Participants:
Series Code: SSH
Program Code: SSH022221S
|
00:00 ...
00:03 ♪♪♪ 00:14 ♪♪♪ 00:23 ♪♪♪ 00:38 Shawn Brummund: Good morning, and welcome to another edition 00:40 of the Sabbath School Study Hour right here in the Granite Bay 00:43 Hilltop Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Greater 00:46 Metropolitan area of Sacramento, California. 00:49 My name is Pastor Shawn Brummund. 00:51 It is my privilege to be able to welcome you to this particular 00:53 study session as we continue to make our way through one of the 00:56 most fundamental, important Bible books that we can find. 01:00 It's the first one in the Bible so it's an easy one to find. 01:03 It's entitled "Genesis" and our quarterly that we're continuing 01:07 to go through is entitled just simply, "Genesis." 01:10 And that really says it all. 01:12 The origins of all things. 01:14 And so today we're going to be looking at Lesson number 8. 01:17 That is Lesson number 8 which is entitled "The Promise." 01:20 Now, again, put your seatbelts on because we have a lot of 01:24 material to cover. 01:25 We're looking at four chapters. 01:27 Last week we looked at five; today we're looking at Genesis 01:29 chapter 22 through Genesis chapter 25, and so we have a lot 01:33 of material to be able to look at. 01:35 Looking forward to being able to hearing what Pastor Luccas, our 01:37 teacher here today, is going to share with us as we review for 01:41 those of us who have gone through our quarterly over the 01:43 week, and also for those of us who perhaps are just looking at 01:47 this material together this morning for the very first time. 01:50 So again, very special welcome to all our guests, all our 01:53 members that are with us here today locally, and again, a 01:56 special welcome to our friends, both in the area here of 01:59 California as well as across the country and around the world. 02:04 Now, if you are in the United States or the various United 02:07 States territories, we have a special gift offer that we'd 02:10 like to offer to you here today, free of charge. 02:13 It's entitled--the booklet today is entitled "The High Cost of 02:17 the Cross." 02:19 And this is written by the founder of "Amazing Facts," Joe 02:20 Crews, and all you have to do is dial the number 1-866-788-3966. 02:28 Again, that's 1-866-788-3966, and you want to ask 02:35 for Free Offer Number 156. 02:39 Now, if you'd like to have a digital download on that and you 02:42 are living in the United States, that also is available. 02:45 All you have to do is text the code "SH080," and you want to 02:50 dial that to the number "40544." 02:56 Now, I know that some of you are not in the United States and you 02:58 can't get either of those offers, but we do have this also 03:01 available for you as a digital download on the Internet 03:04 anywhere you can get onto the website, which is study, that's 03:08 S-T-U-D-Y dot aftv.org/SH080. 03:19 And so that's available for all our friends across the world, so 03:22 please take advantage of that. 03:23 You're going to learn a lot about the high cost of the cross 03:25 and how much Jesus loves us and how much he paid that price 03:28 for you and me. 03:29 So before we open with prayer and look at our study, we have a 03:32 very special group that is with us. 03:34 It is one of my favorite universities, the University 03:36 called Weimar. 03:38 I'm a graduate and alumni there for 1997. 03:41 We have their choir that is visiting us today, and they're 03:43 going to lead us out in worship through song. 03:46 God bless you. 03:50 ♪ Soon we'll be done with the troubles of the world, ♪ 03:52 ♪ the troubles of the world, the troubles of the world. ♪ 03:54 ♪ Soon we'll be done with the troubles of the world. ♪ 03:57 ♪ Going home to live with God. ♪ 04:00 ♪ Soon we'll be done with the troubles of the world, ♪ 04:02 ♪ the troubles of the world, the troubles of the world. ♪ 04:05 ♪ Soon we'll be done with the troubles of the world. ♪ 04:07 ♪ Going home to live with God. ♪ 04:10 ♪ I want to meet my mother. ♪ 04:13 ♪ I want to meet my mother. ♪ 04:15 ♪ I want to meet my mother. ♪ 04:17 ♪ I'm going to live with God. ♪ 04:20 ♪ I want to meet my mother. ♪ 04:22 ♪ I want to meet my mother. ♪ 04:25 ♪ I want to meet my mother. ♪ 04:27 ♪ I'm going to live with God. ♪ 04:30 ♪ Soon we'll be done with the troubles of the world, ♪ 04:32 ♪ the troubles of the world, the troubles of the world. ♪ 04:35 ♪ Soon we'll be done with the troubles of the world. ♪ 04:37 ♪ Going home to live with God. ♪ 04:40 ♪ Soon we'll be done with the troubles of the world, ♪ 04:42 ♪ the troubles of the world, the troubles of the world. ♪ 04:45 ♪ Soon we'll be done with the troubles of the world. ♪ 04:47 ♪ Going home to live with God. ♪ 04:50 ♪ No more weeping and a-wailing. ♪ 04:52 ♪ No more weeping and a-wailing. ♪ 04:55 ♪ No more weeping and a-wailing. ♪ 04:57 ♪ Going to live with God. ♪ 04:59 ♪ No more weeping and a-wailing. ♪ 05:02 ♪ No more weeping and a-wailing. ♪ 05:04 ♪ No more weeping and a-wailing. ♪ 05:07 ♪ No more weeping. ♪ 05:14 ♪ No more wailing. ♪ 05:25 ♪ No more weeping. ♪ 05:35 ♪ Soon we'll be done with the troubles of the world, ♪ 05:38 ♪ the troubles of the world, the troubles of the world. ♪ 05:40 ♪ Soon we'll be done with the troubles of the world. ♪ 05:42 ♪ Going home to live with God. ♪ 05:45 ♪ Soon we'll be done with the troubles of the world, ♪ 05:47 ♪ the troubles of the world, the troubles of the world. ♪ 05:50 ♪ Soon we'll be done with the troubles of the world. ♪ 05:52 ♪ Going home to live with God. ♪ 05:54 ♪ I want to meet my Jesus. ♪ 05:57 ♪ I want to meet my Jesus. ♪ 05:59 ♪ I want to meet my Jesus. ♪ 06:02 ♪ Going to live with God. ♪ 06:04 ♪ I want to meet my Jesus. ♪ 06:06 ♪ I want to meet my Jesus. ♪ 06:09 ♪ I want to meet my Jesus. ♪ 06:11 ♪ Going to live with God. ♪ 06:14 ♪ I'm going to live with God. ♪ 06:22 ♪ I'm going to live with God. ♪♪ 06:34 Shawn: I want to invite you to join me as we pray and ask 06:36 the Lord to bless our study. 06:37 Father in heaven, we want to thank You so much for 06:39 the opportunity to worship You here this morning. 06:41 Want to thank You so much for the inspiration of song and for 06:44 our special guests and, Lord, as we also want to thank You 06:47 for our teacher today as well. 06:50 We want to pray that the Holy Spirit will be the ultimate 06:52 teacher that guides us and leads us into all truth. 06:55 And we thank You for listening, in Jesus's name we pray, amen. 07:01 Luccas Rodor: It's good to see you all. 07:02 Good-looking group. 07:03 And I'm sure that our friends that are online 07:05 are also a beautiful group. 07:08 You know, one of the beauties of the gospel and God's saving 07:13 grace is the intricate canvas in which He works. 07:19 You know, sometimes when you look at it, I don't know if 07:21 you've ever seen a canvas upside down. 07:24 It's all messy, right? 07:26 It's weaved and--I don't know if that's a word. 07:28 Weaved and woven in different directions and different ways, 07:32 but then when you flip it over and you see the design, you see 07:34 what is actually going on, you see this beautiful design of 07:38 God's grace. 07:39 And so I just love seeing the diversity of his people and 07:42 being able to be a part of that is a blessing. 07:45 So thank you for being here this morning. 07:46 Thank you so much for tuning in and investing 07:48 this time here with us. 07:49 We do have a very beautiful study. 07:51 Just like Pastor Shawn mentioned before, there's a lot going on 07:54 in this week's lesson, and it's going to be somewhat difficult 07:58 to actually get everything, so we're going to focus, really, 08:02 we're going to focus--the majority of our lesson is going 08:05 to be focused on Sunday and Monday's lesson, and then we're 08:09 going to talk a little bit about Tuesday, Wednesday, 08:11 and Thursday also. 08:13 But really, to me, the most beautiful part and really the 08:16 latter days, they're kind of details that revolve around 08:20 these first two days of the lesson. 08:22 Now, we've been building on Genesis, and Genesis is such an 08:28 interesting book because when you read it, you know, it's--the 08:31 first 12--I mentioned this before. 08:33 The first 11 chapters, it's like the author, he is just flying 08:38 through history, right? 08:40 He's writing so fast, there are so many things that are 08:43 happening, but really, you only find a few events mentioned. 08:49 In the first, basically, 2000 years of history, you only find, 08:52 you know, a few major events. 08:54 You have the Creation, right? 08:55 You have the Fall, and you can kind of put those together 08:58 because they happen, you know, together in 09:00 the first three chapters. 09:02 So you have the Creation, you have the Fall, then you have the 09:04 flood and everything involved there. 09:06 Then you have the Tower of Babel, and that takes, you know, 09:09 centuries, it's so much time, but at the same time 09:12 it's only 11 chapters. 09:14 And then it's as if the author and we know it's Moses, he slows 09:18 way down when he starts writing in chapter 12, because he gets 09:22 to this point that is so important. 09:25 I mentioned this in Lesson 6, that the calling of Abraham is, 09:31 you know, arguably the most important event of the entire 09:34 Old Testament, and the reason why I say that, it's not, you 09:37 know, I'm not excluding any of the other very important events, 09:40 but it's because the calling of Moses is--it has this seminal 09:44 nature. 09:45 Everything else, everything that happens afterwards, they all 09:48 find their beginning, they find their origin, with the calling 09:52 of this man and everything that that involved. 09:55 So this week's lesson that has the title, "The Promise," it's 10:00 the unfolding of what was studied last week in chapter--in 10:04 Lesson 7. 10:06 Last week's lesson was all about "The Covenant," right? 10:10 The Covenant. 10:11 You had this great plan that God put into motion by calling 10:15 Abraham, and the promise that one day all the nations of the 10:20 world would be blessed by Him. 10:22 And why is God saying that? 10:24 Why is God saying that all the nations of the world 10:25 would be blessed? 10:27 Why is there a need of such a blessing? 10:28 Well, it's because the world found itself in this emergency, 10:31 the emergency of sin. 10:33 And so God, putting into plan the eternal plan of redemption, 10:37 we know that Jesus was the Lamb slain since 10:39 the foundation of the world. 10:41 What does that mean? 10:42 That Jesus was killed before the foundation of the world, 10:44 before the world began? 10:46 No, Jesus was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the 10:48 world, in essence, in motive, in motivation. 10:53 Because God knew once Lucifer was created, all the unfolding, 10:58 all the latter part of the story would come to happen and the 11:01 ultimate price would be His Son laying His life down 11:04 or being laid down. 11:06 And so, here we have God putting into motion this plan, and this 11:09 week's lesson speaks about the ramifications 11:13 of that covenant story. 11:14 And here we have a very strange story in the first two days 11:18 of the lesson. 11:19 So, again, here in this moment of Scripture, in this--in these 11:26 moments of Scripture, we find glimpses of how God dealt with 11:30 the patriarch--how He dealt with Abraham, with his family, 11:32 and we find the lessons that He taught him. 11:35 And again, one of the beautiful parts of the Bible, one of the 11:38 few beautiful aspects of the Bible, is that while we're 11:41 dealing with, you know, very real, very live, personalities, 11:48 in a strange way, in a providential way, there is this 11:52 transcendence to the Bible where, again, these were real 11:56 people but, at the same time, here we have 11:58 the biographies of ourselves. 12:01 In the Bible, in the Bible stories, you find your 12:03 biography, I find my biography. 12:06 In how we meet and how we encounter God. 12:08 The lessons that these people learned are lessons that are 12:11 applicable to you and to me today. 12:13 And so here with Abraham, we find how God is dealing with 12:16 this man in his ups and downs and his doubts and anxieties 12:20 and his victories and losses. 12:22 And one thing that becomes very clear in Abraham's story is that 12:25 while, yes, he is known in the Bible as the father of faith, 12:29 he was human. 12:31 This was a human being and what that means is that sometimes he 12:35 had to go through some very difficult lessons, 12:37 some very difficult moments. 12:39 He had to learn how to allow God to be God and to understand that 12:43 this whole story, friends, this whole story that you go through, 12:47 that I go through, that we see these people in the Bible going 12:50 through, this whole story, is all about God 12:52 fulfilling His promises. 12:55 It's not primarily about you and about me. 12:57 It's about Him. 12:59 God is the God that fulfills His promises. 13:01 And this is a lesson that took quite a long time for Abraham to 13:05 learn, because there are many moments when Abraham is trying 13:08 to help God be God, right? 13:10 We talked about this before and it's been discussed. 13:12 There are moments in Egypt, there are moments with Ishmael 13:14 and Hagar where Abraham is trying to help God, and very 13:18 painstakingly, he had to learn to let God be God. 13:23 And that is a very hard lesson to learn for anyone, because we, 13:26 as humans, like to be in control, right? 13:28 We like to have control of things, of events. 13:31 We like to know what is going to happen, when it's going to 13:33 happen, how it's going to happen. 13:34 That's the kind of creatures that we are. 13:37 And so, learning submission, learning how to allow God to be 13:41 God, friends, this is one of those difficult of the Christian 13:44 virtues to learn and to acquire. 13:47 Another difficult lesson that Abraham learned the hard way is 13:50 that God doesn't always make sense. 13:53 Have you ever had to learn that lesson before? 13:56 That God doesn't always make sense, at least, 13:58 not to you or to me. 14:01 There are moments when our logic, when our way of thinking, 14:05 our reasoning, our way of understanding the world around 14:08 us, simply isn't enough. 14:10 It's just not enough. 14:12 Now, the lesson is accepting that this isn't about God being 14:15 logical, because my question to you is, is God illogical? 14:20 No, God is not illogical. 14:24 God is super-logical. 14:26 He's above our logic. 14:29 When the Bible says--when God says there, you know, "Just as 14:32 the East is far from the West, just are My thoughts far 14:36 from your thoughts." 14:38 Distant from your thoughts, way above your thoughts. 14:41 We cannot think on the same level as God. 14:43 We can't comprehend. 14:45 We don't have that perspective. 14:47 And so we need to learn to let God be God, and that's something 14:50 that Abraham had to learn. 14:52 There are occasions, friends, where all the pieces of the 14:55 puzzle seem to fit, and you seem to think that you--you have God 15:01 figured out. 15:03 There are those moments. 15:04 But then, all of a sudden, the winds of circumstance change and 15:08 they blow us in a completely different direction from 15:11 what we would have imagined, what we would have expected: 15:14 one that we could never have thought 15:16 that we would be going to. 15:19 Circumstances in which God truly does not make sense. 15:25 Circumstances in which God seems to demand from you burdens that 15:29 you deem too heavy, that you can't really know why God is 15:34 asking you to carry that. 15:36 Occasions where you have a great difficulty in making sense of 15:39 the direction or even understanding the love of God in 15:42 your life, understanding God when the 15:45 tragedies knock on your door. 15:47 We might even know the theological answers. 15:50 That's something that people have gotten really good at, 15:53 giving answers to other people's problems. 15:58 We might know the theological, theoretical answers, but it's 16:02 too hard to depend on these theoretical justifications when 16:06 we are confronted with loss, with suffering, with despair. 16:09 And look, sometimes, we go through situations that defy 16:12 reasoning and logic and explanations. 16:14 Where God seems to downright contradict Himself. 16:19 And this week's lesson, the stories of this week's lesson, 16:23 they are testament to this reality. 16:26 You might be asking, "Well, why is he speaking about this right 16:27 now in this lesson?" 16:29 Well, it's because this week's lesson is all about that kind of 16:31 circumstance. 16:33 It's about this story. 16:35 It's one of the most confusing stories and the most difficult 16:39 to understand, at least if you try to put yourself in Abraham's 16:42 shoes, in his experience. 16:46 At least from the human standpoint. 16:49 Now, as we saw last week, God made with Abraham a covenant. 16:53 This is found in Genesis chapter 12 and Genesis chapter 15. 16:57 You have a repetition of the covenant. 16:59 This is called the Abrahamic Covenant in, you know, in 17:02 theology. 17:03 You find many different forms of this deal throughout the Bible. 17:07 You know, in the Bible you have these different words 17:11 for another, right? 17:13 You have the word "heteros" and you have the word "allos." 17:16 And these two words, in Greek, they define the nuances of the 17:23 covenant in many ways because God, really, He doesn't give us 17:26 a new covenant in the sense where the promise changes. 17:30 The promise has always been: He's going to save us. 17:33 He's going to redeem us. That's always been the promise. 17:36 Since the very beginning in Genesis chapter 3, you have the 17:39 promise that the head of the serpent would be crushed. 17:42 And throughout the entire Bible, the promise 17:44 has always been that. 17:46 The covenant, the deal, has always been that God would take 17:49 us out of the situation. 17:51 Now, since you have different people involved and since you 17:54 have fallible humans involved, God has worked with us in our 17:58 different situations. 17:59 And that's why--where you find the different covenants, or the 18:02 new covenants, that come along but they're not new in the sense 18:05 that God is just reshaping the entire promise. 18:08 They're new in the sense that God is making room for us to be 18:11 part of this. 18:13 So, last week, we found God coming into this covenant, 18:16 coming into this deal with Abraham and, apparently, it 18:20 happens at the very beginning of the story with Abraham, when 18:24 he's not yet an old man. 18:26 Now that's kind of--it's kind of relative, you know, it's kind of 18:31 subjective, what I mean by "old man" here, because when God 18:34 calls Abraham, he was 75 years old. 18:38 Now you know, when I get to 75 years old, I'm thinking that, 18:41 you know, "Well, you know, I did a lot. 18:42 I can rest now. 18:44 I can do a whole bunch of, you know, cool stuff, stuff that 18:45 I've always wanted to do, you know? 18:47 You're getting ready for retirement or you're probably 18:49 already in retirement at that age. 18:52 And Abraham here, I imagine that he's at that point, and then God 18:55 just appears and says, you know, "Abraham, 18:58 you've got to get out, man. 18:59 You've got to leave." 19:02 And if it were me, if it were me, in my mind, 19:05 I would be going, "Now? 19:10 At this point?" 19:12 But the interesting thing and the reason why I said it's 19:14 subjective is because Abraham lives to about 175. 19:18 So he still had 100--he had most of his life left. 19:21 He had--Abraham had most of his life ahead of him 19:24 at 75 years old. 19:26 Seventy-five years of age. 19:28 He still had no children. 19:29 And so a lot of things happened, but God appears to this man at 19:33 the beginning of this whole covenant story, 19:36 and He says this. 19:37 This is Genesis chapter 12, verse 1 through 3. 19:39 He says: "Abraham, do you see all these stars? 19:41 This will be the number of your descendants, more numerous than 19:44 the stars, more numerous than the sands of the sea. 19:47 Abraham, I will give you countless generations and even 19:50 kings will come from your lineage." 19:54 Again, it must have been strange, if not confusing to 19:58 Abraham, because he still didn't have any children. 20:03 And his wife was presumably sterile, which since the Bible 20:08 includes this detail, what that means is that they had tried, 20:12 but she was sterile. 20:14 They had not borne children. 20:16 Now, what really makes--and I really want you to try to 20:19 include yourself in this story, okay? 20:22 Put yourself inside the story as someone that is really seeing 20:26 what's going on here. 20:27 Try to feel what's happening in this story, okay? 20:30 What makes this event even stranger is that after saying 20:35 all of this, after coming to Abraham and saying, "Abraham, 20:37 look at all these stars. 20:38 These will be your descendants. 20:40 Multitudes and nations, kings and rulers, will come from you." 20:43 After saying all these things, these incredible promises, God 20:47 becomes strangely silent about the matter. 20:51 Again, we know that Abraham was 75 when the promise was made, 20:55 and the years just started going by. 20:59 Has someone ever made you a promise and then taken their 21:02 sweet time to deliver on the promise? 21:05 Has that ever happened to you? 21:08 What about waiting for 2½ decades for a promise? 21:12 Does that sound fair enough? 21:15 I'd be downright grumpy if that were the reality. 21:19 Because, look, at this point, Abraham and Sarah, they weren't 21:22 spring chickens anymore. 21:24 Time had been passing, and nothing. 21:29 God doesn't appear. 21:31 God doesn't show up. 21:32 Nothing more about this whole issue, ha, ha. 21:36 There is nowhere in the whole of Scripture where we find that God 21:39 has another conversation with Abraham where He says, you know, 21:43 where He treats about this subject, He talks about the 21:45 subject and just like that, 20 years, 25 years, went by. 21:49 Now, if she hadn't already, at this point, certainly, Sarah had 21:53 gone into menopause. 21:55 And they knew that what was before difficult, at this point 21:57 had just become impossible. 22:01 I can see old Sarah in resignation, her head droopy, 22:08 her shoulders droopy, downcast, disappointed, perhaps feeling 22:12 guilty, perhaps feeling that it was her fault. 22:17 Poor thing, what could she have done? 22:21 Knowing that she couldn't have a child. 22:24 Abraham was 100, Sarah was 90, and still no child, 22:28 no promise fulfilled. 22:30 And I imagine that at this point, enormous questions, 22:34 enormous questions and doubts must have flashed through the 22:37 mind of the old patriarch. 22:39 He must have thought, "Lord, what was that conversation that 22:41 we had so many years ago? 22:44 What was it that you said at that time? 22:46 Did I hear you wrong? 22:48 Did I get it wrong? 22:50 I remember that You said something about my posterity, 22:53 about my descendants." 22:57 But still, no answer, nothing. 23:05 Have you ever felt the silence of heaven? 23:10 I mean, we expect that God would either say "No" or "Yes," 23:13 but that He would inform us. 23:15 Don't we think--isn't that what you expect from any good friend? 23:18 At least let me know what Your answer is. 23:22 But the thing is that with God, sometimes that silence is the 23:27 lesson, because I'll tell you something. 23:32 The silence of God speaks volumes. 23:37 Imagine the huge obstacles for them to have a child. 23:43 The New Testament, with the apostle Paul, says that they 23:45 were already mortified, they were already dead 23:48 in their flesh, already dead in their flesh. 23:55 Have you ever imagined a 90-year-old woman having a baby? 24:00 It's no wonder that Sarah found this funny and laughed about it. 24:04 And to be honest with you all, I find it funny. 24:08 I can imagine her finding it funny. 24:12 But the miracle did happen, and we know the story. 24:16 A child was born, a child that foreshadowed the very birth of 24:20 Christ, the Coming of the Messiah, contrary to the rules 24:23 of anatomy, the rules of nature. 24:28 And there's a whole story in there that, unfortunately, we 24:30 have to jump over because otherwise we'd take way too long 24:33 and we wouldn't have time. 24:34 But now, with the child, after all the questions, all the 24:38 problems, all the obstacles, after all the lessons that 24:41 Abraham had learned, I mean, here we're kind of jumping over 24:44 the whole story with Ishmael and with Hagar, where Abraham, 24:47 he tried to help God be God, and God had to institute 24:51 circumcision to remind Abraham and his--the generations later 24:56 on that God is the God that fulfills His promise. 24:59 God is the God that fulfills His promise. 25:01 That's a lesson that it took a while for Abraham to understand. 25:04 But here we're jumping over all of that and, finally, the child 25:07 of promise comes, the child that foreshadows Jesus Christ, 25:10 the birth of the Messiah. 25:11 Here we find the guarantee of all the subsequent promises. 25:16 All of the other promises, the following promises, 25:19 were guaranteed in the birth of this child. 25:23 They praised him, they worshiped him because of it. 25:27 Promises about the future were ensured. 25:30 But you know that the story doesn't stop there. 25:33 The story doesn't end there. 25:36 In chapter 22 of Genesis the Lord's--the Lord returns to 25:39 Abraham and, without any warning, without any 25:42 preparation, without any kind of introduction, prolog, or 25:45 explanation, out of nowhere, out of the blue, He gives Abraham a 25:51 very simple order. 25:54 Genesis 22, verse 2: "Abraham, take now your son." 26:01 Friends, imagine God saying this to you. 26:05 "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love," it's like 26:13 God is twisting the knife in. 26:16 Not only does God put the knife in, does--not only does He stick 26:19 it in, He twists it. 26:21 "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to 26:28 the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one 26:33 of the mountains of which I shall tell you." 26:36 Like I said, there's almost a touch of cruelty to God's order, 26:39 as God reminds Abraham that this is his only son whom he loves. 26:45 Can you imagine the mental state of this man? 26:49 The formidable questions arising in his mind? 26:52 This was Isaac, this was the son of the promise, the son upon 26:55 which all the future promises depended. 26:59 Everything seemed to lie on this boy, and yet God says, "Go and 27:04 offer him as a sacrifice"? 27:08 Did I hear that correctly? 27:10 Am I getting this right? 27:13 Am I losing my mind? 27:15 Is this truly the voice of God? 27:18 God would never demand human sacrifice. 27:20 God is different from all the other pagan gods. 27:26 And what's worse, nowhere do we find God telling Abraham, 27:29 "Abraham, I know this seems confusing, I know that this is 27:33 hard, I know that you probably can't understand it, 27:36 but trust Me. 27:38 I know what I'm doing. 27:40 Just wait and everything will turn out all right." 27:43 Nowhere do you find God saying anything of the sort, nowhere. 27:48 There is nothing like that in the entire Bible. 27:51 On the contrary, it seems as though God just left Abraham to 27:53 his own confusion and despair. 27:56 It seems that God left Abraham alone with his questions. 27:58 It seemed like God was downright contradicting Himself. 28:03 Because God said, "I will give you future generations, I will 28:05 give you nations and peoples, and all the people of the world 28:08 will be blessed," and God said that there was Isaac. 28:11 He didn't say that there was going to be another son. 28:13 It's Isaac. 28:14 This is the one that God gave Abraham and Sarah in their old 28:17 age, and yet now God is saying, "Go and sacrifice him." 28:21 How do I understand that? 28:25 First, He had said, "Yeah, the future is guaranteed, 28:28 but now sacrifice the child." 28:30 I can only imagine. 28:33 I certainly could never comprehend, but I can imagine 28:36 the mental anguish, the inward struggle. 28:39 Apparently he didn't tell Sarah, and by studying the Bible, you 28:43 kind of know the personality of Sarah by now. 28:46 Who knows what she would have done. 28:50 We're going to give sacrifice. 28:54 But you know what? 28:57 In one of my favorite portions of the entire Bible, we find a 29:04 glimpse of the character of this man that bears witness to the 29:13 difference between Abraham and most of us, because while I 29:18 would be caught up on all the questions, the Bible says in 29:22 Romans chapter 4, verse 2, it says that 29:24 "Abraham believed in God." 29:29 Abraham believed in God. 29:32 It made no sense, he certainly couldn't understand the mystery 29:36 behind the Lord's request, but God had said that the promise 29:40 would be fulfilled, and so Abraham believed. 29:46 Do you see the lesson that God is trying to teach Abraham? 29:50 And by consequence, do you see the lesson that God is trying to 29:54 teach you and me today? 29:57 What God is really telling us here, what God was really 30:00 demonstrating here to Abraham, is that the future truly and 30:05 absolutely does not and did not depend on Isaac. 30:14 The future, as always, depends on God. 30:20 Friends, I am sure that there have been occasions, all right, 30:23 in your life. 30:25 I know there have been occasions in my life, where God apparently 30:27 contradicts Himself. 30:29 Situations where He makes no sense. 30:32 You cannot fathom what's going on in the mind of God. 30:35 Moments where God seems to break the line at the last chain of 30:38 the cord, the last link of the chain. 30:42 Moments where He seems to cloak Himself in impenetrable silence, 30:47 and the question that is left for us, living here in time and 30:50 space, isolated from the understanding of eternity, 30:54 the question that remains is: what to do 30:57 when God doesn't make sense. 30:59 What does He want of me? 31:01 What does He want of you? 31:05 He wants the same thing that He wanted from Abraham. 31:08 Abraham believed in God. 31:14 And the question that you might ask yourself is why 31:18 is God doing this to me? 31:20 Why is this happening to me? 31:22 I try to be good, I try to do the best. 31:24 Abraham could have certainly said that, couldn't he? 31:27 "I left Ur, I left my family, I left my connections. 31:31 I left everything behind. 31:33 I have suffered the loss of many things. 31:35 I'm living as a wanderer in a land that was promised 31:39 but not given to me yet." 31:41 Abraham could have justified all of this, but the Bible says 31:43 none of that. 31:45 Abraham believed in God, because many times, friends, 31:47 the question is "Why me?" 31:49 And in other moments, the question is "Why not me?" 31:54 Why not? 31:56 We are all here. 31:58 We are all subject to this disease of death, 32:02 to this great controversy. 32:05 The question isn't really what's happening? 32:07 The question is how will I react? 32:10 Because this patriarch, how did he react? 32:13 Here, he believed in God. 32:17 I want to remind you that God rarely decides to answer these 32:21 questions on this side of eternity. 32:26 He doesn't expose His plans or purposes, awaiting our approval. 32:31 We must never forget that He is God and, as such, He expects us 32:35 to trust and believe in Him, despite the situations that we 32:39 do not understand. 32:41 You see, the Lord did not provide complete answers to 32:44 Abraham or to Job or to Paul or to Moses or to Peter or to any 32:47 of these men and do not think that you're going to be the 32:51 exception. 32:54 Because my dear friend, if you aren't able to accept the simple 32:57 fact that God is God and that He knows perfectly well what is 33:02 best for you, then you are destined to walk through life 33:05 with weak faith, with immature and impatient and impotent 33:09 faith, which is the same as saying no faith at all. 33:14 And if this is the case, what that means is that you will have 33:17 to build your castles on quicksand, 33:21 on some other foundation. 33:23 And that is--that is going to be your greatest challenge, 33:26 simply because there is no other foundation. 33:31 This is the lesson that Abraham learned throughout his life: in 33:34 several moments, through various circumstances, he learned to 33:37 allow God to be God. 33:39 And in this case, we see that he did learn his lesson. 33:44 Because when Isaac noticed that there was no sacrificial lamb 33:47 and he questions his father about it, the man's answer 33:50 revealed a deepset trust in the friend that he had come to know. 33:56 Genesis 22, verse 8, he says, "My son, God will provide for 33:59 Himself a burnt offering." 34:05 The translation could also, and this was mentioned in the 34:07 lesson, it's very proper. 34:09 The translation is quite ambiguous because it could also 34:12 mean, "God will--God will provide Himself for a burnt 34:15 offering." 34:18 It's incredible how Hebrew works that way. 34:23 That didn't mean that Abraham did not have questions or that 34:25 he had all the answers. 34:27 It did not mean that he wasn't afraid. 34:29 It certainly didn't mean that he could say that he understood 34:31 everything about God. 34:33 What this reveals is that this man had learned and was putting 34:36 into practice the very simple biblical truth that God always 34:40 fulfills His promises, always. 34:44 Maybe not in your time, maybe not in your way, maybe not in 34:47 the place that you imagine or the way that you imagine, but 34:50 God always fulfills His promises. 34:54 And here, he finally understood that the future absolutely did 34:58 not depend on Isaac. 35:01 Friends, the future does not depend on your job, doesn't 35:03 depend on your health, doesn't depend on your family, 35:06 it doesn't depend on your mental--on 35:08 your mental stability. 35:10 The future does not depend on any of these things. 35:13 The future always depends on God. 35:19 And God is the firm foundation of our faith. 35:23 So the future is always guaranteed. 35:27 And finally, perhaps, in this story, the greatest lesson that 35:31 Abraham learned is one that had to do 35:35 with the very heart of God. 35:37 Because Abraham felt firsthand what the God of the universe was 35:41 feeling, what was going on in God's own heart by laying down 35:45 His own Son. 35:48 "Patriarchs and Prophets," page 154 says: "It was to impress 35:51 Abraham's mind with the reality of the gospel as well as to test 35:55 his faith that God commanded him to slay his son. 35:58 The agony which he endured during these dark days of 36:00 fearful trial was permitted that he might understand from his own 36:04 experience something of the greatness of the sacrifice made 36:07 by the infinite God for man's redemption." 36:12 And so here we see many different lessons that Abraham 36:14 learned and that, friends, we are called also not only to 36:17 mentally, abstractly, theoretically learn, but to put 36:22 into practice. 36:24 Let God be God in your life, and understand that He will fulfill 36:28 His promises. 36:31 The continuation of the lesson this week on Tuesday with the 36:33 death of Sarah is very interesting because it plays 36:36 into the nuances of this main story. 36:39 The death of Sarah, it adds some details. 36:42 She is one of the only women mentioned as part of the lineage 36:47 of the Messiah. 36:48 Now, we know that there were just as many women as there were 36:51 men, all right? 36:52 We know that for a fact. 36:54 But unfortunately, in the patriarchal society that they 36:58 had in that time, and a negative point at this point, the women 37:02 weren't usually included in the lineage. 37:07 But you do find God breaking that tradition. 37:11 You find that God, He doesn't care for human traditions in 37:13 that way, because He includes several women, women of faith, 37:17 women of grandeur, and Sarah, she is one of these women that 37:20 we learn about in the Bible that she participates in this 37:25 descendancy or ascendancy of the Messiah. 37:29 Now, she, just like Abraham, is portrayed 37:34 in the Bible as flawed. 37:36 We know that. 37:38 But at the same time, never underestimate this woman, 37:42 because just like her husband, she left Ur of the Chaldeans 37:45 as a pilgrim. 37:46 She also experienced the life of exodus, and the Bible mentions 37:50 the doubts and anxieties that she had, the flaws and failures 37:54 that she had, and to be sure, most of us would be having the 37:58 same kinds of doubts that she had, under the same situations 38:02 that she was exposed to. 38:05 Right after this incident in Mount Moriah, the Bible 38:08 describes the burial, the death and the burial of Sarah. 38:11 So you don't really have, you know, what happened next. 38:13 You don't really have: did she figure it out? 38:15 Did she learn about it? How did she react? 38:17 Did she get angry? 38:19 Did she--we don't know because the Bible goes right into the 38:21 next step which was after this incident, Sarah died. 38:25 Maybe this is what did it. 38:27 We don't know. 38:30 Maybe the stress, the--I don't know. 38:34 But you see, she was the first of Abraham's family to die and 38:37 to be buried in the Promised Land. 38:39 And that, coupled with, you know, that detail that she's the 38:42 first and she's buried in the Promised Land, and we find it 38:44 coupled with the details around Abraham acquiring the plot of 38:48 land where she was going to be buried, not, you know, just 38:51 burying her anywhere. 38:53 No, it was thought through. 38:54 That fact confirms that Abraham knew that this 38:56 was a permanent stay. 38:59 While he lived the life of a wanderer, while he lived the 39:02 life of a pilgrim, while as, again, we discussed in the 39:04 previous chapters, in the previous lessons, that there 39:07 were many nations contending for dominion over Canaan, Abraham 39:11 knew that God would fulfill His promise. 39:15 Abraham knew that that stay was indeed permanent. 39:21 This was, after all, the land that God had promised him, and 39:24 Abraham knew by now that God always does what? 39:28 Keeps His promises. 39:31 Sarah's significance in this story is very big. 39:35 And as the lesson puts it, on Tuesday's lesson, "the focus on 39:37 the purchase of Sarah's burial place which covers most of the 39:40 chapter, rather than on her death, emphasizes the connection 39:44 with the Promised Land. 39:46 Already, the specification that she died "in the land of Canaan" 39:50 underlines the rooting of Sarah's death in God's promise 39:54 of this land. 39:56 Sarah is the first dead of Abraham's clan to have died and 39:59 be buried in the Promised Land. 40:01 Abraham's concern about himself, a foreigner and a visitor, and 40:05 his insistent argument with the sons of Heth, show that Abraham 40:08 is interested not only in just acquiring the burial place, but 40:11 he is primarily concerned in settling in the land 40:13 permanently." 40:15 And the next day's lesson which is "A Wife for Isaac," it 40:17 additionally adds details to this reality, because Abraham, 40:21 while he knew that he was going to stay 40:23 in Canaan forever, right? 40:24 That's where he was supposed to stay, he also knew that he 40:26 couldn't get one of the women of the land to marry his son 40:30 because the land was extremely idolatrous. 40:34 And so there is a care, there is a worry, in Abraham's mind to 40:37 provide for his son a wife that would allow him to--or it would 40:42 enhance his ability of remaining faithful to God. 40:46 You know, one of the--when I graduated from theology, 40:49 I wanted to come directly to the U.S. 40:51 to continue my studying. 40:54 And I asked my dad for advice, you know, should I go? 40:56 My father, he went through a very similar path, you know. 40:59 He ended up coming to the States and studying more, 41:02 and so I asked my dad, you know, what should I do? 41:04 What would you do? 41:05 And he said, "Look, I think there are two things that you 41:07 should do before you leave. 41:10 Marry a woman from your own people, 41:13 and be ordained as a minister." 41:15 And in fact, that's what I ended up doing. 41:19 And you know, the reasons--there's nothing wrong 41:21 with marrying someone from a different land if I believe 41:23 she has the same, or he has the same, belief as you. 41:27 But in this case, you know, Brazilian culture is so 41:30 specific, that sometimes if you marry someone from a vastly 41:33 different culture, sometimes you can have some difficulty. 41:36 So I saw my dad's wisdom there. 41:38 Again, nothing wrong, if you're marrying someone from a 41:40 different land than yourself. 41:41 There's nothing wrong with that. 41:43 That is perfectly fine. 41:44 There are people that make that work brilliantly, but I saw my 41:46 dad's wisdom and that's exactly what I did. 41:49 And nowadays I see that a great--at least, in our case, 41:53 Dani and myself, in our case, not speaking for anyone else, in 41:55 our case, the fact that, you know, we speak fluently the same 41:59 language, we can understand each other, you know, amazingly and 42:02 it really helps us avoid some arguments, 42:06 especially with my stubbornness, let's leave it that way. 42:13 With my stubbornness, it ends up helping, right? 42:15 Dani is an extremely patient human being. 42:17 Those that know that--know her, know that. 42:19 She's extremely patient, very calm, very--she's 42:22 an angel on earth. 42:23 And so I saw the wisdom in that and I see here that Abraham, 42:27 more so even than my father or, you know, more so because not 42:33 only was--it wasn't really a matter of, I believe, 42:36 ethnic culture, it was really a matter of belief, 42:39 of spiritual convictions. 42:41 And so he sends his servant to find a wife for Isaac and 42:44 there's a whole story there, friends. 42:46 There's a beautiful story, filled with prayer, with 42:48 devotion, and unfortunately, we don't have time for that, 42:50 to go into the specifics. 42:51 But I do want to tell you that there is something to be said 42:55 about marrying someone within your faith, especially here 42:58 for the youth. 42:59 Those who are not married yet, there is something very big to 43:02 be said about marrying someone within your own faith. 43:06 And the reason for this is because you might even find 43:08 someone that is very good, that does not believe 43:11 the way you believe. 43:13 Good--there are many good people that aren't Seventh-day 43:15 Adventists, of course there are. 43:17 Many decent, moral human beings that are atheist. 43:20 I know many atheists that are very good people, but let me 43:23 tell you that the problem with that kind of union is that their 43:29 reason for being good is different than your reason. 43:35 They might be good, but their reason is different than yours. 43:40 Why do we want to be good and moral and reproduce the fruits 43:44 of the Spirit? 43:45 Why do we want to do that? 43:46 Because we have a God that holds us accountable. 43:48 We have a standard. 43:49 God is the source. 43:52 But for other people, God is not the source, 43:58 not to them at least. 43:59 Not in their understanding. 44:00 And so, in that way, in that union, you'll have a hurricane 44:02 on one side, you'll have a volcano on another side, and 44:05 when you have the combination of that, you just have a hurricane 44:07 of lava, and you don't want that in your house. 44:11 So, there is wisdom in marrying within your own faith. 44:15 Look for someone that believes in what you believe in. 44:18 Don't be like Samson, led by your eyes. 44:22 Be led by the will of God. 44:24 There is nowhere better to be than within God's will, nowhere. 44:31 Even though you might not understand it at times. 44:33 Now, what I've just said is the rule, because I know of some 44:38 exceptions. 44:40 I do know--I do know of exceptions of people who have 44:42 married outside the faith and over a course of a lifetime and 44:45 through many hardships, that unbelieving spouse comes in and 44:48 starts believing. 44:50 I know that there are those cases and those situations, 44:53 but careful not to risk it. 44:57 Because in most cases, that doesn't happen. 44:59 And I say this with, at this point, ten years of pastoral 45:04 experience, witnessing and counseling and hearing stories 45:08 where the majority of the times where that happens, the 45:11 believing spouse is who ends up going over. 45:17 And that is a very sad reality. 45:18 But any case, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to tell the 45:21 youth of my church: it is wise to find someone within your own 45:25 belief, within your own faith. 45:27 And that's what Abraham does here with Isaac, and that's what 45:29 he finds. 45:31 Because they knew, both Abraham and Isaac and Eliezer going to 45:34 find, you know, Rebecca, we see that these people involved, they 45:38 were all willing to submit their wills and their lives to God. 45:43 That's what we find. 45:45 The family had learned that lesson, that God will provide. 45:48 Not only will God provide a sacrifice, God here, He provided 45:51 a spouse. 45:52 And that's exactly what Isaac needed. 45:54 He waited--he was 40 years old. 45:56 That's an old single guy. 45:57 So there's hope for you single people out there, right? 46:00 Cool, right? 46:02 Isaac was 40, but I've known stories of people, you know, 46:05 at 70, you know, you'd be surprised. 46:08 So, don't lose hope. God can always provide. 46:11 And finally, the last day of--or Thursday's lesson is 46:13 "A Wife for Abraham." 46:14 I would have thought that at this point Abraham had, 46:17 you know, he was done. 46:18 But no, Abraham here, he does marry again and some scholars, 46:22 they agree that Hagar and Keturah were the same person. 46:26 It's somewhat unclear who Keturah was, and the reason that 46:31 people give is since Keturah's sons are associated with Hagar's 46:34 and her name isn't mentioned in that association, many people 46:37 are compelled to believe that they are, in fact, 46:40 the same person. 46:41 Another clue would be that Abraham treats Keturah's sons 46:44 just as he treated Ishmael, sending them away to avoid any 46:47 sort of spiritual influence, and that makes a contrast 46:50 between them and Sarah's son and the others. 46:54 Another thing is that the firstborn blessing was given 46:57 to Isaac, while the other sons received gifts. 47:01 They didn't receive the first son's blessing. 47:06 And literally, these sons are called the sons of concubines 47:09 which implies the status of both Keturah and Hagar. 47:13 So, to be sure, if they are or if they're not the same person, 47:16 that's really not the central point. 47:18 It doesn't really matter that much in the story. 47:20 Of course, these sons did end up becoming great nations, part of 47:24 the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, just as the fact 47:27 that, you know, God had promised that He would live up to a good 47:30 old age which he did. 47:33 But the lesson this week, it ends by saying, "In the end, the 47:35 Lord remained true to His promise of grace to His faithful 47:40 servant, Abraham, whose faith is depicted in Scripture as a great 47:43 example, if not the best example, in the Old Testament 47:46 of salvation by faith." 47:48 Friends, we are called daily to cut and to sever the connections 47:55 with this world and to live, like Abraham, by faith. 47:59 Now, that's beautifully--that's beautiful to say, and it's 48:03 harder done than it is said. 48:08 But the great hope that we see in the story is that Abraham, 48:11 after being called, after receiving the promise, 48:14 did everything go well for him? 48:15 Was everything perfect? 48:17 Did he never trip, never fail, never fall? 48:19 Was that Abraham's experience? 48:22 No, this was an extremely fallible man, 48:25 and yet the father of faith. 48:27 So that motivates me, that encourages me, to know that 48:30 while God calls me daily, "Luccas, sever the connections, 48:34 sever the ties, live by faith, stand in Me, I will provide," 48:40 I also do claim the promise of Micah chapter 8, verse 7--sorry, 48:46 7, verse 8, where he says, "Oh my enemy, do not laugh over me 48:51 because when I fall and when I abide in the darkness, 48:53 the Lord will be my light." 48:56 And we see that the Lord was Abraham's life--light in 48:58 multiple occasions and instances. 49:01 So know that God can do that for you. 49:04 Do not forget to take advantage of this free offer, 49:07 "The High Cost of the Cross." 49:09 We see that here in Abraham's story with Isaac on Mount 49:13 Moriah, we see that Abraham understood what that high cost 49:17 would be, and this little booklet, it will help us 49:22 understand a little bit more what the high cost 49:24 of the cross was. 49:26 So take advantage of it. 49:27 It's free. 49:29 If you want it, you can call the number, 866-788-3966, 49:32 and you can ask for the offer number 156. 49:35 If you are in continental North America, you could text SH080 49:41 to the number "40544." 49:43 If you're outside continental North America, you can go to 49:46 study.aftv.org/SH080 and you can get a digital download 49:52 and I'm sure that this will be a blessing for you and for 49:54 your family, and a blessing for you to give to your friends. 49:58 I'd like to invite you to bow your head and to pray with me 50:01 right now. 50:02 Dear Lord, thank You so much for Your love. 50:03 Thank You so much for Your grace. 50:05 Thank You for being the God that fulfills His promises. 50:07 Father, as we leave this place right now and we go out into our 50:11 everyday life, I ask You, Father, both for those that are 50:14 here today and those that are watching online and that will be 50:17 watching in the future, I ask You, Lord, to please reveal to 50:21 them that while You don't always make sense, You do always 50:24 fulfill Your promises. 50:25 I thank You for these things and I ask in the precious name of 50:27 Jesus, amen. 50:32 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 50:34 free resource. 50:36 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 50:38 you can download a digital copy straight to your computer 50:40 or mobile device. 50:42 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text 50:45 the keyword on your screen to 40544 or visit the web address 50:50 shown on your screen and be sure to select the digital download 50:53 option on the request page. 50:55 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 50:58 Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want. 51:02 And most important, to share it with others. 51:10 announcer: "Amazing Facts" Changed Lives. 51:13 ♪♪♪ 51:18 Jennifer: So as a teenager growing up, I was getting into 51:20 all sorts of trouble. 51:22 I was drinking, smoking. 51:25 I would look for love in all the wrong places. 51:28 I thought that those were ways that could make me happy 51:31 and it didn't. 51:32 It just made everything worse. 51:34 I was very confused. I didn't know who I was. 51:36 I had no identity whatsoever and just, I had such a hole in me, 51:41 such hurt, that I would do anything and everything 51:44 just to try to fill that void. 51:46 I was making a lot of bad decisions, a lot of bad choices. 51:50 I got pregnant when I was 19 years old 51:53 and I was a single mother. 51:55 And to try to prove to myself and the world that I can 51:57 make it on my own, I became an exotic dancer. 52:01 My mom, she started sending me links to Amazing Facts Ministry 52:04 just sermons and seminars and Bible studies and YouTube videos 52:10 with Doug Batchelor. 52:13 And I started watching it and beforehand I would delete them 52:15 but now here I am watching and I couldn't get enough of it. 52:18 My heart was on fire, I wanted more and more. 52:20 So instead of going to the club, I would go to the website, the 52:23 Amazing Facts website, and then I would go to the Bible studies 52:27 and I would go after one, study one, which would make me want to 52:31 study another one. 52:33 So I'd study another one and another one and I went through 52:35 the whole set and that wasn't enough for me. 52:38 I wanted more. 52:40 So I just--I would do it again. 52:41 I would read the whole set over again. 52:43 And I was learning so much and I just couldn't get enough of it. 52:45 And this made me where I didn't even want to go to work, I just 52:48 had this fire in my heart. 52:50 And then it got to where I was on the interstate to go to work 52:52 and I pulled over and God, He just--He told me, like, He's, 53:01 like, "Jennifer, we can't do this no--anymore." 53:04 And so I told Him, I said, "God, I know this is You. 53:07 I know that You're speaking to me right now." 53:10 And for the first time ever my eyes were opened to the whole 53:13 situation and how I was living my life. 53:16 And I went home and I got down on my knees 53:19 and I fell before God. 53:21 I started to beg Him, "God, please take me out of this 53:24 lifestyle and if You do, I promise You I will serve You 53:27 for the rest of my life." 53:29 And so, for the first time in my life I was healing and I was 53:32 learning and I was coming to a knowledge of the truth, and that 53:35 truth was Jesus Christ Himself and that He loved me. 53:39 So, as I'm going about these studies, Amazing Facts comes to 53:41 my local church and Pastor Wyatt Allen, he puts on this 53:47 evangelistic series and he makes a call for baptisms and I'm 53:53 impressed, you know, that I need to do this, and I want to make 53:57 this decision for Christ to rededicate my life to Him. 54:01 My life has been completely changed in so many ways, just 54:05 seeing where God has taken me on this journey where He took me 54:11 from this to this lost confused girl, to this woman He knows who 54:18 she is, her identity in Christ. 54:24 Jennifer: My name is Jennifer. 54:26 Thank you for changing my life. 54:29 ♪♪♪ 54:35 Dee: My parents got divorced when I was three or four, 54:38 and then I was basically unchurched most of my life. 54:41 I had a girlfriend in high school tell me that she had to 54:43 break up with me because I wasn't a Christian. 54:45 I thought, "That's weird. I believe in God. 54:46 Why would she say that?" 54:48 Not realizing I was living a horrible life with foul 54:49 language, was mean, and other stuff. 54:53 And that kind of challenged me initially. 54:55 And then my dad, 9/11 woke him up that he wasn't ready to meet 54:58 his Lord, though he was a man that I valued 55:01 and knew he loved me. 55:02 Didn't doubt that. 55:04 But he just knew he needed more so he started watching TV 55:05 ministries first, Baptist preachers and others, and he was 55:11 kind of intrigued by what he was learning. 55:13 And so when he turned me on to this, this television station, 55:16 first thing that I got access to was Doug Batchelor's "Most 55:19 Amazing Prophecy" series that he did in Berrien Springs, 55:21 Michigan. 55:23 And I remember when I first watched this, my background was 55:25 Baptist-ish, of sorts, but I remember when I first watched 55:28 this series, I remember thinking, "I've never heard that 55:32 before about the state of the dead or about the Sabbath or the 55:35 commandments or the Rapture," or other things. 55:38 And I remember thinking to myself, "I've never heard that 55:39 before but that's what the text says." 55:42 And that kept happening. 55:43 And I had this experience of just wondering, like, "Well, 55:46 what else have I believed that isn't as it is," you know? 55:49 And the more I watched, the more helpful it became, but again, he 55:53 kind of took a different perspective on the messages. 55:55 It was fresh to me but I just--these things I'd never 55:58 heard before and I just realized, like, there's so much 56:02 stuff in the Bible that no one's talking about and that people 56:05 need to know. 56:07 And so I ended up in this awkward situation that some of 56:09 my friends who didn't believe what I was coming to believe, I 56:13 didn't know how to communicate with them, and so one of the 56:15 things that helped me initially was the SabbathTruth.com 56:19 website, TheTruthAboutHell.com and TheTruthAboutDeath and some 56:24 of those resource websites that Amazing Facts had put together 56:26 that were just full of resources. 56:29 If I needed an answer to something that someone brought 56:32 up, there would be a 95% chance that Amazing Facts would have 56:36 something that I could use. 56:37 It makes witnessing even easier in that sense. 56:40 The Amazing Facts Prophecy Study Bible was my first real Bible 56:43 that I had of a more trusted translation. 56:46 The Bible Study Guides were in the back of it. 56:49 They had a lot of other resources that were helpful. 56:51 If you can hand a book to somebody and you can pick up a 56:53 phone and call Amazing Facts, you have everything you need. 56:56 And so I was just printing off stuff and handing it to people, 56:58 you know? 57:00 Like, "Here's what I'm coming to realize. 57:01 This is true. It's in the Bible." 57:02 And it was a huge blessing to me and a real help just to kind of 57:06 help me to better understand what the message was and 57:10 understand it for myself and have resources to put in the 57:12 hands of other people. 57:13 It was invaluable. Some time went by. 57:15 I eventually went to a school of evangelism and was baptized. 57:18 And then I had this amazing opportunity that after being in 57:22 ministry for about five or six years, Doug Batchelor was going 57:24 to be the main speaker at a youth event and I was actually 57:27 begin doing a seminar at this youth event. 57:29 And it was just this amazing kind of full circle experience 57:32 that the first person I came in contact with in Adventism, to 57:35 hear the message, to have it make sense, to be able to do 57:37 ministry together with him in whatever role possible, just 57:41 meant the world to me, and to be able to tell him my story and 57:44 tell him thank you was invaluable. 57:46 And so God just gave me a precious gift in affording that 57:50 opportunity and I'll never forget that. 57:52 Dee: My name is Dee. Thank you for changing my life. 57:55 ♪♪♪ 58:00 ♪♪♪ 58:10 ♪♪♪ 58:20 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2022-05-12