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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Jonathan Walter

Radical Vulnerability

My name is Jonathan, and it's such a blessing to be with all of you this morning.

This is a very different way of preaching, a very different view than what I'm used to, but I like this.

I can see everyone's faces, And it's easier to spot those who are falling asleep.

It's great to be with you here in California.

And I'm not saying this just because we had a snowstorm in Michigan last week.

I'm saying this because I love being with young people.

I've been here once before, last year, and I'm happy to be here again.

It's such a blessing to interact with people who are thinkers on the university campus.

And it's like a breath of fresh air for me to be here.

So thank you so much for having me and for giving me the opportunity to share with you some of the thoughts that have come out of Bible study and just my personal walk with Jesus.

This morning I want to encourage you to keep all of us and myself in your prayers as we desire God to God to speak through his word, amen.

I try to hide that, but you guys are used to a governor over here that's from there, so that should be all good.

And at the end of the day, who cares about countries and languages?

We're 1 family, and we are on a journey to reunite with everyone in the heavenly city, amen.

And let's start with the word of prayer as we begin our study.

Father in heaven, we come before you recognizing our desperate need for who you are, for your presence in our lives.

There's nothing inside of us that means anything without you.

And so Lord, we come before you as people of dust, desiring the Holy Spirit to fill us and to teach us and guide us, Lord.

We pray that your word will be uplifted, that Jesus will be seen, that as we behold the cross, we see the truth about righteousness and sin, and we see the glory of the gospel, which is salvation for all who believe.

Lord, we commit ourselves into your hands and we ask that you will now take over and be present with us.

Not a day goes by where tragedy doesn't hit, where evil doesn't show its ugly face on this planet, where hatred and sin is not raging and reigning over the multitudes of this earth.

Not a day goes by in which abuse, torture, murder, hatred, war, violence, fighting, and suffering, selfishness, sickness, and pain are not a daily experience, really, of each and every 1 of us in some shape or form.

Deep inside we are with creation groaning, our souls moan and cry for the hurt and pain we see and the suffering we experience and the brokenness we all have inside of ourselves.

The ways of this world are cold and selfish and evil and the forces of darkness control most of this planet, don't they?

The principles and laws on which this planet runs are wicked and broken and all who engage in them are eventually left empty, sick, sad, depressed and dead.

In Matthew 13 28 Jesus says that an enemy has done this.

This world's brokenness is the work of the rebel, rebel Satan.

We have let him infect us with the disease of sin.

And the results are clearly seen and experienced around us and in our lives.

There's not 1 aspect of life that has not been penetrated by the darkness of sin.

Romans 3, verse 10 tells us that no 1 is righteous, no, not 1.

Which means that left alone by ourselves, We have nothing intrinsically in us which can save us from our hopeless lost state.

We have nothing good or righteous that could give us any chance of lasting healing.

Humanity is truly a hopeless case if left on its own.

And sooner or later I believe we all recognize this brokenness, don't we?

We recognize that things are not all right, that things are not all good.

Subconsciously and subconsciously we feel that this world is a broken place and our mind and body uses its coping abilities to kind of deal with the trauma.

Trying to make sense of the senselessness and the insanity of all the evil in this world and most of our behavior really stems from that coping that's going on, trying to make sense of all of this.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 11 tells us that God has put eternity into our hearts, which means that deep inside of us, we all have an eternal space in our souls, a place that used to be inhabited by God, but sin has banished Him.

And so in our attempt to cope with this broken world and the brokenness and emptiness inside of us, we are all trying to find some kind of fulfillment and purpose, find the purpose that we were created for.

We are longing, continually longing for something better.

He says this, Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists.

A baby feels hunger, well, there's such a thing as food.

A duckling wants to swim, well, there's such a thing as water.

Men feel sexual desire, well there is such a thing as sex.

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

You and I have desires which nothing in this world can fulfill because we were made for another world.

So what are the things that we were created for originally?

Here we find the things that God promises to those who walk by the Spirit, but it is those things that we were always intended to experience.

The fruit of the Spirit is really just our original purpose in life.

Galatians 5, 22, the Bible says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

I want to add to this list acceptance, appreciation, genuine interest in our lives coming from others around us, total honesty and innocence.

The things we long for, the healing in our hearts, the longing of our hearts.

We all desire to be known and loved and respected.

And in our lives, we want to have people who have a genuine interest in us.

Reality is brutal and our sin-sick souls shiver under the abuse which this world and we ourselves inflict upon us.

And so we are scared that if we show vulnerability, we will be taken advantage of or be hurt.

And so we build walls of protection, and we hide ourselves behind facades and masks, anything to not appear vulnerable or weak.

But in the process, we also hide and protect our sins.

If you compare our lives to an instrument, any musicians here?

If we compare our lives to an instrument, then sin would be kind of like the detuning of an instrument, make it out of harmony.

And so when you play it, it just sounds awful.

Anything we play with a detuned instrument will sound totally off, disharmonious and disruptive.

And so the fruit of sin is what the Bible calls a life plate in the tune of selfishness.

It's what the Bible calls living by the flesh.

It's found in the same chapter here in Galatians 5.

If you jump just a couple verses back, it says here in verse 19, "...not the works of the flesh are evident, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, virulence, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

These are the natural results of a broken heart seeking fulfillment in temporal things.

Seeking fulfillment for that eternal space with things that are not eternal.

Friends the brokenness of our existence is the problem of this world and trying to fix it may be through the avenue of politics and science, military, philosophy, institutions, peace treaties, medicines, false religions, self-help groups, fashion, cosmetics, arts or education.

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Radical Vulnerability

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