<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Amanda Anguish

The Precious Priceless Gem

Dear Father in heaven, I want to thank you for this beautiful Sabbath.

Even when the clouds come, we know that there are beautiful things all around us, and we thank you for doing that in our lives, and outside of our lives, and all around us.

And I thank you for the precious gifts that you give us each day.

The kindnesses that you show towards us, especially on the Sabbath, that you've given us this day to rest and to come closer to each other and to you.

And I ask that you would give everyone here a special blessing as they listen to the words that you're about to put in my mouth.

And I ask these things in Jesus's name, amen.

Well, I actually was an attendee here at Advent Hope for almost exactly 10 years, up until 2 years ago and 2 months, 2 years and 2 months ago.

But short of the first year that I was an Advent Hope member, I was told that I was dressed like a prostitute.

Anyway, so the topic that I'm going to be speaking to you about today is the precious priceless gem.

And I just told you that short of my first year at Advent Hope, I was told I was dressed as a prostitute.

Nobody at Advent Hope told me I was dressed like a prostitute.

I actually went on a mission trip with Cher Him to Rwanda.

And I was getting up to speak 1 of the nights, and contrary to what we think about Rwanda, it was actually kind of chilly during the days.

And when I was going to speak, it was not too chilly, but I thought, you know, let me take a sweater with me.

And I was ready to get up, and my translator came to me and said, you look like a prostitute.

And I thought, I don't think I've ever been told that before.

And he said, in our culture, if you put something around your waist, that's what the ladies do when they're trying to present themselves as available.

And I thought, oh no more, you don't need to tell me anything else, I will take that sweater off.

And I took it off and I never put it back on again because I didn't want to be looking like a prostitute.

But are we having trouble with the slides?

I like slides because they kind of give you a visual.

I'm a visual learner, so I don't know how long we should wait for them.

You might want to say hi to your neighbor and welcome them to church today.

Do I have to tell you to move to the next slide?

So now I'd like you to, if you have your Bibles with you, I don't even, yeah, I don't look at that now.

Did I tell you we're talking about modesty today?

Don't worry, I didn't tell people beforehand.

I know what these talks conjure up in your mind.

So don't worry, you'll like this version of modesty talk.

So Matthew 5, 20, 28, verses 27 and 28 says, ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shall not commit adultery.

But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Now, any time you put a verse like this up on a screen or tell people to look at it, everybody's gonna focus on the word lust.

That's not the part I want you to focus on this morning.

Now the but means, we've been looking at this verse maybe all wrong.

And so we're gonna transition to, it says, but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery in his heart.

And that word already is important because oftentimes we think of modesty as what's on the outside, but we don't realize that Modesty actually starts on the inside.

And so I want to focus on that this morning.

For out of the abundance, Matthew 12, 34 says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.

A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things." Now last night if you were there, I know you weren't all there because it was a much smaller group, but last night I talked about something that I do in my practice and it's called cognitive behavioral therapy.

Most people come to me because of the bottom 2 parts of that triangle.

I don't feel the way that I want to feel, and I'm not behaving the way I want to act.

I'm depressed, I'm anxious, I have all sorts of abandonment feelings inside of me, all those kinds of things.

And then Behaviorally, I'm not getting out of bed every day.

I'm using substances to cope with things.

Those are the kinds of things that my clients come to me with.

But they don't realize that, yes, I can help you behaviorally.

It encourages all those feel-good chemicals in your body.

But I know people that do a lot of really wonderful behaviors, but they still have anxiety.

And the reason for that is because of the top part of that triangle.

If I'm going out and exercising, if I'm telling myself all these horrible, negative things in my head while I'm exercising, how much is the exercise actually gonna help me?

If I'm eating a wonderful plant-based diet, but I'm stressing out about every calorie, every kind of ingredient that's in my food, is that food necessarily gonna do all the wonderful things that that food could do for me?

No, it's not, because every positive thought we have sends positive chemicals through our body.

Every negative thought that we have sends negative chemicals through our body.

So we're actually counteracting the very good things that we're doing if our thoughts aren't right.

And so sometimes you can be doing a lot of really good stuff, but you still don't feel good.

I know people who exercise, they exercise way more than I do in very healthy ways, but they stress so much they can't lose weight.

You've all heard of somebody who has tried really, really hard to have a baby, and they can't have a baby.

And then they go and adopt, and then what happens right after?

Because the body's made to have a baby under certain conditions.

And if you're stressed, the body knows this is not a safe time or a safe place to produce a baby or make a baby.

And so the body, after it has the baby, goes, oh, I can relax now.

And suddenly everything works like it should.

So I teach people how to think differently so that they respond better with their feelings and also their behaviors.

And it's a very rewarding career to be in.

But going back to modesty, when we think of modesty, we often think of these things.

These are just some things that I picked up from hearing what other people thought.

Not revealing everything, super long skirts and long sleeved turtlenecks, being discreet, simplicity.

Back to Menu

The Precious Priceless Gem

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

My Single Joy

1h 14m

The Cancer that Feeds on Goodness

50m

How to See Through God’s Eyes

54m

Alan Parker - Truth or Hoax: Validity of Ellen White

Strange Statements of Ellen White Explained

1h

The Word

1h 12m

Lowest Common Denominator

45m

The Long Arm of the Law

58m

Overcoming Escapism: The Life and Death Battle For Your Mind

Overcoming Escapism- Part 2

50m

The Vindication of God

45m

Magna Parks: Secular Psychology - Satan's Alluring Path

Secular Psychology - Satan’s Alluring Path, Part 4

53m

Metamorphosis

1h 2m

Citizen of Heaven or Emergent on Earth?

55m

Sound Doctrine