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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Melody Mason

Our Greatest Need

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for the opportunity and the privilege to be here with Advent Hope and my old family today.

And I just pray, Heavenly Father, that your Spirit would be here.

You promise in your Word that if 2 or 3 are gathered together, that you're in their midst.

And so I praise you that we know that you're here with us today.

And I just pray that you will speak to hearts, that you will open hearts.

Father, I plead that you will give me the words to say.

You know that I'm not adequate to share this message, but I just cling to you, Father.

And I thank you that you have the words and you have the message and you know what we need today.

So I'm just asking that you will fill this place, that you will speak through me, and that you will be glorified.

Thank you, I pray this in the precious name of Jesus, amen.

I wanna begin with 1 of my favorite stories, and if you've read Daring to Ask for More, you'll recognize this story.

We know Alexander the Great was a mighty conqueror that lived before the time of Christ.

And he was known for being, you know, a mighty ruler, conquered all the then-known world.

But something that maybe isn't so well-known and that is told is a story about how he was also a very compassionate ruler.

And 1 day out of every year, he would invite different random subjects from his kingdom and they could come to the palace and they could ask for whatever they wanted.

And so they would come and they would ask for different things.

And 1 year, there was this group gathered and they were asking, some of them were asking for food to feed their families, money for food, and some were asking for money to send their kids to school or money for health issues or different things like this.

And So he came to the spokesman to give him the request, and he says, tell the king that I want a palace.

And the king, or the spokesman says, you can't ask for a palace.

Look at what these people are asking for, you know, money for food and these basic things.

And he says, yes, tell the king that I want a palace.

I have lots of friends that I want to be able to invite and host a banquet for.

And So he's continuing to share these different requests.

And the spokesman is getting more and more upset because he says, you can't ask the king for this.

Well, King Alexander evidently sees what's going on.

And so he asks the spokesman, he says, what is the man asking for?

So the spokesman goes up and he whispers in his ear, and he says, he's asking for a palace.

But I told him he can't ask for a palace and he persists and he wants it fully furnished and a large banquet hall prepared and all these different things.

Well, King Alexander thought for a moment and then he sat up a little straighter in his throne and he smiled and he said, request granted.

And the spokesman's like, how can you grant this man's request?

And the king says, you know, you see what all these people are asking me for?

They don't need a king to supply these things.

Anyone with a little extra substance could help them.

But this is the first man that has made me feel like the king that I am because only I can grant this request.

Now I love this story because it's a great illustration of the fact, you know, we don't just serve the earthly king, we serve the king of the universe, right?

You know, Jeremiah 32 17 says, he stretched out the heavens by his great power.

We serve the king of the universe, and yet how often are we settling for just asking for the mundane things?

I lost my keys, or I need to pay my bills, or this or that.

Now I'm not saying those things aren't important because God cares.

The thing that I think is so amazing about the Lord we serve is that he's the 1 that holds the worlds in space, the stars in space.

He's holding the universe in space and yet He knows the deepest private desires and pains of your heart and of my heart and He knows how many hairs on our head.

He is such a personal God So he cares about those little things.

He cares when we lose our keys or whatever.

But he doesn't want us to stop with that.

Why are the sons and daughters of God reluctant to pray when prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven's storehouse, where I treasure the boundless resources of omnipotence." Do you realize the key that we have been given as Christians and followers of Christ?

This is the most important key that any of us have ever received or will ever receive.

It's more important than any status, it's more important than any medical degree or PhD or anything else.

It's the key that God has given us in prayer.

And I want us to think about this briefly.

I usually have a big key that I carry with me, but I didn't bring it this time.

But say I have this key and it's prayer that God has given us, but if I stick the key in the lock, is the door gonna open?

Prayer is the key in the hand of faith, and faith turns the key.

I love the promise Malachi 310, prove me and see if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.

Of course this is referring to tithes and offerings, but how much more God's promises that he longs to do in our lives.

I think you would probably agree with me that faith is a great need.

In fact, if we look at the Word of God, faith is 1 of the most emphasized gifts in all of scriptures.

We see the society that we are living in today, our world, our church.

We are in a crisis and I think that we all see that.

And Ellen White writes this, she says, it was because Elijah was a man of large faith that God could use him in the grave crisis in the history of Israel.

As he prayed, his faith reached out and grasped the promises of heaven, and he persevered in prayer until his petitions were answered.

He did not wait for the full evidence that God had heard him, but was willing to venture all on the slightest token of divine favor.

And yet what he was unable to do under God, all may do in their sphere of activity in God's service.

Faith such as this is needed in our world today.

Faith that will lay hold on the promises of God's Word and refuse to let go until heaven hears.

This is the kind of faith that we desperately need today.

So of course the title of the message this morning is Our Greatest Need.

Based on what I just said, we'd probably say yes.

And Ellen White even writes, our greatest need today is an increase of faith.

Our greatest need is an increase of faith.

But I want to propose to you this morning that there's something that we need even more.

So we're gonna talk about some more things.

There's another story that I like to share, and it's about a group of explorers.

The story occurred back in the early 1800s.

There was a group of explorers in Africa that were mapping out the territory.

And they would make their maps every day and write their notes.

They would come back to their camp and build their campfires and cook their food and then go to bed.

A few days this went on, and they started coming back to the camp and they noticed something strange because all around the camp were these little teepees of wood, like somebody had been trying to build a fire, setting it up for a fire, but of course there was no fire.

So they couldn't figure out what was going on, but after a few days they began to realize what was happening because they saw the monkeys in the trees playing around them.

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Our Greatest Need

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