Welcome to Leeds Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, join us as we go live at 15:30hrs (UK) 10:30hrs (BST) for our Afternoon program. We hope you have a Blessed Day. Stay Safe and Stay Blessed.
Need a Prayer? https://linktr.ee/leedscentralsda
Stay up to date, follow us on:
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/leedscentralsda/
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/leedscentralsda/
Website
https://leedscentral.adventistchurch.org.uk/
[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] game is so that at the end of the day you will turn your feet back to who to God yes thank you very much okay all right let’s go first question the world or God who governs your decisions are my values based on scripture or worldly standards am I chasing worldly things more than I am chasing Godly things ask yourself that question and answer is it a b or you may say C but C is the same as B yes basically C is the same as B Because if it is me then it is not God either way okay obviously the ideal answer would be a uh that’s where we want to land but examine whether your decisions and the things you do in life are governed by God or they are governed by by me myself or the standards of the world out there second question second question are you constantly overcome by sin now there’s a whole list of sins there that are are written out and I’m sure you can read according to Galatians 5: 19-21 there adultery fornication uncleanness rudness idolatry sorcery hatred contentions jealousies outbursts of anger wroth um selfish Ambitions dissensions uh dissensions heresies Envy murders drunkenness revelries and all of them alike I can say for myself at times I do have outbursts um yes but uh yeah is it still a struggle out here or are you overcoming daily is it still a struggle or are you overcoming daily the solution the answer um hopefully we are overcoming daily hopefully there is some difference that you see like oh I I lied five times last week this week I only lied once you know I’m not saying that that should be the case but you know what I’m saying that there should be some sort of a thing that you see that oh I’m doing something differently I was struggling with this so much at first but now I’m doing it a little bit differently do you see anything that is different do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it sin should not be a master over you you should not be obeying sin okay Romans 6 verse2 are we still answering honestly Okay the third question which will be the last question for now do I love my neighbor and by neighbor I mean everyone do we understand that is that correct is your neighbor everyone yes everyone is your neighbor okay so do I love my neighbor do I love everyone or is it a yes or is it I I love some but not all or it’s a kind of case like well you don’t know my neighbor you’ve never met my neighbor so ideally we should be loving our neighbor we should be loving everyone you know um 1 John 4: 20 and 21 it reads if someone says I love God and hates his brother he is a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen how can he love God whom he has not seen and this commandment we have from him that he love he who loves God loves his brother also I know there are nuances of uh different things in the world you’d be like oh this person did that kind of thing you know there’s nuances but those nuances in Jesus Christ mean something else okay do I love my neighbor do I love everyone or am I selective like you know okay so the these are the only three questions that I have for now because of of time but I want to see by raise of hands how many of you participated thank you very much how many of you have the questions written down to think about later thank you thank thank you oh thank you so much I think I counted three hands let me go back okay because you need these questions to think about them again all right yes yes yes thank you I I really need your participation okay do I love my neighbor make sure you have that question written down to think about do I love my neighbor if you have your phone let’s take out our phones and type those down do I love my neighbor the other question is am I constantly being overcome by sin am I constantly being overcome by sin and the first question was are my decision based on what the world says or what God says who governs my life God or the world okay it’s important for us to have these questions to asks ask ourselves at a later time and if you have time maybe write down everything that you thinking about I had an experience this week God was telling me off about some stuff that I did and I was writing stuff down you know you’re doing your Bible study and you’re thinking oh no goody goody you know I’m cool I’m cool and then like you’re reading the verse and it’s like bam okay no you’re not like you need to rethink that moment where you’ve just been just think about that that and maybe go and apologize I get God tells me awful lot about um U when I when I don’t talk properly to my child because there’s there’s moments when I’m just like hey you winner but he’s like no that wasn’t necessary why are you doing that and then he comes back to me you know those outbursts of Wrath and he’s like that shouldn’t be happening so there’s moments that stuff like that happens and God has to speak to us and show us the right way show us how where to go so those questions think about them and write down spend time with God and speak to him about those things okay now hard level guys this is just going to be a game thing I don’t know whether it’s going to make sense to any of you but I wanted to say um when we do when we see when we when we evaluate and we see that maybe I am doing better let us be careful not to think that it is by our own power that we are doing well let us remember that it is by grace that we have been saved through faith it’s not by my own works that I should boast but it is only because of God okay um just as a reminder now how can I be like Christ how can I be more like him and be a Christian there’s so many answers out there but I just wanted to focus on Galatians chapter 2 verse 20 that’s the only one I wanted to focus on for now for this next couple of minutes I have been crucified with who who has been crucified here I who has been crucified I have been crucified with Christ but it is no longer who living it is no longer I who lives but who lives in me Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for who for me okay Galatians chap 2:s 20 dying to self we talk about dying to self a lot in the Christian Community and we say you have to die to self you have to die to self but at times we don’t quite understand what it means to die to self humility to accept that I am what I am sinful first understand that I am sinful the reason why why did Jesus have to die he died because of what sin and where who who are what are we we are sinful so he died because of sin so I must accept and be humble enough that I to know that I am sinful and understand what Christ had to go through and walk that Journey with him this morning the song was sung down the Via doosa and she said imagine in your mind’s eye walk with him in your imag think about it at times we skim through scripture and we’re like you know just reading through oh yeah yeah so this happened just for knowledge but if if you take the time to actually think about it read and Ponder on it it makes such a great big difference I didn’t know like I I was reading a bit of um Ellen White and I didn’t know that when um finally they let go of Jesus finally pilate said okay take him I didn’t know that like the Jews came rushing in and they were pulling him all sorts of directions that they almost tore him apart until the Roman soldiers came and they were like stop we’re going to take him I didn’t know that and I had to sit and was like in my mind let me think about it if I had been there what would I have been doing what would that sin have meant for me you know to see somebody who’s done nothing wrong and everyone is saying he has done nothing wrong but here he is he still has to go and die walk that Journey with him and be crucified with him walk that Journey with him and go there with him like a child okay and then the next thing to do is to relinquish self my own will I know this this is probably one of the most difficult things to do to relinquish what I want to do because I want to do it I’ve got to do it and I’ve got to do it my way it’s the most difficult thing to do but it is important for us to do it why because our will is what it’s selfish and sinful it is selfish and sinful so we have to let go of it relinquish it you know um I’ve noticed at times that like when um I’ll just give examples of when the or when when self is still raining in me it becomes a lot about like oh look what they did to me how dare you disrespect me who do they think they are oh my goodness look what they’re doing to me I’m now the victim of everybody all my days everything is about me somebody steps on your foot you’re like how dare you step on my foot do you know who I am huh somebody’s just walking past oh look at them look because apparently I’m better right oh look look at that person look at them oh how and they’re dress oh criticism contempt we have to be careful that self does not Reign and that’s why I was say giving the example of of of the uh when I was talking about a neighbor you’d be like you don’t know my neighbor you’ve never said with that person you think you can love that person never look at them that is when I am still in charge of my own life Jesus is not there is there any trace of Christ in there first Corinthians um 15:31 I Die daily I didn’t take the whole verse but the F that last part was very important to me I Die daily it’s not something that happens once off it’s a daily thing where I am dying to what I want and I’m looking only for what who wants Jesus Jesus okay so I just uh put some pictures up there like when I am in control of my life and I’m doing what I want at times it can feel great and I am fantastic and I’m just doing what I want and I’m doing things in my way and it is all me we can think it is great and the thing is it’s easy to deceive ourselves that we are doing the right thing because it’s easy to follow a set of principles it’s easy to follow a set of rules and then we say yeah I’m doing great you know I’m doing great God is pleased with me because I’m just following a set of rules but Christ is not living in me yeah but when we die to self and it is not about us anymore the humility that we have is second to none it’s like that of a child a new life in Christ that’s why I made that girl be reborn into a child into a baby because then and only then can God work in us when I am still yusa as I am he cannot do anything in fact he cannot live in me it’s impossible because there’s no space I have to let go of of this oh y I want this I’m you know everything me me me me me I have to let go of all of that it’s very sad the fact that um as Christians we miss out on blessings that God has in store for us and um they are lost because we have not allowed ourselves to experience his transformative power in our lives because we are still holding on to this is what I want and I’m going to have it no matter what this is me if only we could just let go and allow him every day ask him to live within us every single day in the morning when you wake up you say God I am asking you to take over right now let it be you before you make a decision God I am about to think about making this decision please give me what I need to do give me the words to say speak through me let’s go back and say the verse ver together again oh Galatians 2:20 I I I doesn’t seem to be clicking but Galatians 2:20 who has been crucified with Christ I have been what I have been crucified can we please say that a little bit louder with more conviction once again I have been crucified with Christ who lives in you now Christ lives in me now who is in control of your life now Christ the life that you are living now we can see you walking up and down but who is it that is walking inside of you Christ when they step on the feet of Christ what does he do forgive when they slap him what does he do do forgive one more time I have been crucified with Christ let’s say together I have been crucified with Christ who lives in me now Christ now let’s take a moment we’re just going to have a silent prayer each of us is going to ask the Lord Jesus to come into our lives and take over okay let us close our eyes and silently we pray father God in heaven we ask you to live within us we know that your holy spirit is here Jesus is here and we ask him to cover us as we relinquish ourselves to you and give control complete control to you we are crucified with Christ we do not govern our own lives anymore but you live in us and the life which we now live as others see us in the flesh we live only by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us in Jesus name we pray amen thank you all so much for participating that was good thank you so much much may God bless each and every one of you and I pray that you’ll begin to see his transforming power in your life afternoon Church CH I’m shaking please please pray for me please pray for me I want to say thank you sister Y for the subject that we’ have had and I had you keep on talking more on evaluation of ourselves and also one subject that you Ted which I think is so dearly to me is a subject of a neighbor uh not that I’m going back to you it’s just that you touched my sensitive area so thank you but if there is someone who has struggled with neighbors it can be a neighbor in the setting of the church or a neighbor at home I uh I found out that there is a verse actually which helps me to move from my comfort zone to where God want me to be in that aspect it’s in Proverbs 3: 29 it says can maybe we can read that one please please I’m not I have it open okay uh Proverbs chapter 3: 29 says do not devise evil against your neighbor for he dwells by you for safety sake should I read it again do not devise evil against your neighbor for he dwells by you for safe sake amen so our neighbors are there for our advantage according to the Bible some Bible says there are a wall of protection so if we dwell in peace with our neighbor then we are safe physically and spiritually so I I just thought I’ll share that one with you because we did really have a difficult neighbor some time but when we went to the Lord that neighbor became our support system so thank you but today um I’ve been pass to speak about and the importance of us as a church working together working as a Unity working as one body and I think the the the strength of faith is found in in First Corinthians chapter 12 where Paul speaks of the body because the body doesn’t the eye doesn’t go to the youth wall and the leg go to the Continental you know it just moves as a unity and this is the the calling that we have so because this is a and wanting to thank you that I’ve been given the opportunity to speak in the presence of my conference leader and my pastor and all the leaders it is humbling and I just want to say thank you for the leaders who have assigned me with that assignment then can we just pray please Our Father who at in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name father we thank you for you assign us with that we don’t even qualify to angry or understand but we because you love us anyhow please stand in this place that you may speak to your people and that you will move us from hearing these things day in and day out and do nothing but you will move us to be where you want us to be unto your honor and Glory shall we leave in Jesus name amen to be off here because I’ll just read some points which I have the importance of church working together as a unit for this to happen there must be a common cause or a common uh purpose or a calling or a common point of focus otherwise we’ll never go to that same point we never go together so we need to identify a common point where we all want to go and so to achieve all these things we need to have a vision a vision is the one that outlines where you want to to be after a certain period of time it is a stimulant of growth with no vision nothing will stimulate growth and as a church growth is not a choice I know sometimes we don’t understand and we talk it as a choice growth is not a choice but it is a mandatory thing that the Church of Christ should grow and this is found from The Inspired uh word of God the Bible Matthew 24:14 I’ll read from from my iPad but you can open your uh Bibles please and this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the End come so all means all and this is what each and every church member should be striving for to reach everyone with the gospel a vision should also have H measurable and achievable goals for it to be realistic otherwise if you set and measure something that you cannot measure and something that you cannot achieve then you set yourself for failure so is the same thing in Ministry with evangelism we must be strategic in everything that we do and we must have plans and we must have a time frame of achieving that goal and that Mandate of what we want to accomplish to fulfill our vision we must have a plan a plan comes with the um responsibilities and the delegation of who does what and when that thing ought to be accomplished if we don’t have the who does what then at the end of the day we will all run at the same time we will achieve nothing can I just pause and take you back to something that was not in my notes we all know that we have that that body there the cycle of evangelism if we follow that cycle of evangelism there’s no way where we are going to be doing something another department doing something that is not in there and if we follow that cycle of evangelism it just directs us what we ought to be doing at this time and where we are going and when we want to achieve the Harvest which is the goal of increasing the kingdom of God that I thought I would just bring that one thank you and for us to have these roles and responsibilities these will give rise to a project when you have a project it will have a time of start and EAS course of period and when it ends and when it ends then you can sit down and look at your your what you have achieved what you have achieved have I managed to achieve achieved it this is called actually evaluation I know some of us every day at work we have to evaluate evaluate so if we don’t have a project and we don’t have responsibilities and we don’t have the assigned particular entities to achieve those things then we will never evaluate because we will never get anywhere we will never get anything done but if we things as a body we will sit down and evaluate and look and say what fails what could we have done better then as a body we will move forward when we we work as a body we all must own the project because it’s our project so sometimes I hear aot of please support personal Ministries support women Ministries no department needs support I’m sorry no department needs support we all need to be engaged in the work of the Lord if the women’s Ministries are doing the work of the Lord ask yourself how do I fit in that part how do I I do my part as a part of the body never think of you supporting because no one needs support here there is no spectator it’s only in the football match where people go and have supporters I support this team at the end of the day they fight anyhow because one team will win and one team will lose so as a church the mind of supporting a certain department is ungodly if I may be as blunt as I should be because those Department that we don’t support they will die and that’s not the spirit of Christ and that’s the spirit of the body because in my body when my eye is sick the whole body goes to see the doctor anyhow so yeah and then so another point also I wanted to uh say it also remove you know there are some people that will miss the kingdom because they are doing so well as individual and when they are doing so well as individual sometimes I know it doesn’t happen much maybe but sometimes you get a lot of people putting that so much emphasis on that person and that person becomes the the object of glory and that person also they can identify that and when they identify that is out of the picture because God will not receive the glory but they will so working as a body eliminates this this thing that can stand out to say this department has done well and if we say this department has done well the next thing is who was the leader of that department and that leader of that department may miss the Kingdom of Heaven because we as a church we have not been faithful Steward to work together as one and to protect that person so it may seem to be good for that department to do well but really we are not being faithful stward because some people can miss the kingdom and if we are each other’s we are our neighbors that kind of a thing when we work as a unit nothing of that sort will happen I think also for the Departments to work together we have the health export tomorrow if you have not been thinking of of coming tomorrow ask yourself what is involved in the health Expo what can I do in the health Expo to make this project a a success and after the health Expo ask yourself what is needed doing to look after the people that will come how can I get involved to make this thing a success at the end of the day is not a departmental program it’s a church program th we are working as a Unity we are working as a body we are achieving the same goals and at the end of it when we are sitting down to evaluate sometimes is painful because when we are evaluating how how the didn’t go well because we have not been uh putting ourself in the culture of owning the project when we are bringing points of evaluation it feel like we are criticizing somebody and yet when you run a company successful companies they say a complaint or a thing from the public anyway we don’t here H if you bring something that seeming like a complaint you have to say thank you because it’s an opportunity for growth for the company to see that they are doing well they have to get a feedback so when we are sitting as a body and we are evaluating where we went wrong we’re not evaluating the departmental leader or the department itself but we are saying our project would have done well if we have done this then no one feels the pain of being criticized because it’s like as sister talking about we look ourself as a people and say what can I do better I think because of time I have I would say thank you for taking the time to listen but I’m praying that we we don’t take the comfort and the the the grace to sit and listen to all these things and we don’t plan as a leaders because really this weight is on the leaders members will follow leaders so when you have been given an opportunity to lead let us be in [Music] agreement because when we are we are not in in agreement we are e we are sinners we are prone to P things down because we are not in that Vision but when we are in this Unity we don’t pull down but we lift and when we lift Christ all men will be drawn closer to him and our man and our sole reason for existence as Matthew 24 says all men have to be drawn to to Christ this includes my neighbor and my neighbor at home and they takes one body to achieve that thank you amen for your time thank and Cara asked me I didn’t I was in the middle of marking and I forgot and then she reminded me on Wednesday and has what I do in Academia research and so what I’m saying is not for me but it’s a lady who preached in the Adventist Church in the US but I felt it would answer the question you asked me to answer and they said the Power of a Praying church but I call it the power of praying in a Praying church now the thing is most of us when we ask ourselves we say why do we pray but I want to start from 2R Chronicles 7: 14 and 16 to 16 If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face not my face God’s face and turn from their Wicked Ways then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land we normally stop there verse 15 said now my eyes God is still speaking will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer made in this place verse 16 for now I have chosen and sanctify this house the house is the church the church are the people that my name may be there forever and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetu now most of the time when we ask why do we pray we say we pray because it’s the right thing to do am I right but really prayer should become a breath of life just like how we breathe we should see prayer like breathing I can never live without breathing and if the children of God start taking prayer like breathing you will see much prayer much power now I want to look at a A can you give me the four principles of a Praying Church a I will keep it on that slide the principles of a Praying church as we come together as God’s people to pray it create what we call a sense of unity among us as Believers sorry my computer I’m going okay you saying one thing I’m saying so many things sorry okay so it create a sense of unity in the body of Christ it also create alignment in seeking God’s Guardians and wisdom um sis Sam was talking about working together the pr the personal Ministry goal is to bring the various departments together to work in Oneness okay so prayer can solve that problem it create alignment in seeking God guance and wisdom it also create a deep sense of community and shared connection with God and it amplifies the impact of individual prayers and I’m going to use a simple um story because we have just 10 minutes and I will not read the whole thing but it’s from acts chap 12 verse 5 to to 12 acts chap 12 5 to2 we are all Adventist here it’s one when um King uh agria Herod gripper he had already killed James are we together and he now and it looked like a pleas the Jews and the people so he went after Peter can you remember the story so he went after Peter but now in Put Peter in prison but his intention was after the Passover it was not the first Pentecost but after the um Passover he was now going to kill bring PE into judgment and persecute him and kill him also so he put Peter between what two prisoners tie handcuff no tie chain and everything but the Bible said in uh uh um acts 12 5-12 in verse 5 it said that the children of God gathered together to pray for Peter Ellen G white said if the children of God have prayed for Paul the way they pray for Peter Paul would not have been persecuted killed but they gathered together in one room to what pray for Peter and the rest of the story while they were praying for Peter Peter instead of being miserable in the prison he was fast asleep enjoying himself you know when the children of God come together to pray in unity it bring peace in the hearts of the children of God the person person who having the issues the program that we have to do we will find inner peace as she said it wouldn’t be the glory of the department head it will become peaceful I if I’m The Prayer Ministry I will be peaceful because the Church of God is praying for the ministry okay so it find peace and he was fast asleep when the angel touched him and said he had to even tap him and the chains fell up and he went pass another set of prisoners and then he when they were getting to the door the Geor just open and he thought he was in a dream am I right and when he came out the angel left him and that’s when he realized he was not in a vision okay so what are the three the four principles how does the four principle relate to this story okay so we say in verse five the church came together and was praying the church had one Accord one purpose was to what pray okay and they were praying favant and earnestly but in the process of praying that’s what prayers does remember we’re talking about the Power of a Praying church and as they pray together God always bring us into alignment as people pray and intercede you’ll see that you start your prayers will come into Oneness and the prayer because when they went to pray they pray they were praying first out of desperation and then all of a sudden they came into what we call an alignment it create alignment in seeking God’s Guardians and wisdom because that alignment is Guided by the Holy Spirit and then the people started saying God please deliver Peter we are asking you to deliver Peter you with me God Only God Can Tell and direct our prayers to the outcome for which he want us to pray for if not we say if it’s your will if you want to are we together that is not biblical by the way okay except in certain situation but when we start praying at the same time and we come together has one voice in God the spirit of God will guide us to what we should what how our prayers should be in line alignment that’s when the power of God start taking place and they start focusing and saying God deliver Peter deliver Peter and what next happened in the process of focusing on saying deliver Peter they move to the next stage it create Community okay and connection with God because all everybody Focus was on deliver Peter and so the church create that deep sense of community and connection they connect because we are now in alignment with the purpose for which God is asking us to intercede for okay so there is something powerful about prayer a church without prayer it’s like a a a business meeting it’s like a a a worldly activity we do not come here because it’s a social club we come here because we believe in a God who is spiritual and he’s the one who direct the church into the direction in which he want to fulfill he has his own agenda and we have to come into alignment and the only way we come into alignment until we are interceding in unity prayer is powerful as an individual but more power comes from when the body of Christ come together to pray okay and so in that process what happened by the time you got to verse 12 of Acts um uh uh 12 it’s said that when Peter realized that what he was not sleeping he was free where did he go he went to where they were praying now imagine if this church lead Central Baston new generation and leads West and even new generation are we together imagine when we when the community when we come together as the body of Christ praying and people people are coming to ask us to pray for them what power would we stand in this community because there were realize that that’s where God answered prayers are we together okay and so therefore when they were praying Peter went straight got delivered and you went straight to the church to the I mean to the home and when he got there what happened the people didn’t even believe when people when Peter entered the people didn’t even believe believe it they were praying but they didn’t believe it now the interesting thing is remember the last part it amplify amplifies the what the impact of individual prayers they themselves were shocked and what did it do to them it told them that their God answers prayers oh God I’m going backwards sorry I need my last sheet sorry I’m almost there okay so the Bible said when the door opened the church was amazed at saying Peter so when we build a sense of community come into Oneness with God and God align our prayer we will see exponential amplification of his power the children of God who pray need to experience the power of God and we are living in the last days it’s a spiritual stage in which we live but we do not want to lean against the spirit we want to lean towards the spiritual satanic one we want to lead to the infilling of the Holy Spirit to manifest the power of God in us with us and through us okay and so we now start experiencing saying wow remember when all of us came to pray and how God answer our prayers even the prayer we have not asked for when praying for one person and all of us join we go home and God solve the problem of our issues of our children of our loved ones because we were interceding when God is answering one person prayer and we all join together God fulfill the answers of other prayers that we have not even spoken of in public so if we want power we have to come into unism we have to create that sense of Unity among the children of God we have to create an alignment in seeking God Guardians and wisdom we have to create a deep sense of community and shared connection with God and let us wait and see it will amplify our individual desire and prayers that we have lifted up to God in our closet but when we come together as the body of Christ the the spirit of God will solve the problems of according to God’s purpose and his will may God bless us thank you for the previous presenters if there is an instruction that I got examine yourself and and come into Unity with the body that’s the instruction I’ve got from the ladies now I going to take a PA with a special item and followed by two songs from the praise team after which Pastor bran will take over it’s me again before I sing can we all sing something together can we sing Love Lifted Me yeah before I sing because I think we’ve been set for a bit so I just want you to stand [Music] El [Music] thank you all so much you all be saying Ys are so bossy she made us do things made us stand up in church thank you two [Music] the theme of the Bible is [Music] Jesus and how he died to save many The Plan of Salvation assures us he’s coming by [Music] again are you ready for Jesus to come are you Faithful in all that you do have you fought a good fight have you stood for the right have others seen Jesus in you are you ready to stand in your [Music] place are you ready to look in his face can you look up and [Music] say this is my Lord are you ready for Jesus to [Music] come don’t cl to the world it’s [Music] trees this Earth will soon pass away oh give him your heart without meure his calling to [Music] are you ready for Jesus to come are you ready to look faithful in all that you do have you fought a good f have you stood for the right sing Jesus in you are you ready to stand in your place are you ready to look in him his face will you look up and say this is my [Music] love are you ready for Jesus are you ready for Jesus is ready for [Music] Jesus are you ready are you ready are you ready for Jesus to what can we say once again are you ready for Jesus to come um the song that we’re going to sing is 625 625 Higher Ground 625 can I hear all the parts please now it’s the ten voice that’s stting I’m pressing on the upward Way new Hearts I’m gaining every day still praying as I Lord plant my feet on High Ground Lord LIF me high and I shall stand by faith on heav table a higher I have found Lord plant my feet on higher ground my heart has Noire to stay without s May [Music] my pray my is High Ground lift me up and I shall stand by faith on table land a higher that I have found Lord BL my feet [Music] ground to live above the [Music] world me I for faith has the joyful sound the S of s on High Ground Lord leave me and I shall stand by faith on heav table land a higher I have found Lord plant my feet on high Lord lift me up high and I shall by faith onen table I have my feet on High Ground amen our last song is Blessed assurance Jesus Is Mine 462 [Music] blessed assur Jesus is M oh what T of Glory Divine Hair of Salvation P of God born of his spirit in his this is my story my story this is my song praising my all day day long this is my story my story this is my song praising my saor all the day long perfect submiss perfect in love visions of now on my sight Angels descending bring from [Music] above of Mery Whispers of my story this is my story this is my song praising my all that day long this is my song and this is my S praising my all the day long Perfect submiss all is address I am myor am happy and blessed watching and waiting looking above filled with his goodness lost in his love this is my St my this is my song praising all that long this is my St my story this is my S praising myor all the day this is my story my story this is my song praising myor all the day long this is my story this is my [Music] song praising myor oh the you better you you better switch your own Pastor yes that’s it yes amen that’s why you have a media team and that’s why you have somebody who’s not in charge of media Team all right amen well time is running away from us and I promise not to keep you here too long um but I just want to commend once again those who have shakingly but very effectively stood before you today um it was a good reminder uh I would probably put it you know we need to start with a personal commitment the first presentation we had in terms of where where we are with God assess our lives and then look at um the way we uh we work together as a body of Christ amen so that was the third presentation second presentation thank you somebody is awake tonight um and then um we had the presentation the second presentation was was about the Strategic plan wasn’t it about how how we work together and the power of prayer the power of prayer that was the last presentation um so all three are interrelated and you know it’s it’s so easy to to become a family of God um you know they say that you should always pick the lwh hanging fruits um and in order to recognize how uh how God can be celebrated through each and every one of us we need to acknowledge what has happened here today have we had good food you’ve been fed today amen so I don’t know if this church likes to clap or if it’s a sin to clapping church is it a sin to clapping judge no all right so can we put our hands together for those who have cooked yeah I mean I got to hear that some people were here until 11 12:00 sometimes um just to make sure that the onions were cut uh what about media team do you think media team deserves the clap every single time we come to church we we we we brush by them and and we say hey well done but I think they need a warm embrace amen I mean look he’s he’s smiling he’s good you know what about the musicians The Pianist and the praise team you know I guess what I’m trying to say is that this family works not just because you have a pastor or because you have Elders who are uh well trained but because everyone stands up and does what God has called them to do and if you celebrate that if you celebrate what God is able to do for each and every one of you you become a family um you know one of the things that we tend to forget is that on the day of Pentecost when they were all up in one Accord it wasn’t just the 12 disciples you know that it was over a hundred men and women who were in The Upper Room hiding away um but the Holy Spirit came and that’s how it came to be um I was asked to talk about Delight in the word of the Lord and uh because we started with Parables this morning uh if you if you read George Knight um I’m sure you’ve heard of George Knight yes George Knight says that when Jesus began to be pursued by the Pharisees and he was attacked and they were starting to read everything that he was saying he switched his uh his style of preaching to Parables because stories can have a well obviously they have a powerful message but also nobody can can uh can really attack you for telling a story all right um by the way one of the things that uh we did say we’re going to do and as a family you need to learn to do this even more often you have someone among yourselves who is turned shall I say it who’s celebrating his birthday today um where is he you’re here I’m looking at you would you mind standing up do you know he was his birthday today you didn’t know it was his birthday today what sort of a family are you all right and it’s you’re not from here but you’re from biston church yes but what about the members in biston yes you knew it was his birthday yes all right he’s actually turning 50 so can we put our hands together and did I get that right is it 50 yes I didn’t want you to be too young that’s all all right can we have a word of prayer for our Elder Pastor very quick prayer would you mind coming up um and if you and if if you love your Elder at the end you’ll say a hearty amen amen shall we pray father thank you thank you for this wonderful opportunity to be here in your temple and father what a wonderful and special gift the gift of life father and our Elder Moses is here being a testimony of this special event father please extend your grace on him and and give many many many more ears that he continue be a blessing in in his church in the district and anyone who knows him know that he presents the great God of Israel father please be with us bless my Elder and his ministry ask in Jesus name amen amen thank you so much amen pastor so I was saying earlier that um in order to Delight in the word of God we need to understand the word of God Amen um this morning Jesus spoke a parable but it was addressed to his disciples you remember what we said it was in chapter 19 that we discovered they they came to me and said hey uh we’ve left all these things what what what are we going to get well I want to take you since we are going to Delight in the word of God I want to take you to one of the most preached par uh past passages in the scriptures uh and that is Luke 15 have you heard of Luke 15 what’s happening in Luke 15 there’s three parables in Luke 15 that have been preached over and over and over and over um I’m not saying I discover this but I’m saying that sometimes we we can just miss that is which is before our eyes there’s three things that are happening in Luke 15 and that is there is a lost yes lost sheep but there are before we get to the lost sheep just let me say this there are there is um there are three things happening again lost found and that is the last one is rejoicing okay in all three Parables there is a lost there is a found and there is a rejoicing now let me ask you this question and you need to be honest with me have you ever felt offended by God okay Emily’s brave enough to put a hand up have you ever in your life of a Christian felt that God has offended you it’s a it’s a very strong word isn’t it to be offended by God I mean who are we to challenge god well can I can I point out to you that this is what’s happening in Luke chapter 15 in order for us to understand what’s going on with this free Parables that Jesus is saying look to whom he’s saying to Luke 15 verse1 says then all the tax collectors and the Sinners Drew near to him to hear Jesus by now Jesus was um his popularity has grown but not not just because he was performing Miracles but because he was he was showing kindness to those that the society at that time was marginalizing do we have people in the 21st century that we don’t want to get close to we may be some of those people that’s why we don’t know and look what’s happening and the Pharisees and the scribes complained I have this word underlined saying this man receives Sinners and eats with them what was wrong with that you see from a from a theological point of view you should not associate or you should not mingle with sin and let me be frank with you I know this is recorded but sometimes we do we have the same behavior in the church it may not happen here but I know it’s happening somewhere where because a certain person has done something and they have committed sin we just feel like we need to shut them out you don’t belong here anymore really isn’t the church a place for all sinners in fact Paul says clearly we all sin and come short of the glory of God but yet like in the first century ad even in the 21st century ad we have Christians I.E sometimes even Adventists who believe that the kingdom of God only belongs to us let us never fall into the Trap of the Pharisees Jesus was not accepting the sin hello somebody he was embracing The Sinner for that’s why he came so as they were anointed you know the the FES and the scribes complained they were annoyed why because this man is fellowshipping he eating with them we had one or two people who came and join us over lunch did you notice that how many of you did fellowship with him anyway I’m parking that there and then he begins to explain why he means or what what the kingdom of God is like through these Parables the first one is what the lost sheep so I asked you the question have you ever been offended by God probably not until we try to explain to you what this Parable actually stands for because Jesus says you my dear sister are a sheep I am a sheep All God’s Children our sheep uh we we had the privilege to be in Welles for 5 years and in Welles you have I think it’s uh uh oh I forgot now I think it’s 7 something million sheep to 3 million people there’s a lot of sheep in Wales but did you know I’m I’m sure you probably found out that sheep are ranked the lowest when it comes to IQ in the animal kingdom and you are a sheep sheep are so dumb that they would follow each other into yeah it takes a shepherd and a dog to keep them safe and you are a sheep I am a sheep All God’s Children are sheep Jesus says and the man had 99 sheep left them I want to read the scripture but time is is going um do you believe me okay what does the Bible say is that he left them in the wilderness going to look for the one young people does it make sense from a business perspective would you leave 99 uh sheep or 99 things that you have secure in your hand leave them in the wilderness to go and look after something that you don’t even know if you’re going to find does it make sense doesn’t make sense so Jesus is I can actually see the Pharisees starting to pull their hairs out and saying a this Jesus doesn’t make any sense how would you do that I mean uh any any of us would say you know what one sheep yes we love that sheep but at least we have 99 the danger is you go after the one that is lost and the other 99 because their sheep are gone astray but not in the kingdom of God because for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever being that even one sheep believes in him they should not perish but have everlasting life we keep saying it but we don’t believe it if it was only one young person if it was only one child if it was only one person Jesus would have still died Jesus would have still left heaven and come for that one person what do we do in church I mean I have the privilege of of now being the the bookkeeper for the north England conference it’s a it’s a tedious task and I you need to pray for the church Clarks who are in your churches cuz it’s not easy acms and now the treasures as well but when was the last time we actually thought to see where are the 100 sheep in our congregations you do we know each other by name when one is missing are we going looking for it we we should but I hear time and time again stories where in fact let me give you a statistics which is not new anymore I mean it’s for a number of years the 7even Day Adventist Church has lost nearly half of its membership in the past 10 years because people leave the church 46% of those who are baptized in the church leave the church in the first 10 years you know why not because they don’t believe in the doctrine of the 7day Adventist Church is because they don’t find the family that they were looking for in the church can you imagine we could have been 30 something million 7day Adventists around the world and if this 30 million pray just like sister Emily said imagine the impact but I guess we’re too comfortable the Lost what does he do he goes in finds it and after he finds it he put it on his shoulder and then what what does he do the Bible says he goes and he calls his friends and he says Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost I say to you that likewise there there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents these are the words of Jesus than over 99 just persons who need no repentance I want to commend I mean obviously we know on the 5th of May this church Witnesses witnessed uh 22 Souls giving their life to Christ are they here today are they here today where are the 99 okay well done praise God praise God where are the other 21 the Bible tells us that if you want to know what makes God happy this is what makes God happy I mean our singing is good don’t get me wrong our prayers are good but the Bible tells us clearly that there is much joy in heaven when one sinner repents than 99 people who perform their duties Faithfully are you offended let me offend you even more says Jesus the parable of the lost sheep why is this offendable well first of all women in those days were never the center of attention they were never the center of a story and yet Jesus says a woman woman having 10 silver coins um loses one starts to clean up the house you know you never you never go for a cleaning spring until you lose something don’t you where are my car keys yeah in your hand um and what does she do exactly the same thing Rejoice with me for I found the peace which I lost likewise again Jesus says there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents last but not least because time is going against us the parable of the lost son how many of you know this Parable I don’t believe you you know this Parable actually has the long title many say it’s it’s not the lost son is the loving father I would say the parable of the lost Sons you see this parable begin exactly like the other this time we’re not talking about a sheep we’re talking about a human being one son the younger son who says something that is is quite offensive young people if you ever decide to do this to your parents change your mind father give me the portion of goods that falls to me in other words can I have my inheritance now do you know when you give inheritance a death in other words if I’m keep using this expression you don’t mean anything to me all you are to me is just a paycheck give me what it’s worth oh give me what it’s mine and I don’t care about you you can die as far as I’m concerned the next day that’s the behavior that the son the youngest son had towards his father you know the story very well what you may not discover is that when he comes back to his senses in verse 7 he begins to rehearse what am I doing here eating with the pigs there is much more food in my father’s house if I was just to be a servant then I would live better so as he comes back to his senses he comes home and the Bible says that as he was a long way off who spotted him his father his father do you know how offensive this story would have been to the Pharisees and the scribes I mean first of all a Jewish boy will never hang around pigs never but for a Jewish father to run towards his son who denied him it’s even worse I mean we love our children but in that particular society if you you know you’re not my son anymore and yet what does the father do he runs towards him and you can read in the story we don’t have the time now the son begins to to uh to recite his his speech but it’s interesting because the father actually stops him halfway through he doesn’t even allow him to say can I be your servant he says he says um but the father said to his servants verse 22 bring out the best robe and put it on him and put the ring on his hand and sandals on his feet you know if you if you start to make an exeresis on this text you realize that the Rob me’s um um you know protection restore him take away um people don’t need to look at what he looks like anymore ring is a is a sign of authority and sandals it was only the slaves that were Barefoot so the father without even even listening to what his son has to say wants to restore him to his right place and then he says bring the fattest CF let us have a barbecue I mean who doesn’t like a barbecue amen yes after Sabbath hours that is wouldn’t it be nice if the story was to end here but it doesn’t because as they were lost found rejoicing the oldest son comes home from work in other words he comes home from church and he hears there is rejoicing and he doesn’t even dare going into the house he asked one of the slave what’s going on your brother is home oh that guy have you noticed that the son never dared to go into the house to see his brother it is the father who comes out the house to meet his older brother as well let me read it for you because we’re going to finish here verse 28 but he was angry talking about the oldest son uh and would not go in therefore his father came out and pleaded with him but as soon as the son um I’m I’m jumping to verse 30 but as soon as this son of yours this is the argument that that the oldest son puts forward he says he he spent all this money he spent he spent our wealth he’s he’s brought shame to you he’s done all this into the world and verse 30 but as soon as the son of yours has come has he devoured your livelihood with harlots um you killed the F’s cuff for him and look what the father says and he said to him son you are always with me and all that I have is yours it was right that we should make marry and be glad for your brother was what dead and is alive again and was lost and it is found if you were to apply this to our church who is the father who is the youngest son and who is the older brother you know I’m going to I’m going to leave you with a bomb shelf this is not written in the Bible so don’t go preaching about this next week however some say that this story ends tragically in that the older brother killed his younger brother how do we know this the Pharisees found it okay to kill the only begotten Son of God and we have the story of the it’s actually another Parable that Jesus says where he sent this servants he sent the first one he said the second one and when he sent he said let me rationalize with this and I’m going to send my only son surely they won’t do anything to him and what did they do they killed him God forbid that this church would have written on it 7day Adventist Church and yet people come here to be killed God forbid what makes God happy seeing Sinners repent and come back to the fold but in order to help them come back to the fold it is our responsibility to welcome them and embrace them we all have skeletons in the closet stop judging we all done bad things only God knows what we’ve done we’ve matured and others probably need to be matured but in that process let’s not shine them away let’s not kick them out of the church because they’re not perfect this church will never be perfect if you don’t believe me that’s fine suei this church will not be perfect until Jesus comes why because we are part of it and despite of how this church is God says this church is the apple of his eye believe believe that the word of God is true you misspelled my name wrong anyway um my name is sped 1 M sorry um but in order to leave that word in order for the word to become alive you need to understand what you believe in do it by prayer do it by becoming one body in Christ by constantly reassessing your life and saying am I right with God am I doing the right things and in that process God will be able to do great things it’s been a pleasure for myself and my wife to be part of your day of Fellowship thank you Pastor and thank you to each and every one of you uh we look forward to see you again one day soon God bless you what the church have to say Amen have you been blessed today I’ve been blessed today I I share with Pastor BR that uh since I came to leads W leads West Le Central and beon I put a few pounds look at me so was a blessed Sabbath amen amen I would like to thank those who contribute and help us in this process uh the the ones who spend uh until stay in church until I think help us 11 12:00 yesterday help with the food so thank you Chef uh thank you Men’s Ministry leader that was a beautiful thing and um I could not forget my sister Carol she been instrumental uh with the details of this program so my sister Carol thank you very much for your dedication into sabath school but um I believe that is something special for pastor Brun and my sister camia please come in front come here don’t be shy don’t be shy on behalf of leads Central on behalf of beaston and on behalf of Leeds West we have just a little gift token of appreciation for your presence uh we are delighted for you both to be here with us thank you for coming uh may God continue to bless your life in your ministry um the flowers is for your wife sorry Pastor the flowers is Foria oh thank you so much thank you you this is the most welcoming District I have ever ever been in my last 21 years in the UK because we do travel a lot I don’t know if anybody else is listening we do appreciate it we’re not expecting anything but we do remember last time we visit in biston church and we were again delighted with a wonderful uh flower arrangement which lasted forever and we really appreciate it you didn’t have to but we we’re grateful thank you so much everyone thank you my wife said it all we are overwhelmed by your generosity um this is our ministry you don’t have to but we know it comes from the heart and thank you so much again we will cherish this until kingdom come thank you thank you my lovely church just for us before my my Elder James come to do our final prayer uh there is one thing that we I have to remember and remind the church a special event a that is one a special event next Sunday okay can you see on your left on your your right this is I don’t think I’m I’m I’m I’m I’m no doing Justice for the ladies tea event but I I’ll do my best uh this is a special event next uh Sunday so please ladies if you want to be if you want to see something amazing prepared for you if you saw the event last year you know what’s good so you are all invited for next Sunday the special women’s day tea and so on and activity however you need to give your name and tell that you’re going to be present so please contact the women’s ministry leader also oh sister Faith but remember we need your names yesterday okay as soon as possible in order for us to organize the event have you been blessed today do we have a song messaging okay okay so we’re going to have a a song to close and my Elder James going to close the word of prayer and um shall we all rise for closing himy we are going to make use of song number 338 redeemed how I love to Proclaim it [Music] 633 when we all get to heaven [Music] [Music] sing the wonderous love of Jesus sing his mercy and his grace in their manions bright and bless he’ll prare for us a BL when we all get to heaven but a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus we sing and shout the victory while we walk the pilg pathway clouds will over spread the sky but when traveling days are over lord The Shadow Lord when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus we will sing and shout the victory let us and be true and faithful trusting serving every day just one glimpse of him in glory will the toes of Life rep when we all get to heav What a Day of rejoicing that will be when we all seeing Jesus Will Sing and Shout the victory onward to the priz before us soon his Beauty will be hold soon the P Gates will open we shall tread the street of God when we all get to him what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus Will Sing and Shout the victory when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus we will sing and shall the [Music] victory let us pray Our God and our father in Heaven how excellent is thy name in all the Earth we’re so thankful oh God that you have been with us throughout the hours of this sabbath thus far and we are so grateful and thankful for the blessings to which you have granted unto us Lord we have been informed we have been taught we know Lord that you are coming soon but we are grateful for the reminder of that hope in Jesus Christ we know Lord that the enemy is seeking to devour on all sides on all fronts but you have given Our Hope towards to us all that we will not be fainted that we will not be fearful but that we will have faith in you because your promises are sure father today we are reminded that we are we ought to be grounded in the word of God even in these difficult and challenging times we want you oh God to lead Our Lives as we live from day to day Lord we come together and then we leave and then we come back again next Sabbath and it sometimes seem to be repetitious I pray oh Lord that today what we’ve been taught may it sink deeply in our hearts such as never before we will make sense of it dear father that our Redemption draw it night we think about the wars that are happening around us the many lives that are lost there are many around us who love to know who Jesus Christ is dear Lord open our eyes open our understanding direct us in the path Lord where we will be able to teach and show others the way that leads to life father there’s so much more we can ask of you today but we just want to say thank you for everything may you give us that Faith as we go forth separate one from the other may we be strong in the Lord and keep us United oh Father may we continue to pray together collectively Lord for the purpose to which you have called us I just want to ask ask you father to bless Pastor bran Lord and his ministry and his wife continue to lead them and Lord I pray that the ministry may be effective for you with this ministry in leads may it Blossom such as never before when all is said and done oh Father we look forward for the New Jerusalem where we can all dwell with you forever and forever I pray Lord that none of us here with our families May missed out on that Grand Day in heaven but bless us now until then I pray in Jesus name amen amen [Music] [Music]