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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Anil Kanda Weekend - March 2019

Anil Kanda

Becoming Legendary

Father in heaven, we just thank you so much again for already being present.

Thank you for leading us through this week, God, and bringing us to this time, this place, this experience of worship.

God, we thank you for the precious blood that cleans all of our sin.

Lord, as we open up the Word of God tonight, we pray that you would invigorate us, that you would inspire us, and that you would bless us according to your will.

Tonight's message is entitled Becoming what?

I was actually listening to this podcast last year.

I got really into podcasts roughly around the months of August to November.

And my friend had sent me this podcast, and it was called How to Be a Hero.

And I thought to myself, I really don't want to listen to this.

He urged me, you've got to listen to this podcast.

And this podcast is the interviewer, he is talking to a man who runs a scholarship foundation for Carnegie Hall.

And Carnegie Hall actually honors a particular class of individuals for this scholarship.

I thought to myself when I was listening to this, I thought, is this a joke?

But then I continued to listen to it, and I got really sucked into this podcast.

And the interviewer is talking to this coordinator of this foundation, and he says, let me tell you about 3 of the most unusual stories of heroic deeds.

An Indian lady by the name of Laura Shrake, and about 17 years ago, she was driving down this lonely Kansas road, And as she was driving through this lonely Kansas Road, she was passing by all sorts of fields and orchards.

And as she was passing by 1 fenced off area, she looked as she was driving and she caught the glimpse of this young lady who was trapped against a tree and a 950 pound bull Was ramming her over and over again in the tree Are you ready for this sermon?

She pulls over she races out and she puts her hand on this electrified fence She steps over not realizing that she had touched this electrified fence.

And she starts hitting this bull, and it is continually ramming this woman against the tree.

She grabs this piece of rubber, and she starts whipping this bull over and over again until it backs off.

She helps the other lady get over the fence.

The bull backs off, begins to charge, races towards her.

She puts her hand on the electrified fence.

She steps over right before the bull gets to that fenced off area.

She ends up saving the life of this woman.

And when I heard that story, I thought, I've got to listen to the rest.

And then the coordinator starts talking about the second story.

And apparently this man was driving at night, and as he was driving by night, at night, he looks off into the street and he notices a car crash that took place.

They could hear the young men trapped in the car screaming.

He puts his foot on the door on the side of the car and he opens up the door he reaches into them to grab the men and as he is doing it parts of the car that had this searing, you know, piece of metal and plastic from the top of the car begin to fall on his arms.

As he is pulling these young men out, he ends up saving their lives.

He ended up getting these like third degree burns from reaching into this car that was on fire.

And when I thought, I thought to myself, I have heard this, this is so amazing, I can't take anymore of this, it was the last story.

This was a man who was in a subway with 2 of his children and they were waiting for the subway tram to show up and as they were there they notice a man near the edge and he begins to waver back and forth and all of a sudden the man falls in to onto the ground onto the tracks and people are just watching and this man he's looking around no 1 is doing anything no 1 knows what to do They could hear the train coming very fast He jumps down and he begins to try to drag the man, but realizing he is too heavy He straightens the man out.

He lays right on top of him as the train begins to pass over.

But what was so remarkable is that the man woke up as the train was still going over.

And the words that he told this man was, did I die?

And the man, as they're just talking as this train is just passing over them.

And finally once it passes over, rescuers come and they get the man out.

And I thought to myself, this is the stuff that legends are made out of.

You read stories like this, you hear stories like this, you get blown away.

Movies are made, books are written about people like this.

I liked reading books about mountaineering and wearing clothes as if I was mountaineering like many Seventh-day Adventist young adults.

Anyhow, so I was checking out this book, and it was called Touching the Void.

Took place over 30 years ago, and this is perhaps considered 1 of the most legendary feats of mountaineering.

Now you're probably wondering to yourself, where in the world is this sermon going?

You just hold on a second, you will discover soon.

And it's the story of a man by the name of Simon Yates and Bob Simpson.

And they went to these Peruvian mountains to climb this place called the Sula Grande.

They did a hike, a specific trail that most people could not do.

But the most dangerous part about this whole ascent was once they reached the top, it was now a matter of getting down.

Because that is where the danger began to take place.

As they were making their way down, Bob Simpson fell.

He ended up crushing his knee, and now he was limping.

And they were trying to make their way down this mountain face.

They had this idea what they were going to do to ensure the safety of both climbers.

That way, in case 1 of them slipped, the other 1 would be able to serve as an anchor.

And so they began to make their way down.

And as they began to make their way down, they got to this part which was a precipice.

And as they got down, Simon Yates began to lower Bob Simpson, and all of a sudden a storm came in, and he began to get very tired, and he could not move anymore.

And this other individual, Bob Simpson, could no longer pull himself up anymore.

And for about 6 hours, they were trapped.

The Birds, the Bees and the Bible...

Father in heaven, we just thank you again for Jesus.

Thank you for his sacrifice, his salvation.

Thank you for the grace of God that is poured upon us.

Lord, We pray and ask that heaven would open up and you would pour out a very special blessing to us this morning.

Lord, we pray that you would convict us, that you would challenge us.

For this we pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Today we're going to be talking, as I said earlier, about the birds, the bees, and the Bible.

We're going to be taking a good look at what the Bible says about sexuality.

And this sermon obviously is going to be by no means exhaustive.

It's designed to provoke good thinking and good questions.

But this is the kind of sermon I don't want my mom to hear.

And the reason why is I have a wonderful Indian mom, although she is not a Christian, but if she ever became a Christian, I don't want her listening to this sermon.

I'm okay with anybody else listening to this sermon, but if you know my mom, this is not the kind of sermon I want her to listen to, just because I am her son and I'm afraid of her slippers that she throws.

Everybody take your Bible, let's go to the book of Genesis.

We're going to be taking a good look at a very interesting part of history.

You know it's really interesting when you study out the Bible, you study out the Old Testament, and you can study out all of human history, but what the Old Testament is composed of are the prime cuts of human history.

It is through these prime cuts of human history in which we have some of the greatest lessons and we begin to understand the difference between good and evil, between righteousness and unrighteousness, between godlessness and godliness.

Here we are going to take a good look at a very interesting part of human history.

It's found in the book of Genesis chapter 19.

This story is going to set the stage for what we are going to talk about.

Genesis chapter 19, if you're there, go ahead and say amen.

The Bible here is describing the destruction of a city that is well known in human history.

Now, before you think to yourself, I know exactly what this sermon is going to be about.

Let's go to the book of Genesis chapter 19.

Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.

He bowed himself with his face towards the ground.

He said, Here now, my lords, please turn into your servants' house and spend the night.

Wash your feet, then you may rise early and go on your way.

And they said, no, but we will spend the night in the open square.

So they turned into him and entered his house.

He made them a feast and baked unleavened bread and they ate.

Now I want you to pay attention at what begins to happen next.

Pay attention to specific details and words in this next verse.

And before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and what?

All the people from every quarter surrounded the house.

And they called to Lot and said to him, where are the men who came to you tonight?

Now I want you to pay attention to their request and their desire.

Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.

Here the Bible begins to describe how a group of men, a group of individuals composed not just of older people, but younger people began to surround the house of Lot.

They understood 2 strangers to Sodom and Gomorrah had come into the city and they thought to themselves if we surround this house, if we come together as a mob, we will take these men out and we will experiment with their bodies.

Now generally when we talk about Sodom and Gomorrah, we stop right here.

But I want you to see another point that is very interesting.

So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, and said, Please my brethren, do not do so wickedly.

See now I have 2 daughters who have not known a man.

Please let me bring them out to you and you may do to them as you wish.

Only do nothing to these men since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.

Now I want you to pay attention to the second problem that exists in Sodom and Gomorrah.

It is not the problem that is just in the streets of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The Bible teaches there is also another problem in Sodom and Gomorrah and that is inside Lot's house.

Here you have an example where Lot is willing to forfeit the virginity of his daughters for the sake of these angels.

Now you may think to yourself, wait a minute Pastor Nell, he was just doing what the people did during that time.

Now friends, even if it was cultural does not make it right.

In fact, in the New Testament, the Bible does not commend Lot's hospitality, it commends Abraham's hospitality.

In fact, when you study out Scripture, the other example that we have that is very similar to this is in the book of Judges, chapter 13, the final chapters of the book of Judges, where we begin to see the climax of spiritual anarchy.

Except in the book of Judges, it does not happen on foreign land, it actually happens on Israel's territory.

Oh, but we're not done with the problem yet.

As Lot and his family begin to flee, his wife turns back and she becomes a pillar of salt.

And it seems as if the whole world has now been destroyed similar to what happened during the time of Noah.

And notice what the Bible says in verse 30.

Then Lot went out of Zor and dwelt in the mountains, and his 2 daughters were with him, for he was afraid to dwell in Zor.

And he and his daughters dwelt in a cave.

Now the firstborn said to the younger, our father is old and there is no man on earth to come into him as is the custom of all the earth.

Come, let us make our father drink wine and we will lie with him and we may preserve the lineage of our father.

So they made their father drink wine that night and the firstborn went in and lay with her father and she did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

In fact what you read next is that the other daughter does something very similar.

As you begin to examine Sodom and Gomorrah, you begin to realize the problem is not just on the streets of Sodom, it is even in the house of righteous lots.

The problem has to do with the misunderstanding of biblical sexuality.

And in all 3 cases you find 1 entity willing to take advantage of another entity without their choice.

The problem of Sodom was a problem of selfish pursuit of pleasure.

Rather than participating in the selfless mutuality within biblical sexuality, the inhabitants of Sodom corrupted sexuality and made it selfish, violent, and destructive.

Now the reason why I want to talk about biblical sexuality is because it's not just a problem of the past.

And as Christians, we have been entrusted with the truth of God's Word and when the truth of God's Word is not exposed, when it is not revealed, when it is not proclaimed, it then becomes a breeding ground for darkness, for evil, for corruption And as Christians who understand the truths that are found in the book of Genesis, we are called to uphold the principles, the 10 Commandments, the Sabbath, and we are also called to uphold marriage.

And having a healthy biblical understanding of sexuality is a powerful thing.

Leather and Crown: The Love Story of James and Ellen White

Father in heaven, we just thank you again for this Sabbath afternoon.

We pray and ask that you would bless us as we look into our past, as we understand things, Lord, may we be impressed by your Spirit, whatever we need to understand.

Lord, thank you so much that you desire to give us the kingdom.

More and more, Lord, may heaven be in our hearts.

For this we pray in the name of Jesus, amen.

If you have your Bible, let's go to the book of Philippians chapter 1 Philippians chapter 1 Notice what the Bible says right here in verse 1 Paul and Timothy bond servants of who?

Saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi with the bishops and deacons.

Paul is writing this wonderful letter of the Philippians to who?

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, go all the way to verse 6.

Here's a very familiar verse to you and to me.

Being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of who?

And he essentially tells the believers, he said, want you to understand something.

And that is this, you are a work in progress.

We begin to understand something about Paul's definition of saints.

It's not someone who has a halo over their head and lives in an orphanage in India ministering to the poor, although that person is probably, you know, could be a saint.

According to Paul, his definition of a saint is somebody who has Christ in their life and is a work in Progress can you say amen to that?

Now once you turn to your brother or sister next to you I want you to say you are a saint of God go ahead and do that right now all right some of you guys added a little bit preamble there like I'm not sure if I should say this but you are a saint of God now you may hear something like this and you may be like really but when you study out what Paul is saying being confident of this very thing he who started a good work in you will complete it amen and we praise God sanctification is a work of a lifetime this message is entitled James Ellen White And it is a sermon about their love story.

When you actually study out the antediluvian world, or the world that existed before the flood.

The people living during that time, the sons of Seth who were righteous and were part of building the ark, they believed the world was going to end essentially in their time.

Enoch was even given visions about the final moments of the end time when Jesus returns in all his glory.

Yet regardless of the dynamics of living in the world at those times, regardless of the urgency that was taking place, many of the sons of Seth, the righteous, were still participating in the act of marriage.

And the reason why that's important for you and for me is we need to understand a little bit what Ellen White says right here.

She says these words, in regard to marriage I would say read the Word of God.

Even in this time the last days of the world's history marriages take place among Seventh-day Adventists.

We have, as a people, never forbidden marriage, except in cases where there is an obvious reason, there were obvious reasons that marriage would be misery to both parties.

And even then, we have only advised and counseled.

Here we begin to understand something that even though we are moving closer and closer to the final moments in which the great controversy begins to Climax in the events that take place in Revelation 13 and parts of 14 Here we understand that marriage is not something to be forbidden among God's people Can you say amen to that?

Amen, I have heard so many people say, well, I don't know if I should get married.

Unless probation has closed and the Sunday law has started, it's OK to get married.

I mean, when the Sunday law is happening, you're being persecuted.

I mean, I probably think maybe Wait a minute.

Let's double this think about this a little bit more, right?

I mean people are trying to kill you anyhow When you study out the story of Ellen and James White, you learn that they lived during the Victorian age.

The Victorian age or the Victorian area had this kind of mixture of beliefs in regard to marriage.

In the unique culture of the Victorian area, the opposing dynamics of Puritanism and Mormonism.

And they believed, even though they were people who were compatible for marriage, it would be best if they remained celibate.

But then on the other side of the spectrum, you had Mormonism, which was promoting this idea of polygamy.

And so in this soil is where James and Ella White came together.

Was the love story of James and Ella White.

Though fraught with many challenges, the union of these young revolutionaries gives tremendous insight into the lessons of God.

In addition, the records provide details of the humanity of the early church pioneers and their examples of genuine biblical love.

So what we're going to do right now is we're going to take a good look at the Facebook account of Ellen G.

Let's understand a little bit about this young woman.

She was evangelizing before she was called to prophetic ministry.

Age 15, she gained assurance of her salvation, immediately began leading other teens and young marrieds to Christ.

She was not only working with youth, she was also leading young adults into a saving knowledge of Jesus.

She had a great vision of what was taking place after the great disappointment and saw God's people on a journey.

And thus began the process in which God was calling her for a grand purpose.

17, her first vision took place in late December.

She saw her primary identity as a disciple and lover of Jesus.

She saw her primary work as bringing others to love and to serve him too.

Let's open up the Facebook account of James White.

Born August 4th, 1821, and the middle child of 9.

Talk about someone with maybe middle child issues, right?

Age 7, he was physically feeble, with poor eyesight.

His eyes would cross when he tried to read.

Instead of attending school, he worked on the farm.

Became 6 feet tall and exceptionally strong.

He was told that he, it was said about him that he had a very strong constitution.

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Anil Kanda Weekend - March 2019

Leather and Crown: The Love Story of James and Ellen White

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