Eric Walsh

Eden Valley SDA Church

The Prayer Shift For 2026

It's always wonderful to be in the house of God on this, his holy Sabbath day.

It's a life is chaotic and if you just watch the news your blood pressure will go up.

So it is always good to pull away and turn off the world and focus on eternity.

And that is 1 of the things I love about the Sabbath.

There is no relationship that grows without time.

A mother will never know her child if she does not spend time nurturing her child.

The father will not know his children if he does not spend time with his children.

Husband and wife will never get along or never know each other if they don't spend time together.

So God before sin ever entered the world, set aside time for us to spend with him.

It is a statement of relationship with God.

And so I was going to preach something else, but after this week, you know, as I've been wrestling with things this week, God brought this to me.

Our scripture reading as was just read so wonderfully by our president here, 2 Timothy 1, 7 says, for god has not given us the spirit of fear But of power and of love and of a sound mind Our message today is entitled the prayer shift for 2026 the prayer shift for 26 let's pray father God we thank you for this opportunity to study your word and I asked once again Lord that you just make me a nail on the wall a rusty nail Lord But upon that nail I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ Let Eric Walsh not be seen or heard today Lord We need to hear a word from You.

And Lord, we ask this in the precious and holy name of Jesus.

We start after 10 plagues have hit the great ancient kingdom and empire of Egypt.

There was really nothing like Egypt and probably never will be again.

Even today they cannot figure out how the pyramids were built with such incredible precision aligned perfectly with certain stars and on certain sides so that when the sun would strike certain points in the year, things would happen.

The Egyptians were a superior civilization in architecture, in mathematics, and science, even medicine.

We often quote Hippocrates, but you fail if you do not go further back to a man named Imhotep, who long before Hippocrates actually was coming up with many of the things that we use even today in natural remedies.

The Egyptians did not serve the God of heaven.

They enslaved the people of God for hundreds of years.

And when God finally decided that he was going to set his people free, he sent a man named Moses.

At 40 years old Moses was in line to either be a Pharaoh in the future of Egypt, or at least a great general in Egypt, but instead he knew by his upbringing by his mother, a miraculous upbringing, that he was going to liberate the children of Israel.

And so instead of waiting for God to show him how to do it, Moses was a gangster.

He took a man straight out, killed a man, and had to flee and run after 40 years of training in Egypt.

He spent the next 40 years watching sheep.

And I want to submit to you that the education he got with the sheep was more important than the education he got in Egypt.

He unlearned a lot of what he learned and learned to rely on God so that he becomes a Bible hero at the ripe young age of 80 years old.

Don't tell me it's too late for you to start doing something for God.

But Moses had the struggle of dealing with the children of Israel, the people of God.

And when Moses goes to set the people free, there are trials and problems.

Finally, even Pharaoh's own son is taken out and he tells them, get out of Egypt.

So powerful is this exodus that when they are leaving, the Egyptians hand over their riches.

As the children of Israel begin to walk, they celebrate, but it doesn't last long.

The children of Israel cannot learn the lesson of the miracles God has already done for them.

So Exodus 14 in verse 10 the Bible says, And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them.

And they were sore afraid, And the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord.

God had already smote Egypt with 10 plagues.

Each plague represented 1 of the Egyptians gods so that you could see that the God of heaven was the superior 1 God.

But when they are on their way out, they look back and they can see the Pharaoh and his armies coming after them.

The Bible says that they are not afraid, they are sore afraid.

I would ask somebody today, have you ever felt like Pharaoh's coming after you?

In verse 11, and then said Moses, because, and then they said to Moses, these are the children of Israel now, because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?

Wherefore have you dealt with us to carry us forth out of Egypt?" The people turn on their liberator and they get angry with Moses and say, listen, Why did you even bother taking us out of Egypt?

The answer is actually quite simple, because you were slaves in Egypt, because they beat you in Egypt, because you worked from can't see morning to can't see night in Egypt.

But when they were afraid, you gotta get this to get the whole message, when they were afraid, they began to forget how bad they used to be.

Verse 12, It's not this, the children of Israel still speaking, is not this the word we did tell you in Egypt saying let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians for it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.

They put the blood on the lamb blood on the post of their doors.

They saw and heard the cries of the Egyptians as their firstborn died and the children of Israel their firstborn lived and now at the first sign of trouble they begin to doubt God and question him.

There's something physiologic about doubt.

If 1 person starts to doubt, it spreads like a virus.

If you've ever been, I don't know if you've ever played team sports, I played high school football and we won a state championship my freshman year.

And 1 of the things you learn is if you're going to play a team and on the bus on the way there if 1 man on the bus says I heard about this team.

I'm not sure we can beat them that thing spreads like a virus.

They start telling you how big their linebackers are how fast their cornerbacks are how smart their quarterback is And why are you going over there?

You ain't even seen them yet Doubt is contagious watch this and that is in frivolous meaningless high school football Imagine what happens when doubt enters the house of God.

But the second thing doubt is, is that doubt is addictive.

There is a certain amount of comfort that comes from beginning to believe the worst.

By not having to have the motivation, the dopaminergic stimulation to remain motivated, it becomes addictive.

You begin to fall back into doubt as your safe place And so now you don't just doubt regularly you allow doubt to feed you and you become more of a warrior than a warrior The third thing doubt is It's amnestic Watch this it erases truth from your memory.

I'm gonna go a little bit deeper in this.

If you begin to doubt, it changes how you remember.

1 of the reasons Satan wants you doubting is because he wants you to forget how good God has been to you in the past Watch this The immediate brain response when you have doubt and negative thoughts is that it activates the brain's threat system.

This is the fight or flight system, the sympathetic nervous system.

Now we say fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.

We've got all these words for it but what it basically means is that the sympathetic nervous system takes over and the part of your brain where logic and Reasoning is supposed to happen is shut off 1 of the reasons that happened Is because the amygdala the part of your brain where emotions are stored as it turns this thing on it begins to throw gas into the emotional Engine of your brain and you begin to speed off and the next 1 the next bullet is the prefrontal cortex right here where reasoning is supposed to happen.

If the amygdala is the gas pedal, the prefrontal cortex is supposed to be the brakes.

How important is reasoning for the Christian?

Isaiah 1, 18 says, "'Come, let us reason together, ' says the Lord.

"'Though your sins be as scarlet, "'they shall be as white as snow.

Though they were like crimson, they shall be as wool.

And so the devil wants to make you unreasonable.

He wants you to start doubting so you remember all that went wrong and forget all that went right.

Survival mode replaces clarity and thoughtfulness.

So there's a whole cascade of things that begin to happen.

Remember this the whole a big chunk of the People of Israel they were a mixed multitude It wasn't just the children of Israel many of the Egyptians said well listen if their God could whoop our gods I'm following them So now you got this mixed 1, the cortisol levels all go up, stress hormone goes up, which look at that first bullet there, it says memory impairment.

The Science of Surrender

If you have your bible will be coming from the gospels Our scripture reading is from matthew chapter 16 And we'll start at verse 24 Matthew chapter 16 starting at verse 24 I'll just read 24 now.

We'll get back into Matthew later The scripture says then said Jesus unto his disciples if any man will come after me Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me Let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me.

Let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.

Our message this Sabbath is entitled, the science of surrender.

Let's pray, Father God, We thank you for this opportunity to study your word and your truths And once again lord, I ask that you just make me a nail on the wall Upon that nail lord.

I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ.

What we need is to hear a word from the throne room of grace.

As I pray in Jesus' precious and holy name, let the church say, amen.

We're going to jump to the book of Luke, the 22nd chapter.

And this story is 1 of the most important stories in scripture.

For us to understand our own suffering, it's critical we understand the suffering that Christ went through.

The reason so many people find challenges in life and trials in life so difficult is because they have not studied the challenges and trials Christ had to bear.

I want you to think about the fact that just a few days before what we're about to read, Jesus entered into Jerusalem like a king.

People laid down palm branches and shouted, Hosanna in the highest.

They treated Jesus as a returning monarch.

The stories of his miracles rang through the crowds And it would seem as if Satan was vanquished, as if he had already lost.

But in just a few short days, Jesus leads his disciples to the place where they would have their last supper.

And there it is revealed by Jesus that not only are things going to be difficult and that he is going to go to his death but that he would be denied by 1 of his disciples and betrayed by another 1.

The disciples couldn't believe their ears and all thought they would stand but this was in the room of the Last Supper.

They were shocked that he would wash their feet.

They were shocked at his words and they began to watch as his countenance began to change.

There were prophecies in place that had to be fulfilled at very specific times.

1 of the reasons that we as a church study the book of Daniel and Revelation, and specifically Daniel as I'm referring to here, is that when we read and study like the 490 year prophecy, it speaks to the exactness and the precision to which prophecy is fulfilled and God's will is carried out.

In the middle of the last week of that prophecy, it says that the Messiah would be cut off.

I can only imagine that as Jesus is going towards the day when the Messiah, he himself would be cut off, I would imagine a weight begins to grow on Christ.

What is inevitable, what is about to take place is unavoidable.

There is a conflict, seemingly even, a striking challenge that Jesus is going to face.

And this challenge would be like nothing anyone else has ever faced in all of earth's history, nor will ever face again.

You see when we are tempted we might be able to write a check if you're lucky.

You might be able to call a relative or a friend.

Jesus was tempted and he could bring up from in himself divinity.

That means there was never a problem Jesus had that he could not in his divine nature solve.

That means he had an extra layer of temptation.

He had the ability to fix everything yet allowed everything.

The scripture says that when he came out, as they were coming out of this last meeting together, and went as he was want to the Mount of Olives.

Verse 40 of Luke 22 says, "'And when he was at the place, he said unto them, pray that you enter not into temptation.

He gives them only 1 instruction, not just a few minutes, hours before, they were clamoring over who would be the highest in the kingdom, But here now all he asks is that they just pray.

Because as his attention is diverted to surviving this great crisis, he cannot watch the disciples like he normally does.

He now is being barraged by all the forces of Satan.

The spirit of prophecy tells us that over the 3 years of his life, Satan has worked tirelessly planning for this day.

Because watch this, while we may not know prophecy, Satan does.

And now legions of demons surround Christ, separating him from everyone else.

The sin of the world now, he is the Passover lamb.

And don't forget, He is crucified right as the Passover lamb would have been killed.

But instead of the Passover lamb dying, the veil in the temple rips, the lamb escapes and Christ dies on the cross because he is the lamb, slain from the foundation of the world but the sin of the people was always placed on that innocent lamb now the sins of the world present past and future are laid on Christ I want you to think how heavy that weight must have been.

He says, pray that you enter not into temptation.

Matthew says it like this, to jump out of Luke for a second.

This is what he would have said to his disciples.

He says, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry ye here and watch with me.

He doesn't just tell them to wait, pray, so that you don't enter temptation.

Jesus even has to divulge his own weakness.

This statement means that he will not exercise divinity to get out of this pickle.

Here, Jesus says instead, he simply says, listen, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful.

How much sorrow did the weight of sin bring to Christ?

He said he was sorrowful even unto death.

Because now Christ began to be separated or he felt separated from his father.

Luke 22 41 says, and he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast about a stone's throw distance from them my Bible tells me that Jesus gets down on his knees and he begins to pray he begins to pray and he says father if you are willing, remove this cup from me.

Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done.

Here, Jesus shows us the example of surrender.

Here, Jesus, who is equally God, in fact, Paul says he thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

Here he is clothed in humanity, 100% God, 100% man, and he is in this tough spot, the weight of sin crushing him.

And if it was up to him, and why is this so important?

If he could have, if there was another way, he would have taken it.

But he surrenders and that word nevertheless is critical.

With this, Jesus sets the example for every Christian.

This should be the language of our heart.

I know this person might be attractive to me Lord, but but it's not who I want to date.

Yeah it's tough when you start to apply it to everything isn't it?

I like this thing but I know it's not good for me.

Scripture says, Mark 14, 35, he says, and he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

Frank Fournier

Present Truth

I'd like to invite you to turn with me to Isaiah chapter 60.

I suppose you've read a lot in the Spirit of Prophecy.

And Ellen White uses the term present truth a lot.

It means that at any given time, there is a truth special, pertinent to that time.

Now, if you were to boil all the truth that we've been given as a people, if you were to boil it all down to the 1 truth that is most important to us, what would you say?

I mean, have you got that all gelled in your brain?

What's the most relevant information that we, you and I, could be given to the people around us or that we should share with each other to keep this thing bolstered up?

Or are we spending a lot of time putting out little fires that the devil starts all over the place to keep our mind from focusing on what it is that we should be focused?

What about evolution that some people have snuck into our denomination?

What about spiritual formation or the emergent church or contemplative prayer or the 1 Project or conspiracies without end?

Now don't get me wrong, there's a lot of that I'm speaking about right now that are heresies, but are they so important or are they more important than what God would deem to be present truth?

That's the question this morning, and I'd like to get started now on this thing.

As you know, you and I, the whole church, the whole world as a matter of fact, is headed towards what we would call the mystical war of Armageddon.

Now I believe that this war might well have been fought a long time ago except that as Seventh-day Adventists we've been super passive as a church.

The Bible speaks of us as being lukewarm, lacking this intense desire to glorify God's name, to glorify God's character, or this intense desire to go out and win the souls because there are souls perishing all over the place.

Prophecy predicts that there's coming a time when we will not be so pensive in the future.

There's coming a time when we won't be phlegmatic about this thing at all.

We're going to get aggressive about this.

Now, in the little book called Early Writings on page 69, 1 of my, how should I say, the 1 person who's the greatest mentor in my life as to what preaching is all about, used to say this.

If you're going to read 1 chapter on the spirit of prophecy on your knees, it's this chapter.

So let me remind you again, this is early writing, page 69, and it's the chapter on the shaking.

And it's a very, very interesting chapter.

And you may not have read it lately, but I really would like to encourage you to read it if you haven't.

Ellen White, in this chapter, points to the future.

And everything in the chapter is future to now.

Whatever is happening in this chapter is not happening right now.

And she takes the Seventh-day Adventist church and she splits it right down the middle.

She splits it into 2 groups and it probably isn't right down the middle.

And of the first group, she says this, I saw some with strong faith and agonizing cries pleading with God.

There's a group of Seventh-day Adventists who are pictured pleading and agonizing with God.

And she uses words like this, pale countenances, deep anxiety, internal struggle, large drops of perspiration.

And then She says the evil angels crowding around them are trying to shut out Jesus, their view of Jesus.

Then she looks at the other group and she says this, the other group is indifferent and careless.

Now obviously there's an issue here and both groups are looking at the same issue, but they're having different responses.

The 1 group with strong faith and agonizing cries are pleading with God for something.

The other group look at the same issue and they are indifferent and they are careless.

This is the Seventh-day Adventist Church and she divides the wise from the foolish, the sheep from the goats, the gold from the dross, the wheat from the tares, whatever it is she's doing here, she's dividing the church right there.

1 are agonizing for something, whatever the issue is, The other ones are indifferent looking at the same issue.

Now we go on in the next page, which is 270 of early writings.

And she says the angels leave the careless and indifferent ones and they go to the help of those who, and let me read it to you, those who are struggling with all their powers to help themselves.

Now that's interesting because there's a saying, and sometimes we poo-poo the saying, you know, there's a saying that goes that God helps those who help themselves.

Well, that's true, but I think we misapply it.

We misinterpreted this thing a lot of time.

Now watch carefully how it is that we help ourselves.

They were struggling with all their powers to help themselves by calling upon God with perseverance.

And all you have to do is study the life of Jacob.

Now You know who Jacob was and you know what his name means.

And he got through life successfully in a sense because whatever he wanted, he got.

Except he didn't use the Lord's ways very much.

He wanted the birthright and he wanted God's blessing.

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