert. 10:59 That is where--that is the portion of the Bible where 11:01 that prophecy is provided. 11:04 The book ends at chapter 66 with a type of revelation, 11:09 a type of the book of Revelation 11:11 where we have a reference of a new heaven and a new earth with 11:14 an internal--an eternal joy of Zion. 11:17 So, of course, not every detail is exactly and absolutely 11:21 adjusted to those proportions, but generally, 11:24 in general terms, that's kind of what you get from the book 11:27 of Isaiah and its divisions. 11:29 And so this week's lesson is a continuation from what we have 11:33 seen happening up to now in the previous weeks. 11:37 As mentioned in last week's lesson, 11:40 there is a prophecy, right? 11:41 Isaiah, he provides a prophecy, or God provides a prophecy about 11:45 someone named Immanuel and it has to do with a problem, 11:50 with an issue, that is being faced by the king at the time, 11:53 which was King Ahaz, the son of Jotham. 11:55 And so the small nation of Judah was facing perilous days, 11:58 very dangerous days. 12:00 Assyria was going-- 12:01 growing stronger by the day and was becoming an even greater 12:06 threat, day by day, a greater and a greater threat to all of 12:10 the smaller nations that surrounded it. 12:13 The nations, the kingdoms, including Judah and the nations 12:17 around it, they survived on a very-- 12:19 on a very delicate balance of political power. 12:22 And now at this time, Syria and Ephraim, which-- 12:25 Ephraim was the kingdom of the North, Israel, they attempted to 12:29 pressure, to you know, leverage, Judah into joining their 12:33 coalition against the king of Assyria. 12:36 And Ahaz, he had refused to do so. 12:38 He refused to join their coalition. 12:40 He refused to give in to their peer pressure but, 12:42 unfortunately, not for a good reason. 12:44 The thing is that he had secretly come to an agreement 12:47 with the king Tiglath-pileser III, which was, at the time, 12:51 the king of Assyria. 12:53 And you can find this parallel in 2 Kings chapter 16, 12:56 verse 5 through 9. 12:58 And so the king, he was entertaining political games 13:01 instead of trusting in the power of God. 13:02 That's the problem that we kind of studied last week. 13:07 You'll see here in verse 6, chapter 7, 13:09 verse 6, that the king was very worried 13:13 about what was happening. 13:14 It says here: "Let us go up against Judah." 13:16 This is the kingdoms in the north, Syria and Ephraim. 13:19 This is them saying this. 13:20 "Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a 13:24 gap in its wall for ourselves and set a king over them, 13:28 the son of Tabeel." 13:29 And so, Syria and Ephraim, they were-- 13:31 they wanted to dethrone King Ahaz, they wanted to put in his 13:35 place a puppet king, and so Ahaz, he was-- 13:39 he was just worried. 13:40 He was in panic. 13:42 He didn't know what to do and, unfortunately, 13:44 his decision was to come up and come into an alliance 13:47 with the king of Assyria. 13:49 And in this context, this is the context where God, 13:52 He orders Isaiah to take his son, 13:55 Shear-Jashub, which literally means "a remnant shall return." 13:59 And again, this is what we saw last week. 14:01 And to meet the king at a well in Jerusalem. 14:04 Now, we know here that Ahaz, he was unsettled. 14:07 The entire people were unsettled. 14:09 Everyone was in a panic. 14:10 No one was knowing very well what's going to happen. 14:12 Look, we don't have to go very far to relate to what's-- 14:16 to what was going on. 14:17 This last year that we went through there was so much 14:19 unsettlement--unsettlement? 14:21 Unsettlement? 14:22 Everyone was unsettled. Everyone was worried, right? 14:25 There was a sort of panic in people's minds and hearts, 14:27 especially those that don't really believe that there is 14:30 a God that is in charge, that is in control. 14:32 People were fearful, people were afraid. 14:35 No one knew very well what was going to happen politically, 14:39 what was going to happen socially, 14:41 what was going to happen health-wise, 14:43 in the health world. 14:44 And so we can sort of-- of course, we don't have 14:48 an impending army coming in to invade our country, 14:51 and that's exactly what was happening here with Ahaz and 14:53 the children of Israel in Judah. 14:55 But we can kind of understand their worrying. 14:58 Now, multiply that by a lot, and that's what they 15:01 were going through. 15:03 Verse 2, chapter 7, verse 2, does provide a little bit of 15:06 what they were going through. 15:07 It says here: "And now it was told to the house of David, 15:10 saying, Syria's forces are deployed in Ephraim. 15:14 So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the 15:18 trees of the woods are moved with the wind." 15:21 And so they were--they were on shaky grounds. 15:25 No one knew what was going to happen, 15:27 no one knew what they could do. 15:29 No one was in control, apparently. 15:30 The king was a very weak king. 15:33 Interestingly, King Ahaz, when he died, 15:35 he was, I believe, the only king not to be-- 15:37 or one of the only kings, not to be buried in the tomb of his 15:40 fathers, because the people simply didn't respect him. 15:43 And so they didn't have confidence in their leader, 15:46 in their king. 15:47 They didn't have confidence in what was happening. 15:49 And the people, they were wayward, away from God. 15:51 They weren't trusting in God. 15:52 And so when you have no foundation, 15:56 it's very easy to become afraid and scared. 15:59 However, in the middle of all this chaos, 16:02 in the middle of all this fear and doom and gloom, 16:04 Isaiah comes with a very tranquil message, 16:07 with a comforting message, and verse 4 says: 16:10 "Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted." 16:14 This is another text in the Bible where we see God coming 16:17 and saying, "Don't worry. 16:19 Trust in Me. Don't be fearful. 16:21 Be courageous." 16:23 You know, I was surprised-- 16:24 I mentioned this in a sermon a couple of weeks ago, that I was 16:27 surprised to find that the most repeated, the most frequent 16:31 command of God is to, first of all, is to rejoice. 16:37 Don't be fearful-- rejoice, be thankful. 16:39 And secondly, don't fear. 16:42 Don't be afraid. 16:44 So when I heard this, I was thinking, 16:46 you know, what is the most frequent command of God, 16:48 I was thinking, "Well, you know, the most frequent command is 16:50 probably, you know, 'Don't sin,' or 'Repent,'" you know? 16:54 That's where my mind was. 16:56 And then I was surprised that God's most frequent command and 17:00 order to us, it's not really something that has to do 17:03 with my failure. 17:05 It has to do with something in recognizing who God is. 17:09 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. 17:11 And don't be afraid. Do not be fearful. 17:13 This is God encouraging us. 17:15 And here, once again, in the middle of the Old Testament, 17:17 in one of the most classical prophets of the Old Testament, 17:20 we have this order where God is saying, 17:22 "Don't be afraid. Don't worry. 17:25 Be strong. Be courageous." 17:26 Have you heard people before saying that the Old Testament 17:28 is the testament of the harsh God, of the hard God, 17:33 the disciplinary, severe God, the cruel God? 17:37 Have you ever heard that before? 17:38 I've heard that a lot. 17:40 The Old Testament God is a severe, 17:42 harsh God that wants to punish His people, 17:45 and the God of the New Testament is the God of grace, 17:47 of forgiveness. 17:48 Friends, that just reveals how little people have read of the 17:51 Old Testament and how wrong people have read 17:53 the New Testament. 17:55 Because the Old Testament is filled with a plethora of texts 17:58 where God is saying, 17:59 "Don't be worried. Trust in Me. 18:02 Don't be fearful. I will lead the way." 18:05 The Old Testament is literally the God that opened the waters 18:08 of the sea to pave the path for his children fleeing 18:10 from an army. 18:12 Who could have expected that, that possibility? 18:15 And here, once again, the same God is trying to tell 18:18 His people, "Don't worry. 18:20 How have you not learned this yet? 18:22 How don't you know yet? 18:24 Look at everything that I've done for you in the past. 18:26 Why are you worried right now?" 18:30 "Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted." 18:34 So how could Ahaz find inner peace? 18:38 Believing in the promises of God, 18:41 that the enemies of Judah would be defeated. 18:46 But, verse 9, says: "If you do not believe, 18:52 surely you will not be established." 18:55 So here you find the condition, and the condition isn't that God 18:58 doesn't want to establish His people. 19:00 The condition isn't that God doesn't want to be there for 19:02 them and reassure them. 19:04 The condition is that God will respect everyone's 19:07 freedom of choice. 19:08 And so if I choose not to believe, 19:10 if I choose not to walk on that path of faith and in that path 19:13 of belief, well, then, what can God do for me? 19:17 Because there is one place that God only dominates and implants 19:24 His domain on a condition. 19:28 And that is in the human heart. 19:31 God will only control and only guide and lead and protect when 19:36 we allow Him to, because God is such a noble God that He 19:40 respects the freedom that He granted to us. 19:45 Believing in the Lord's promises, 19:46 friends, is the only way to find peace in the midst of chaos. 19:51 It's the only way. 19:52 There is no other way. 19:54 If you base your peace, if you base the foundation of 19:58 your life's contentment and satisfaction on anything other, 20:02 on any other foundation except this one, then you 20:04 will become disappointed, 20:06 simply because there is no other foundation. 20:09 This is the only one. 20:11 Isaiah 26, verse 3, the same book, 20:14 has a similar promise and it says: "You will keep him in 20:16 perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You: 20:20 because he trusts in You." 20:22 And this is what Jesus is talking about in the book 20:24 of John when later on He says, "My peace I give you, 20:27 My peace I leave you, and it is a peace that the world cannot 20:29 understand," because God's peace has a different definition than 20:33 the peace of man. 20:34 Because the peace of men, the peace of humans, 20:37 is a peace that is circumstantial, 20:38 it is based on a circumstance. 20:41 If there is no war, if I have money, 20:43 if I have work, if I have contentment, 20:45 if my family is healthy, if, if, if, 20:47 if, if, if, then I will be in peace. 20:51 But the thing is is that the definition of God's peace is 20:54 absolutely and entirely different. 20:57 God's peace is incircumstantial. 21:01 It transcends circumstance. 21:03 The peace that comes from God is a peace that is most prevalent 21:07 here in this world amidst chaos. 21:09 Isn't that ironic? 21:12 God's peace is a peace that is most prevalent when things are 21:16 going contrary to what someone would deem peace-like. 21:21 And that's because it's in the middle of the darkness 21:23 that light shines the most, and shines the brightest. 21:28 And this is what God is calling the children 21:31 of Israel to go through. 21:32 In God's eyes, the two threats, these two kings in the north, 21:36 Syria and Ephraim, they were nothing but two stubs of smoking 21:40 fire brands, according to verse 4, 21:42 that would exit the scene very shortly. 21:44 And true enough, both perished just two years-- 21:47 a couple of years later. 21:49 What's more, in the span of about 25 years, 21:51 the kingdom in the north of Israel would cease to exist, 21:57 wouldn't even be in the equation anymore. 21:59 This year, the year in which Isaiah is giving this prophecy 22:02 of Immanuel, is the year 734 BC and, 22:07 sure enough, all these things that he had foretold occurred 22:12 in the following two years. 22:13 Assyria was defeated by Syria. 22:16 So don't mix the two names: 22:17 Assyria defeated Syria in the year 732 BC and then 12 years 22:22 later, and we're going to see why these 12 years are 22:24 so significant, 12 years later they invaded Israel in 722 BC, 22:29 with their capital in Samaria. 22:31 And what happened is that the Assyrians, 22:35 they deported many of the Israelites, 22:37 they took them away and they implanted them in another place 22:40 and they imported many Gentiles. 22:42 So much so that the people lost their identity. 22:45 So 1000 years later almost, 800 years later, 22:48 when you come to the times of Jesus and we find those people 22:51 called the Samaritans, that's what was left of Israel. 22:54 They were hybrid Jews, hybrid Israelites. 22:57 And that's why they were so hated by those that considered 23:00 themselves to be the pure lineage, 23:02 the original lineage, because they had become hybrid. 23:05 Instead of having their holy mountain on Mount Zion, 23:08 now their holy mountain was Mount Gerizim. 23:11 And while they considered, you know, the well-- 23:14 the springs of David to be their main springs, or main 23:19 source of water, the Samaritans considered the wing of-- 23:22 sorry, the well of Jacob to be their main well. 23:26 And so there were many of these small differences that made them 23:29 so different and so hated and it all began here in 722 BC. 23:34 In the year 6-6-9, 669 BC, 23:38 65 years later, the nation did not exist at all anymore. 23:43 They had been--they had been sucked in to another nation. 23:48 From verses 10 through 16 of chapter 7, 23:51 we find that if Ahaz had believed in the promises of God, 23:55 he would have broken his treaty with Assyria, 23:58 he would have broken everything that he had-- 24:01 that he had said that he would do with them, he would have 24:05 called on his people to pray and to worship God, but the king, 24:10 King Ahaz, he persisted in his unbelief. 24:13 And noticing, and this is where we say the greatness of Isaiah, 24:16 because when Isaiah notices that the king had become weak and 24:20 unfaithful, Isaiah, he offered a sign of encouragement. 24:24 He said, "Look, King, choose something." 24:26 And this is God speaking through Isaiah. 24:27 He says, "Look, choose any sign." 24:29 How many of us wouldn't love an offering like this? 24:32 What if God came to you and said, 24:34 "Look, you can ask for anything as a sign that I am with you"? 24:39 Isn't that kind of what God did to Solomon? 24:43 And Solomon answered wisely, "Lord, give me wisdom." 24:47 But Ahaz, he chooses to tempt the Lord, 24:50 exactly by saying not to tempt the Lord. 24:53 Verse 12 says: "Ahaz said, 'I will not ask, 24:56 nor will I test the Lord!'" And this is a moment of false 25:01 modesty, false piety. 25:05 Knowing that he was secretly allied to the king of Assyria, 25:08 how could he honestly ask a symbol, or a sign, from God? 25:13 How could he honestly do that? 25:14 And so instead of asking for a sign that any of us would love 25:20 to ask God for a sign. 25:21 How many of us haven't done that already? 25:23 I know that as a child, I did that a lot. 25:25 I remember, "Lord, if You're with me right now, 25:27 then do this." 25:29 And I remember being disappointed a lot, 25:31 simply because we can't really force God's hand. 25:33 Doesn't work that way. 25:34 But here, this is God saying, "Look, 25:36 you can ask for a sign, anything, anything." 25:39 There are no limits to what God had provided for him to ask for, 25:43 and yet the king, weak-minded and weak-hearted, 25:46 he decides not to. 25:49 And so instead of speaking privately to the king, 25:53 which he had already tried, Isaiah, 25:55 now he speaks to the whole nation. 25:56 He speaks to the children of Israel and then in verse 13 25:59 and 14, this is what he says: "Then he said, 26:02 'Hear now, O house of David!'" So Isaiah stops speaking to the 26:05 king, and he starts speaking to the people. 26:08 "Is it a small thing for you to weary men, 26:10 but will you weary God also?" 26:12 And this is in reference to the king's false piety. 26:19 God becomes tired of our false piety. 26:22 There's this story. 26:24 There's this story of a small-town church, 26:27 and every so often, every year, there would be an evangelistic 26:30 series, you know, one of those series, about a month, where a 26:33 pastor would come and he would teach about revelation and 26:35 similar to what we had here in "Revelation Now." 26:37 And there was this older gentleman that every time 26:41 the pastor would make an altar call, the old man, 26:44 he would go up, and he would say, 26:45 "Fill me up, Lord. Fill me up. 26:47 Fill me up, Lord. Fill me up." 26:49 Every time, every year, year after year, 26:52 and he would say, "Fill me up, Lord." 26:55 In one of the later years, he was doing it again and someone 26:58 heard an older lady in the church that had known that 27:03 man for a very long time, and the thing is that that man, 27:06 after he said, "Fill me up, Lord, 27:08 fill me up," he would go back to his old ways, 27:09 to his old life. 27:11 Nothing would really change. 27:12 And so that older lady, she said-- 27:15 she was heard saying, "Don't do it, Lord. 27:17 He leaks." 27:19 Friends, that is true about us many times. 27:22 We--our false piety, our false modesty, 27:26 we're here saying, "Lord, fill me up, 27:28 fill me up," but we're leaking and the Lord grows weary and 27:31 tired of that. 27:33 Who wouldn't? 27:35 And this is a message for me too, but God does grow weary. 27:40 God has a very long patience. 27:42 God has a lot of patience, but it's not infinite. 27:47 That aspect about God isn't infinite. 27:49 God becomes tired of our false piety and modesty, 27:52 and this is what we have here: 27:54 "Hear now, O house of David! 27:55 Is it a small thing for you to weary men, 27:58 but will you now also weary my God also? 28:01 Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: 28:04 Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, 28:06 and shall call His name Immanuel." 28:10 Without a doubt, the fulfillment of this prophecy in its complete 28:14 sense is in Jesus Christ, who truly is "God with us." 28:19 And we find this in the book of Matthew. 28:21 We find this in the book of Luke. 28:22 We find this, generally, in the Gospels. 28:23 Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. 28:27 The virginal birth of Jesus is a key doctrine because if He did 28:31 not come sinless, in flesh and blood, 28:37 then we would have no Savior. 28:39 It was essential for Jesus to be born of the virgin. 28:42 Separate from human generation, because He 28:44 existed even before His mother. 28:46 You remember when Jesus says in the book of John, 28:49 or the book of Matthew. 28:51 I think it's the book of John, where Jesus says, 28:52 "Even before Abraham was, I am." 28:57 Jesus existed before His mother. 29:01 But here, in this context of the book of Isaiah, 29:06 this prophecy had also an immediate fulfillment, 29:10 an immediate meaning for Ahaz and the people of Judah. 29:13 Now, I'm going to say something that you don't have to really 29:16 remember, because it's a more technical thing, 29:18 but for full disclosure, there is a technical term in theology 29:22 that is called "sensus plenior." 29:24 Sensus plenior. 29:25 And basically, what sensus plenior means, 29:27 it's a Latin term and it means the complete sense of-- 29:31 the complete meaning of a prophecy, right? 29:35 And so, the sensus plenior of a prophecy, 29:37 it might have several fulfillments, right? 29:40 So here, right now, we have one immediate fulfillment, 29:44 a short-term fulfillment for this prophecy, 29:46 but the sensus plenior of this prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus 29:50 Christ, 800 years later, God with us. 29:54 Does that make sense? 29:55 So there are many-- 29:56 in many prophecies, you'll find multiple fulfillments, 29:59 because God is just that big. 30:02 God might be saying something here right now that makes sense 30:04 to this immediate context, but in a wider, 30:07 broader sense, it applies maybe thousands of years 30:10 down the road. 30:11 We find this many times in the prophecies of Daniel where there 30:14 is an immediate fulfillment, but later on, we know 2300 years 30:18 later, there is another fulfillment. 30:20 We have the fulfillment of the 70 years where Jerusalem would 30:23 be destroyed, but then that same prophecy in Matthew chapter 24, 30:27 you have the fulfillment that is speaking of the end of time. 30:30 So that is the sensus plenior of a prophecy. 30:32 It is the full, the entire, meaning of a prophecy that can 30:35 be fulfilled in stages. 30:38 Does that make sense? 30:39 So here, for Isaiah in his immediate context, 30:42 there was an immediate fulfillment for this 30:45 prophecy of Immanuel. 30:50 A virgin, a young-- and the word here for "virgin" 30:52 is a young woman of marriageable age. 30:54 She would be married, and she would conceive and give birth 30:57 to a son who would be called, or who would live, or fulfill, 31:02 Immanuel, God with us. 31:03 Now, last week's lesson, if you studied it, 31:06 you'll remember that it provided at least four or five different 31:08 possible interpretations for this prophecy. 31:11 Now, I am more--most partial to one of them and, 31:14 again, this here, it's not a matter of salvation, 31:17 so it's very well and fine if you have another interpretation 31:21 that you prefer, but the one that I see that makes most 31:24 sense is that this is Isaiah's second wife. 31:30 The first wife most likely died at the birth of Shear-Jashub, 31:34 and there are a lot of texts that give evidence to this in 31:36 the book of Isaiah, and that his second-- 31:39 that his second son received two names. 31:42 The first name is a very difficult name that I don't 31:44 want to butcher, but I'm going to try it. 31:46 It's Maher-shalal-hash-baz and that's his name. 31:50 So the lesson said can you imagine playing soccer 31:52 with that kid? 31:54 It wouldn't be very easy. 31:56 But that he received this name and he received a 31:58 prophetic name: Immanuel. 32:00 And you'll remember that names are very significant 32:02 in the Bible. 32:04 God Himself has more than 100 names in the Bible. 32:07 Jesus is called so many-- He's called Immanuel. 32:09 He is called Michael. 32:12 We have Yahweh. 32:13 We have El Shaddai, El Shaddai-- 32:16 There are just so many names for God. 32:19 It's because names are very significant. 32:21 You'll find that many of the main characters in the Bible, 32:24 their name is changed, or switched, to provide more 32:27 meaning to what they would become. 32:29 We have Abram that becomes Abraham. 32:31 We have Jacob that becomes Israel. 32:33 We have Sarai that becomes Sarah. 32:36 And so you have many of these names that are changed 32:38 to emphasize a reality in the life of that person. 32:42 And so here we find a very specific name, which 32:45 is Maher-shalal-hash-baz that we'll get to the meaning of 32:49 that, but then we have Immanuel also. 32:51 And the reason why I prefer this interpretation is because in 32:54 chapter 8, verse 1 through 4, referencing this second son, 32:59 this boy Maher-shalal--I'm going to call him Maher. 33:02 I'm going to call him Baz, okay? 33:04 So when I say "Baz," you know that I'm speaking of this boy, 33:07 because the name's just too big. 33:09 And in speaking of him, so you have from verse 1 through 4 in 33:12 chapter 8, you have the reference of this boy, 33:15 and then speaking of him in verses 8 and 10 of chapter 8, 33:20 the name Immanuel is used in verse 8, and its meaning is 33:23 applied in verse 10. 33:24 So here in verse 8 you will have, 33:26 "He will pass through Judah, he will overflow and pass over, 33:29 he will reach up to the neck; and the stretching out of his 33:32 wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel." 33:35 And then in verse 10 you have, "Take counsel together, 33:38 but it will come to nothing; speak the word, 33:40 but it will not stand, for God is with us." 33:44 And so in any case, in any case, both of these boys, 33:47 they became true sons of the law. 33:49 When a Hebrew boy, when an Israelite boy, 33:51 he came of age, and that was-- 33:53 how old was he when he came of age? 33:55 Twelve. Twelve years old. 33:58 Then he was called a true son of the law, all right? 34:02 He was called a true son of the law. 34:03 So both of these boys at the age of 12 34:05 became true sons of the law. 34:08 And this is a--this special son was a reminder that by the time 34:12 he became a true son of the law, by the time he became of age, 34:16 Syria and Israel, the kingdom in the north, 34:19 Ephraim, would disappear. 34:22 So in the next 12 years, the kingdom of these two kingdoms, 34:25 they wouldn't be in the scene anymore. 34:28 Isaiah transmitted this prophecy-- 34:29 he provided this prophecy coming from God in the year 734 as 34:33 we've already mentioned and, sure enough, by 732, 34:37 Syria was defeated and 12 years later, 34:40 in 722, Assyria invaded the kingdom of the north, 34:44 Israel fulfilling this prophecy. 34:46 God is precise. God is exact. 34:51 The Bible says that at the right time, 34:52 in the plenitude of time. 34:54 The word "plenitude" is at the right moment. 34:57 When the times were fulfilled. 34:58 And the thing about God is that the time-- 35:01 the time is never on our timeline. 35:02 We have this--humans have this innate desire 35:08 to control everything. 35:10 I'm sure you can relate to this, 'cause I can. 35:14 We like to be in control. 35:15 The problem is that we can't control God. 35:17 It's not much of a problem when you trust and believe in God, 35:20 but if we let our emotions get a, you know, get a hold 35:23 of us, then we want to control God. 35:25 And the thing is that God is not a tame God. 35:27 You can't really put Him in your pocket or blackmail him. 35:29 He's going to do things the way that He wants to do things. 35:32 So God here is a precise God and things happen 35:34 when He wants them to happen. 35:37 But here, instead of trusting in the Lord, 35:40 Ahaz continue to trust in the king of Assyria, 35:42 even though Isaiah warned him that Assyria would eventually 35:46 turn on Judah. 35:47 The Assyrians invaded Judah. 35:49 They did indeed invade Judah, and they destroyed the land to 35:51 the point where the agriculture ceased and the people had 35:54 to depend on only dairy to survive. 35:57 So it would be very difficult for you to be vegan back then, 36:01 or even vegetarian. 36:03 Here we find, chapter 7, verse 15, that says: 36:05 "Curds and honey, he shall eat that he may know to 36:09 refuse the evil and choose the good." 36:11 And then verse 21, 22, and 23 says: 36:13 "It shall be in that day that a man will keep alive a young cow 36:17 and two sheep; so it shall be, from the abundance of milk that 36:20 they give, that he will eat curds; for curds and honey 36:24 everyone will eat who is left in the land. 36:27 It shall happen in that day, that wherever there could be 36:31 a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, 36:35 it will be for briers and thorns." 36:36 So here we see that the whole agricultural system--and they 36:39 were an agricultural people, it was so destroyed by the Assyrian 36:42 invasion, it would be so destroyed by the Assyrian 36:44 invasion, that they would need to eat milk and honey or from 36:48 the production of milk and honey. 36:50 Their rich crops would be devastated, 36:52 the people would be forced to hunt wild animals for food. 36:55 It would be a time of great humiliation and suffering. 36:58 Verse 20 says: "In the same day the Lord will shave with a hired 37:02 razor, with those from beyond the River, 37:04 with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the legs, 37:08 and will also remove the beard." 37:09 So this terminology, you know, when we read in the Bible that 37:12 someone shaves his head, it's a sign of humiliation. 37:14 We find this with Daniel. We find this with Job. 37:16 Remember, when they shaved their head, 37:18 they put on sackcloth, it's the same terminology. 37:20 What happens here is that they're in a moment, 37:22 in a period, of humiliation. 37:25 Now, all of this could have been avoided. 37:28 All of this could have been avoided if only the leaders 37:31 had placed their trust in God. 37:34 But in any case, as we mentioned before, 37:36 here Isaiah, he marries a virgin. 37:37 That is referenced as the prophetess, right? 37:40 She's called the prophetess in chapter 8, and now we're going 37:44 to what would be chapter 8, verse 1 through 10, 37:47 equivalent to Tuesday. 37:48 So we're still on Tuesday. 37:50 Let's see how far we'll get. 37:51 So as we mentioned before, Isaiah, 37:52 he married a virgin, and she's referenced as the prophetess 37:56 and the legal documents will record-- 37:58 were duly recorded and sealed. 38:01 And he even announced the name of his son before the 38:03 boy was even born: Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 38:07 better known, a.k.a. Baz. 38:10 And his name means, literally, 38:13 "Speed the spoil and hasten the plunder." 38:15 So taking into account that the names of his sons, or that his 38:19 sons and his own life, they were symbols and signs to the people, 38:22 and this is according to chapter 8, verse 18. 38:24 Look at what verse 18 in chapter 8 says. 38:26 It says: "Here I am with-- 38:28 here I am and the children whom the Lord has given me! 38:31 We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, 38:35 who dwells in Mount Zion." 38:37 So you see here that Isaiah himself recognizes that him 38:40 and his family, they are for signs and wonders for Israel. 38:43 The name was very meaningful. 38:45 It referred to this future judgment when Assyria would 38:48 conquer Syria and Israel and Judah and even when Babylon 38:53 would later take Judah into exile. 38:56 A child begins to form his first phrases, 38:58 at least the intelligible phrases, about when he's 39:01 two years of age. 39:03 I came later. 39:04 I was about two and a half, I think, when I started talking. 39:06 I took a while. My parents were worried. 39:08 I think they're still kind of worried. 39:10 But in any case, a child begins to form his phrases by the time 39:13 he's two years old and, sure enough, 39:15 two years after Isaiah's son is born, both Pecca and Rezin, 39:20 which were the kings in the north, they died. 39:23 Assyria conquered Syria and invaded Israel, 39:25 and its army did, indeed, hasten its plunder and speed its spoil. 39:30 The rest of chapter 8, and this is where we would kind of go 39:34 into the conclusion of the lesson, and this is me trying 39:36 to fit it in into ten minutes. 39:38 But the rest of chapter 8 is really Isaiah providing three 39:43 very vivid contrasts that he used to show the leaders in 39:48 Judah the mistake that they were making by trusting in the king 39:52 of Assyria rather than in the King of heaven. 39:55 So there are three very vivid contrasts, and you'll find this 39:58 in the lesson of Tuesday, Thursday-- 40:01 sorry, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, all right? 40:03 These three very vivid contrasts. 40:05 The first is that they chose a deluge. 40:08 They chose a flood instead of a tranquil water, 40:11 a tranquil stream, or a soft stream. 40:13 Verse 6, chapter 8, verse 6 and 7 says: 40:16 "Inasmuch as these people refused the waters of Shiloah 40:19 that flow softly, and rejoice in Rezin and in Remaliah's son; 40:25 now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon-- 40:28 up over them the waters of the River, strong and mighty." 40:32 And so the pro-Assyrian faction in Judah, they 40:35 rejoiced in the fact that Assyria defeated 40:38 Syria and Israel. 40:40 They rejoiced when both Pecca and Rezin died. 40:43 These victories seemed to prove that their allegiance 40:45 with Assyria was the right way to go. 40:47 I mean, look, if my ally has just defeated my enemies, 40:50 doesn't that mean that I'm doing pretty good? 40:52 Yeah, it seemed to be going well for them, 40:56 instead of trusting in God. 40:58 And here, God references Himself as "the waters of Shiloah that 41:03 flow softly," as we find in verse 6. 41:06 They sought out the great river, the great chaotic and tumultuous 41:11 river of Assyria. 41:14 What they didn't notice, what they didn't really consider, 41:16 is that this river would later come down and flood them. 41:21 God offered His people peace, 41:25 but in their incredulity they chose war. 41:28 They lived according to what they could see, 41:30 not by what they could believe in. 41:33 And, friends, this is a great temptation for us. 41:37 We are often tempted to live by what we can see 41:40 because it's easier, isn't it? 41:42 If I can see it, if I can touch it, 41:43 if I can smell it, if I can taste it, 41:46 well, that means it's real. 41:48 But the Bible tells us that we should believe rather in what 41:51 we cannot see, because the things 41:53 that we cannot see are things from above. 41:57 It's harder but, boy, is it worthwhile. 42:03 Isaiah, however, he did not-- 42:05 he did not foretell a permanent victory for this invading army. 42:08 Even though the people were choosing this rather than the 42:12 better of the choices, Isaiah even then, 42:15 Isaiah through God, or God through Isaiah, 42:17 provides a sliver of hope. 42:24 After all, they were invading the land of Immanuel, 42:28 and God was with His people and would deliver them 42:31 for the love of His name. 42:32 Assyria could plan their strategy, but the Lord would 42:36 frustrate each of those plans. 42:38 The army of Sennacherib later on camped around Jerusalem, 42:42 certain of their victory. 42:43 This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. 42:46 Letters before the Lord, 42:49 my first sermon here at Granite Bay, 42:50 or my second sermon. 42:52 But the Lord God did eliminate that problem, 42:55 the problem of Sennacherib with one swift blow, and you could 42:58 read about it in Isaiah chapter 37. 43:01 We're going to get there in this lesson. 43:02 Kind of wish I was the one teaching that one, 43:04 but we'll see when we get there. 43:06 The second contrast that we find here that Isaiah provides, 43:10 this is chapter 8, verse 11 through 15, 43:12 is that they chose a trap instead of a sanctuary. 43:16 And you will find this in verse 13 through 15 that says: 43:18 "The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow; 43:21 let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. 43:24 He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of 43:28 offense to both the house of Israel, 43:30 as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 43:33 And many among them shall stumble; 43:35 they shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken away." 43:40 God warned Israel not to follow the crowd that believed that 43:43 Assyria would be the better way out. 43:46 And even though Isaiah, because of his choice, 43:49 was considered a traitor, because of what he was choosing 43:53 here, because of what he was saying, Isaiah, 43:56 he opposed all the foreign coalitions and called the 43:59 people out for their unfaithfulness. 44:03 Even though he was called a traitor, 44:05 he still was faithful. 44:06 So here, you find at least one example in time of chaos 44:09 of someone maintaining his faith. 44:11 While all these political leaders, 44:12 they asked themselves--and this is also very modern. 44:15 You could apply this to our day. 44:17 Look at what I'm going to say. 44:19 While the leaders then were asking themselves, 44:21 "Is this what the people want? 44:22 Is this politically correct? 44:24 Is this safe for me?" 44:27 Isaiah was asking himself, "Is this the will of God? 44:30 Is this the right thing to do?" 44:34 This is a lesson that we have to apply also. 44:37 It's not about what will save face. 44:40 It's about what will save. 44:43 When you fear God, friends, you never need 44:45 to fear people or circumstances. 44:47 Much later, the apostle Peter made reference to this passage 44:49 when he writes in 1 Peter 3:14 and 15. 44:52 He says: "But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, 44:56 you are blessed and do not be afraid of their threats, 44:58 nor be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." 45:02 Isaiah compared the Lord to a sanctuary, 45:05 the rock that is the refuge to all that believe. 45:07 But that is a trap to those that rebel, or that rebel. 45:12 And this is a very frequent comparison to God in the Bible. 45:16 The Lord God is a rock, one that breaks the unfaithful but one 45:19 that protects those who place their trust in Him. 45:23 The third contrast, to use the last contrast used by Isaiah in 45:26 chapter 8, verse 16 through 22, is that they chose darkness 45:30 rather than light. 45:32 The nation of Israel rejected the message of Isaiah but they-- 45:37 that did not mean that his ministry was in vain. 45:40 And that is something that I have to remind myself as 45:42 a pastor a lot. 45:44 Sometimes, your words are rejected, but that doesn't 45:46 mean that your ministry is in vain. 45:48 And Isaiah, he proved that. 45:51 The true disciples of God, they receive His Word in their heart, 45:54 and, by faith, this prophet was willing to patiently await the 45:58 fulfillment of God's Word. 45:59 And although the people paid little attention to what he 46:02 had to say, Isaiah himself and his family, 46:05 they were living prophecy. 46:07 Isn't that a great thing to be a living prophecy? 46:09 That's what the Adventist Church is. 46:12 We are a living prophecy, friends. 46:14 This movement is a living prophecy, 46:16 and that's exactly what Isaiah and his family was. 46:18 They were a living prophecy. 46:20 And no one could ignore the fact. 46:22 The name of Isaiah means Jehovah is salvation, God saves. 46:28 And this reminded the people that they should 46:30 trust in Jehovah to save them. 46:33 The name of his eldest son, Shear-Jashub, 46:35 which means literally, "a remnant shall return," 46:37 a word of promise in a moment where, apparently, 46:40 the nation was about to be destroyed. 46:42 And, in fact, later on when the exiled Israelites returned to 46:46 Judah, after the exile in Babylon, 46:48 they were comforted by these words, 46:50 by the chapters 40 through 66 of Isaiah. 46:54 The name of his youngest son, 46:56 Maher-shalal-hash-baz, that means, "speed--" 46:59 I didn't really use his nickname much, did I? 47:03 I kind of like saying his name. It's catchy. 47:05 But his name means "speed the spoil and hasten the plunder," 47:09 and that pointed to the fall of Syria and Ephraim. 47:14 So in their moments of despair and the moments of crisis, 47:17 instead of turning to God, the people themselves, 47:21 they consulted, and this is the darkest moment in this period 47:25 of the children of Israel, that they went back to consulting 47:27 occultism, familiar spirits and demons, 47:31 which only plunged them into a deeper moral 47:34 and spiritual darkness. 47:36 Friends, the growth of occultism in our days is proof that people 47:42 are deliberately rejecting the Word of God and returning to 47:46 the lies of Satan. 47:47 And we see the rise in this in the movies that we have in the 47:50 world around us, in the series, in the music and the songs, 47:54 in the live TV. 47:57 We see it everywhere. 47:58 It's not even weird anymore. 48:00 It's not even strange. 48:02 And this is the symbol of a world that is rejecting the 48:06 truth of God and falling more and more into the 48:10 lies of the devil. 48:11 The leaders of Judah here, they anxiously awaited the dawn of a 48:15 new day, but they only spiraled deeper 48:17 into a deep pit of darkness. 48:19 The truth, friends, is that the human heart is a very powerful 48:22 factory of idols, which is why we must be very cautious 48:27 and very aware of anything that come-- 48:30 that can come between us and our God. 48:33 In the case of Israel here, it was fear and doubt that led to 48:37 unfaithfulness and then to occultism. 48:40 Consulting spirits that they could see and touch rather 48:43 than the powerful God of heaven. 48:48 Now, the Word of God, friends, and this is-- 48:49 this is where we leave off. 48:51 We know that the Word of God is true light. 48:54 It is the only trustworthy light in this world of darkness. 48:58 I mean, don't we know Psalm 119:105? 49:01 "Your word is a--" What is it? 49:06 "A lamp and a light unto my path." 49:10 2 Peter 1:19 through 21 says: 49:12 "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do 49:15 well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until 49:20 the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 49:23 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of 49:25 any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will 49:28 of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by 49:31 the Holy Spirit." 49:33 I love it where it says that it is a "light that shines in 49:36 a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in 49:40 your hearts." 49:41 Who is the morning star? 49:42 Jesus is the morning star. 49:45 So may He rise in your heart day by day, friend. 49:47 I know it might be hard sometimes to live by faith, 49:50 because that means living by not by what you see but by what you 49:55 know in God. 49:56 So may God bless you as you study this lesson of Isaiah. 50:00 Please remember to study it. 50:02 Please remember to pray about it. 50:03 It is a powerful lesson, and I'm sure that God will bless you. 50:06 I do hope that you can join us next week for our 50:10 Sabbath School Study Hour. 50:11 We have a very exciting study next week, and I would like to 50:13 finish with a word of prayer. 50:15 Dear Lord God, thank You so much for Your power. 50:17 Thank You so much for Your control and for giving us 50:20 so many lessons in Your Word, in Your light that shines in our 50:24 heart that allows us to understand that although 50:26 the darkness may be great out there in the world, 50:29 we know that the light in the universe is greater 50:32 because You are there. 50:33 You are that light, and light shines the brightest while 50:36 it is dark. 50:38 Lord, allow us to be that light also, 50:40 be a reflection of who You are, and like Isaiah, 50:42 be living prophecy to bring comfort, 50:45 to bring knowledge, to bring love and hope to people that 50:48 are living in a dark world. 50:50 Please bless us now, I ask in Jesus's name, amen. 50:55 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 50:58 free resource. 50:59 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 51:01 you can download a digital copy straight to your computer 51:04 or mobile device. 51:05 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, 51:08 simply text the keyword on your screen to 40544, or visit the 51:12 web address shown on your screen, and be sure to select 51:16 the digital download option on the request page. 51:18 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 51:22 Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want, 51:25 and most important, to share it with others. 51:35 Dee: My parents got divorced when I was three or four, 51:37 and then I was basically unchurched most of my life. 51:40 I had a girlfriend in high school tell me that she had 51:42 to break up with me because I wasn't a Christian. 51:44 I thought, "That's weird. 51:45 I believe in God. Why would she say that?" 51:47 Not realizing I was living a horrible life with foul 51:49 language, was mean, and other stuff. 51:51 And that kind of challenged me initially. 51:54 And then my dad, 9/11 woke him up that he wasn't ready to meet 51:58 his Lord, though he was a man that I valued 52:00 and knew he loved me. 52:01 Didn't doubt that. 52:03 But he just knew he needed more, so he started watching TV 52:05 ministries first, Baptist preachers and others, 52:08 and he was kind of intrigued by what he was learning. 52:12 And so when he turned me on to this, 52:14 this television station, first thing that I got access to was 52:17 Doug Batchelor's "Most Amazing Prophecy" series that he did 52:20 in Berrien Springs, Michigan. 52:22 And I remember when I first watched this, 52:24 my background was Baptist-ish of sorts, 52:27 but I remember when I first watched this series, 52:30 I remember thinking, "I've never heard that before about the 52:32 state of the dead or about the Sabbath or the commandments or 52:35 the Rapture," or other things. 52:37 And I remember thinking to myself, 52:38 "I've never heard that before, but that's what the text says." 52:41 And that kept happening. 52:43 And I had this experience of just wondering, like, 52:45 "Well, what else have I believed that isn't as it is," you know? 52:48 And the more I watched, the more helpful it became, 52:51 but again, he kind of took a different perspective 52:53 on the messages. 52:55 It was fresh to me, but I just-- 52:56 these things I'd never heard before--and I just 52:59 realized, like, there's so much stuff in the Bible that no one's 53:04 talking about and that people need to know. 53:06 And so I ended up in this awkward situation that some 53:09 of my friends who didn't believe what I was coming to believe, 53:12 I didn't know how to communicate with them, 53:14 and so one of the things that helped me initially was the 53:18 SabbathTruth.com website, TheTruthAboutHell.com and 53:22 TheTruthAboutDeath and some of those resource websites that 53:25 Amazing Facts had put together that were just 53:27 full of resources. 53:28 If I needed an answer to something that someone brought 53:31 up, there would be a 95% chance that Amazing Facts would have 53:35 something that I could use. 53:37 It makes witnessing even easier in that sense. 53:39 The Amazing Facts Prophecy Study Bible was my first real Bible 53:43 that I had of a more trusted translation. 53:46 The Bible Study Guides were in the back of it. 53:48 They had a lot of other resources that were helpful. 53:50 If you can hand a book to somebody and you can pick 53:52 up a phone and call Amazing Facts, 53:54 you have everything you need. 53:55 And so I was just printing off stuff 53:56 and handing it to people, you know? 53:58 Like, "Here's what I'm coming to realize. 53:59 This is true. It's in the Bible." 54:01 And it was a huge blessing to me and a real help just to kind of 54:06 help me to better understand what the message was and 54:09 understand it for myself and have resources to put in the 54:11 hands of other people. 54:13 It was invaluable. 54:14 Some time went by. 54:15 I eventually went to a school of evangelism and was baptized. 54:18 And then I had this amazing opportunity that after being 54:21 in ministry for about five or six years, 54:23 Doug Batchelor was going to be the main speaker at a youth 54:25 event, and I was actually going to be doing a seminar 54:27 at this youth event. 54:29 And it was just this amazing kind of full-circle experience 54:31 that the first person I came in contact with in Adventism, 54:35 to hear the message, to have it make sense, 54:36 to be able to do ministry together with him in whatever 54:39 role possible, just meant the world to me, 54:42 and to be able to tell him my story and tell him 54:43 thank you was invaluable. 54:45 And so God just gave me a precious gift in affording 54:49 that opportunity, and I'll never forget that. 54:51 Dee: My name is Dee. 54:53 Thank you for changing my life. 54:54 ♪♪ 55:04 announcer: Amazing Facts, Changed Lives. 55:12 Roy: I grew up here in New York City, 55:15 I guess, dealing with all the temptations that you would have 55:18 in a big city. 55:19 Everything that you could imagine that you could run into, 55:23 drugs, crime, was always here. 55:27 When I was at a young age, I actually got into trouble with 55:30 the law, and my only out was to join the military at the time 55:35 in order to not do time. 55:37 So I left New York and traveled the world a little bit while I 55:41 was in the military. 55:43 Eventually, I came back. 55:45 Having grown up as a hip hop kid, 55:47 I eventually found myself working 55:49 in the music business actually. 55:51 I worked at a couple of major radio stations, hip hop, reggae. 55:55 I was at all the big reggae shows, working them. 55:57 No matter what I did to try and satisfy myself, 56:00 nothing really worked. 56:03 I remember I used to play at this one club in Manhattan. 56:06 We used to play there every Friday night. 56:09 So I came home one Saturday morning after leaving the club, 56:13 and I turned on the video channel like I usually do. 56:16 So there was this guy in the video channel talking, and he 56:19 was definitely out of place, but the things that he was saying 56:23 just totally amazed me. 56:25 I had never heard anyone speak 56:27 about the Bible like this before. 56:29 So I started coming home early on Saturday mornings just to 56:32 catch this show. 56:33 I found the things that he was saying absolutely amazing, 56:37 to the point where it literally made me stop and start to think 56:42 about how I was living my life. 56:44 So I found that all of these things that I had been doing 56:47 to try and find happiness were actually 56:50 not making me happy at all. 56:52 But were really just leaving me empty inside. 56:55 When I started reading the Bible and it started to make sense, 56:58 I started to make changes. 57:00 I even tried to keep the Sabbath, 57:03 which I failed at miserably. 57:05 So I was actually invited by Amazing Facts to go to see a 57:09 live series at one of the local churches, but after going the 57:13 first night, I ended up going another night and another night. 57:17 I stayed for the entire series. 57:19 That was the day I made a decision that changed the 57:21 rest of my life forever. 57:23 I gave my life to Christ, 57:24 and everything was different after that. 57:27 I made a decision to give up the music business, 57:29 stop hanging out at all of the clubs. 57:31 I made a decision that was eternal for me 57:33 and for my family. 57:36 I started going to church. 57:39 I got a position in church where I was actually in charge of the 57:42 personal ministries department. 57:45 And the same Amazing Facts studies that changed my life, 57:48 I actually got to share them with people and sit down with 57:51 them and tell them about Jesus. 57:55 ♪♪ 57:56 CC by Aberdeen Captioning 1-800-688-6621 abercap.com |
Revised 2021-01-13